Author: African Women's Development Fund

For the past few months, our radios and air spaces have been blasting out and vibrating with hair-raising acts of violence against women and children. What concerns us is the obvious disparity between the levels of violence before, and the levels currently. The magnitude of violence in Ghana is now overwhelming, and calls for immediate action from as many quarters as possible. The likely question on people’s minds will be “What are the various female activists in town doing? This, for us, is a very relevant question that requires prioritized and immediate action as its answer.

Be it due to complacency or lack of commitment to issues, we are not yet certain, but we definitely have seen a decrease in awareness creation and public campaigns against Domestic Violence in the country. Our media houses focus more on political issues and front-page scandals, amongst others, since these are what generate the huge amounts of revenue they desire. National issues surrounding Gender, Women, Children, and Empowerment have become de-prioritised in these media, only receiving central treatment once in every long while, or when prominent institutions and iconic figures make mention of them, which is often a momentary occurrence rarely sustained by the media stations.

Time was, when the “big guns” of women empowerment, female issues, and gender initiatives in Ghana all played very active roles before and during the 16days of Activism Against Violence Against Women, an event celebrated from 25^th November to 10^th December every year. All of a sudden this has ceased, and this event is marked by a few fluttering banners in inconspicuous locations in a few capital points in the country, a few newspaper and journal adverts with little stimulation or excitement to action, and very restrained, unexciting discussions in poorly publicized media programmes and forums. I vividly remember when we had attention-grabbing posters of abused women and children with inscriptions on them at vantage traffic lights in the capital which educated both literate and illiterate on the unacceptability of violence and abuse. This was an effective method of sparking debates and discussions among passengers in cars, taxis and tro-tros and even on pedestrian-walks. Remember that violence is no respecter of persons, class, profession nor public standing, and anybody at all could fall victim to it at any point in time.

From several recent reports coming in from Ghanaian media houses, Domestic Violence has taken on a new and deadly trend where abusers have progressed from physical battery to fatal attacks on both spouses and children. These attacks are often shown, post-occurrence, to have had murderous intent, and at times bear inherent traits of lunacy or mental illness. If this does not call for immediate governmental, national, and societal intervention, nothing does. Below is a catalogue of some of the recent reports on violence from random points and mediums:

• Man kills wife, commits suicide, 15^th May, 2012
• Father arrested for attempts incest with daughter, 16^th May, 2012
• Rapist kills two siblings, wounds mother, 15^th May, 2012
• Man kills his two kids, stabs pregnant wife, 3^rd May, 2012
• Man slashes wife’s throat for ‘daring’ to divorce him, 10^th May, 2012
• Pregnant woman dies from stab wounds, 4^th May,2012
• Trader cuts ex-lovers scrotum, testicles out, 7^th May, 2012
• Cop rapes married woman, 7^th May, 2012
• Man throws improvised explosive devices at 4 children for disturbing his siesta.
• Woman, 22, stabbed to death by boyfriend, 20^th April, 2012
• Fetish priest in court for murdering lover, 19^th April, 2012

“A suspected sex maniac has allegedly shot and killed two siblings and wounded their mother after raping their elder sister in the bush at Dukoto Junction in the Amenfi East District in the Western Region…………………”

“Police in Kumasi have commenced investigations into the death of a 22 year lady said to have been stabbed by her boyfriend at Oduom. The incident reportedly happened soon after *Maame Frema’s family told her boyfriend with whom she has a child that they could not continue the relationship. The victim is said to have reported her boyfriend’s abusive behavior to the family………………….”

“*Nana Sika Manim, a 35-year old fetish priest, on Thursday appeared before the Kade District Magistrate’s Court charged with murdering his 19-year-old girl friend……”

“Emotions took the better part of a 34-year-old man when he allegedly slaughtered his wife on a farm last Saturday after the woman had threatened to divorce him, The woman, whose name was given as *Akua Boaminh, was the mother of five children, including a two-year-old she was nursing before her death. According to the police, when the deceased’s body was discovered in the bush, it lay supine, with the face covered with a scarf, while the hands were tied to a tree. The body, stained with blood, was almost covered with ants.”

*names changed to protect their identity

Reading and listening to these heart-breaking stories of violence impresses more deeply in us, the need for women and female-focused organisations in Ghana to be more proactive and set up strategies to deal with all forms of violence, before the fatal happens. AWDF is not left out in this struggle to create a violence-free Ghana and Africa and will continue to use its programme that supports the 16days of Activism Against Violence Against Women to support women’s organizations across the continent, to create awareness and literally “make noise “through various activities to commemorate the event. AWDF has supported this event from 2003 to date, and has provided financial supports to over 105 women’s groups from 25 African Countries to the tune of over $USD 97,000. From our 2011 analysis of applications received from across the continent towards the 16days of activism we realised that just a few of the applications came from Ghana; the period was silent and most women’s groups were not heard or seen undertaking any serious or extensive public awareness campaigns and activities on violence against women, which is very uncharacteristic of the Ghanaian Civil Society community.

The current worsening trends, as seen, heard and read in the media is a clarion call for all women’s rights organisations to take awareness creation and education extremely seriously, because, who knows whom the next victim will be? No, don’t look over your shoulder.

Hilda de-Souza

Rose Buabeng

Gifty Anim

(Grants Department – AWDF)

The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) is pleased to support the Open Forum 2012 on the theme of ‘Money, Power and Sex’. This event takes place from the 22nd -25th May at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) in South Africa.

On Tuesday 22nd May in room 2.62 at the CTICC, Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah, AWDF’s Communications Officer will moderate a session on:

“Organising Online: Feminists share experiences of cyber activism” with panelists Hakima Abbas, (Executive Director, Fahamu); Gathoni Blessol, (Co-Founder of Watetezihaki Platform); Jan Moolman, (Association for Progressive Communications); Minna Salami, (Blogger & Writer, Ms Afropolitan); and Spectra Speaks (Afrofeminist WriterArtivist, and Executive Editor of Queer Women of Color and Friends). In this conversation, feminists from Africa and the Diaspora share details of their online activism, connecting with feminists online, managing safety and security online, and linkages between online and offline activism.

On Wednesday 23rd May in the main auditorum Theo Sowa, Interim CEO of AWDF will provide an overview of ‘Power’ and its connections to Money and Sex.

AWDF looks forward to connecting with participants attending the 2012 Open Forum.

Today as I write this, I sit behind a computer, typing perkily away at my keyboard in my comfortable office environment that has, in the time I have been working here, empowered me very deeply. I feel strong, I believe in myself, I feel good, and I actually have for work-colleagues ‘sisters’ who project as wonderful a sense of warmth and self-confidence as I do. I am untroubled … and I am lucky.

Lucky. It is not particularly the most affirming word one will like to hear, but there it is. I am lucky to have been working in a time where the female actually has rights for work … employment … labour, call it what you will. A few decades earlier, I would have been working in a time where not only would I have swooned in joy for any odd job, domestic role or agricultural work thrown my way that actually put profits in my own savings, but would also have been shocked if I was noticed and appreciated as an actual worker who contributed to that venture in question. These would not have been extraordinary circumstances at all; I would only have been first a female, and secondly a black/African female. I was doubly ‘invisible’ and multiply discriminated against.

What makes me lucky is the fact that my predecessor, who lived these negative conditions, did not just ‘take for granted’ that it was her lot, but fought hard to change it for the better. They all fought hard to make it better. Now see us enjoying it … perkily playing the empowered little Missus, standing abreast with the best of the men and even leading them in the work-places; boldly ensuring our work is fairly remunerated; fighting for all possible allowances, leave-days, holidays, on-the-job training obligations, and indeed, salary increments when we believe our contribution is worth it; well, maybe not perky, but definitely bolder, stronger, and very much visible. A modern-day working woman.

At this point, a standing ovation for all the women who have gone before, in the fight for what we enjoy today; for those who continue to represent female needs in the ranks of the Trade Unions and Labour organizations world-wide; and those who ensured the improved rights of the African woman worker today. May Day for us here at AWDF, is not to take a jab at any sensitive aspects of labour issues, but to appreciate the role which black and African women played, and continue to play in improving the work and employment conditions of women, and to also review the long history behind it. We are therefore delighted to share with you, the story of Women on Farms Project (WFP) and Sikhula Sonke:

In November 2011, AWDF ‘shook hands’ with a South African NGO, and signed over, in confidence and trust, a grant of $US 25,000.00, targeted at helping over 3500 direct people and over 17,000 indirect beneficiaries. Today, we acknowledge the efforts of this grantee, whose work is an invaluable one that is impacting not just the approximately 3500 members, but their families too. This NGO, Women on Farms Project (WFP), won the grant under our Human Rights scheme, with the objective of training selected farm workers on their rights and provide them with legal assistance to defend their rights as well as actively participate in minimum wage negotiations.

What WFP does, is empower and support women who work and live on farms, and educate them on their human and labour rights, since they often work in very harsh conditions and have poor representation in most trade unions. “We do this through socio-economic rights-based and gender education, advocacy and lobbying, case work and support for the building of social movements of farmwomen”, Fatima Shabodien, the Executive Director says.

This is not a new project or concept for them. As far back as 1999, three years after their own formation, the WFP team were already concerned with the futures of the farmwomen they ‘looked after’ via their foundation, and wondering what would happen to them should it close down due to funding issues or other unforeseen challenges. This prompted them to begin work on finding solutions, and conversations and deliberations with the farm-women led to the formation and registration of a women-led, women-focused trade union for Southern Africa women farm-worker. This happened in 2004, after two years of planning and organization. They named it Sikhula Sonke (‘We grow together’ in isiXhosa).

To entrench the specialness of the achievement, and its fulfillment of a crucial need, Sikhula Sonke was constituted by WFP on 9^th August, 2004 which is South Africa’s National Women’s Day, and registered by the South African Trade Labour Commission as a legal Trade Union on 10^th December, 2004 – International Human Rights Day. As a Trade Union they were there not just to join the ranks of other pre-existing ones but to be the union that represented women’s labour issues, fought to end the neglect and exploitation of for women farm-workers, and to get them better wages and representation at the negotiation tables of ordering companies from outside the country. In addition, and importantly, Sikhula Sonke also empowered the women, helped them to improve themselves in all aspects, and helped them out of substance abuses and addicitions.

What AWDF’s grant to WFP makes possible includes a better life and work situation for South African women farmworkers like Sikhula Sonke cares for. Their work areas cover: Women’s Labour Rights, Farm Workers’ Living Wage, Women’s Land & Housing, Trade Justice, Social Security, Farm Workers’ Human Rights, Human Rights Awareness Workshops, and crucial international campaigns against unethical practices affecting the farm workers.

There is a strong, clear link between the values and objectives of both WFP and AWDF. Whilst AWDF’s values include “the personhood of the African woman and her rights as an inalienable, indivisible, and integral part of universal human rights; acknowledging, valuing and rewarding women’s paid and unpaid labour in the private and public sector”, WFP envisions “an engendered society that treats women who live and work on farms with dignity and respect in accordance with the constitutional rights guaranteed to all South African citizens, where women lead the restoration of the social fabric of rural and agricultural communities so that respect, tolerance and accountability prevail.” Furthermore, both have a similar vision for African women – AWDF empowering, educating, and bearing feminists, whilst WFP works towards an “alternative South African rural landscape in which women play active leadership roles within family, community, labour, economic, and government structures.”

Women sustain the community; they nurture, care for, pass on knowledge to the members of the community. Due to their child-bearing abilities, and their accommodating personalities, their approach to issues are different, but no less important than that of the men. It is for this reason that we find it necessary to highlight the efforts of women-founded, women-led, women-focused entities like WFP, who against much odds, have sustained their fight to ensure better living and working conditions for the farmwomen workers of the Southern Cape of (South) Africa, and did not just stop there, but went ahead to consider possible crucial needs for their collective futures, and added yet another responsibility to their heavy load – Sikhula Sonke – the Trade Union for women farm workers in SA, saving and impacting over 17,000 lives and growing every year.

This is what a woman is – a living link to many; aprogenitor, warrior, awesome being, and in teams like WFP, we see sisters and sororities not only worth cheering on, but worth promoting. Show your worth today. Support a sister find her way. Donate to AWDF’s grant schemes. Partner our programmes. Share your stories. Leave a mark.

Golda Addo. Communications Associate – AWDF.

Download it here: Strategic_Thinking__Planning_Handbook

Written in bold, large fonts at the top of their webpage is the declaration: “We Strive to be Champions of Better Health”, and that is exactly what Better Health Action Group Uganda is turning out to be. Better HAG is a non-profit initiative with focus on Reproductive and Sexual Health, and in September 2011, they were given an AWDF (African Women’s Development Fund) grant of USD $1000 in support of their big, hairy, audacious goal: “… seeking a world of better health with no cases of preventable maternal, newborn and child deaths, where people can access sexual and reproductive health (including HIV and AIDS) services as well as exercise their health rights, and where vulnerability to children in all angles is greatly reduced.”

They are not only bold about their goals and vision, they are physical about it too; having recently made Sports and Events – S & E’s as they call it – one of their means of reaching out to and empowering women, girls, and the people in the community. They saw in football and netball, an invaluable opportunity and ability to bring together people of all makes and ages for a period of fun, interaction, togetherness, and all sorts of possibilities. These sports not only mobilise a lot of people in the community for interaction and information, but also bring them together for education and capacity building. This occurs through their engagement in the planning and delivery of the sports events, and their actual participation in them.

It is through these mediums that Better HAG empowers the participants – girls, youth, and women – in capacity and skills, whiles the sports commentator of the event provides the educational points for reform or advocacy. This is done during the sport activities, where the commentator would educate the crowd and players on the details of a particular issue of concern, say HIV/AIDS prevention, gender equality, child protection, etc. The people are not only educated on these, but also on the best values of the sport that they are engaging in, such as team-work, cooperation, respect for team-mates and other players, and these lessons linked to life values such as leadership, discipline, and conflict resolution. By doing all these, Better HAG helps in grooming happier, healthier, more responsible and protected girls, women, and society … bringing themselves several steps closer to their fierce, audacious goals!

Started in October 2008, in Uganda, by human health rights and development activists, Better HAG is focused on “an advocacy for accelerated realization of women and girls’ health rights”. Not only have they worked hard to sustain this, but they have also given it a new and wider lease of life, by using sports as yet another platform for reaching and empowering the people on life-changing issues.

Here at AWDF, we are very proud of our grantee, Better HAG Uganda. Our belief in excellence and the capacities of females to reach great heights is highlighted in their achievements. We hold the deep belief that if women and women’s organizations are empowered with skills, information, sustainable livelihoods, opportunities to fulfill their potential, plus the capacity and space to make transformatory choices, then we will have vibrant, healthy, and inclusive communities. Without a doubt, a hard-working entity like Better HAG fits just right into what we here at AWDF, hold in value when thinking of grants, support, and progress on issues of Reproductive and Sexual Health for women in Africa.

AWDF says “Kudos” to Better HAG!

The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) in partnership with the African Feminist Forum (AFF) warmly invite you to a series of events organised for the AWID Forum 2012. It will be an opportunity to share our experiences as African feminists on some of the most pressing challenges on our continent. You are warmly invited to attend the African Feminist Forum (AFF) panel on:

Feminists and Questions of Political and Economic Power in Africa, 20645

Date: 21^st April 2012

Time: 11:30am – 1.30pm

Venue: Halic

Members of AFF will also participate in the following panels:

• Militarism, Conflict and Violence
• Changing World Geopolitics and Global Governance

(These sessions run more than once so please check the AWID programme for dates and times)

Other networking and learning opportunities are available by:

• Interacting with staff from the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) during our donor office hours at the Resource Mobilisation Hub which will be running throughout the AWID Forum.

• Joining us in celebrating the work of women’s funds at a reception for members and grantees of the International Network of Women’s Funds on:

Date: 19^th April 2012

Time: 19:00 – 23:00

Venue: Babylon Lodge

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

Accra, 7^th April 2012

The African Women’s Development Fund congratulates Joyce Banda, President of Malawi

The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) extends our congratulations to Her Excellency Joyce Banda, who has recently been sworn into office as President of Malawi.

Joyce Banda has been a longtime advocate for women’s rights and through her leadership of the ‘Joyce Banda Foundation’ (an AWDF grantee partner) she has supported civic education and empowerment activities for community based women. A member of the African Womens Leadership Network for Reproductive Health and Family Planning, in November 2010, AWDF awarded Joyce Banda a ‘Woman of Substance’ award in the ‘Special Recognition Category’.

Theo Sowa, Interim CEO of AWDF states, “Our condolences go to the family of the late President Bingu wa Mutharika. Despite the tragic circumstances of her appointment, I am certain that President Joyce Banda will guide the people of Malawi with the same vision, principled leadership and diligence that she has shown in her life and work to date. Her track record as a women’s rights activist, and her history of working with community-based organisations is commendable. In November 2010, AWDF was privileged to have Joyce Banda participate in our 10^th anniversary celebrations, where she spoke on the topic, “Quality versus quantity: How far have we come in promoting African women’s participation in politics?” This panel discussion now seems prescient, and we look forward to Joyce Banda distinguishing herself as an inspiring African woman president.

ENDS

About the African Women’s Development Fund

Over the past ten years, the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) has blazed a trail for women’s rights and philanthropy across the African continent. AWDF is an African, not for profit, grantmaking organisation. Since the start of operations in 2001, AWDF has provided US$19 million in grants to 800 women’s organisations in 42 African countries.

AWDF’s grant making processes are uniquely designed to meet the needs of African women and activities include the provision of small and larger grants to African women’s organisations, capacity building support and a strong focus on advocacy and movement building.

Press Enquiries

Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah (AWDF Programme Officer for Communications)

Tel: +233 302 521 257 (Ghana)

Email: nana@africlub.net/awdf

Website: www.africlub.net/awdf

On Thursday 5th April 2012, Theo Sowa, AWDF’s Interim CEO spoke on the critical importance of ‘African Women’s Voice and Representation’, at a TEDxChange in Berlin. Germany. To watch a video of her speech please click here

Theo Sowa spoke alongside Melinda French Gates, Sven Giegold and Baaba Maal. For full details of the TEDxChange event please visit their website

Nneka Egbuna, AWDF’s Ambassador for the Arts has been featured in the April/May edition of New African Woman (English edition).

This article focuses on Nneka’s working visit to the African Women’s Development Fund in Ghana to officially start her role as the foundation’s Ambassador for the Arts. Nneka arrived in Ghana on the 12^th of February 2012 immediately after finishing her Africa tour, which had taken her to Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Zanzibar.

New African Woman is widely distributed throughout Africa and the rest of the world. For details of where to purchase a copy or for digital access please visit http://www.africasia.com/newafricanwoman/

The staff of the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) congratulates Dr Hilda Tadria on being recognised by ‘New Vision’, a leading Ugandan daily, as a woman who has made a positive mark on Ugandan society. At AWDF we are intimately aware of the hard work, passion and commitment which Dr Tadria brings to women rights work, especially in the areas of mentoring, leadership and inter generational dialogue. For this reason we are especially pleased to see Dr Tadria being recognised in her own home country.

We also extend our congratulations to Winnie Byanyima, Dr Sarah Ntiro and Dr Sarah Tamale who have all contributed immensely to the women’s movement in Uganda.