Author: African Women's Development Fund

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Africa Philanthropy Network (APN) is organising its ASSEMBLY 2018 as part of its mandate to establish a strong voice for African philanthropy in order to address the growing challenges of conflict, poverty and bad governance in Africa.
Running from 8th to 9th November 2018, in Port Louis Mauritius, the program will include sessions on:
People Pillar, which will explore some trends, motivations, social and economic dynamics that are shaping African philanthropy. Opportunity for transforming Africa’s development story from one of “need” and “dependence” to one of “self-direction and self-reliance” and the barriers when it comes to supporting issues that are considered “difficult” or “unpopular”.
Policy Pillar: This session will answer Key questions such us  

• The role of government in fostering philanthropy / local giving;
• The domestic advantage? The rise of foreign funding restrictions for civil society and its implications for African philanthropy;
• Claiming rights over assets and illicit financial flows – what is philanthropy’s role in stemming illegal / immoral flows?
• What is the role for international funders in contributing to the emergence of a strong, trusted and effective foundation sector in Africa?

Practice Pillar will focus on exciting new tools and strategies for building philanthropy, new networks (global and regional) as well as sector-level issues that look at what kinds of support a functioning ecosystem for philanthropy in Africa needs.

Apart from The Vice President of Mauritius Mr. Paramasivum Pillay Vyapoory who is the featured speaker of this event, other speakers include Theo Sowa -CEO of African Women’s Development Fund, Ndanatsei Bofu-Tawamba from  Urgent Action Fund Africa, Jeanne Elone from Trust Africa, Jenny Hodgson from Global Fund for Community Foundations; Francis Kiwanga from Foundation for Civil Society Tanzania.
This program is a unique opportunity to learn, network and have fun.

To learn more about this event  click here

The Africa Philanthropy Network (APN) is an independent, not for profit, organizational member-based continent-wide network that was launched in July 2009 in Accra, Ghana as the Africa Grantmakers Network (AGN), and later rebranded to APN in July 2015, with a commitment to building a broad, multi-stakeholder understanding and recognition of the contribution of philanthropy as a field that bridges development and local ownership. Today, APN brings together 67 members organizations serving different forms of African philanthropy over 20 African countries, and the only network of its kind in the continent. Together APN members represent civil society and community partners in more than 50 African countries. Since 2010, African Philanthropy Network (APN), a non-profit network that promotes voice and action of African philanthropy, has organized a space for experienced and new philanthropy leaders who want to engage in a conversation that would enrich each other’s understanding and practice on African philanthropy by developing and African-generated and African-owned narrative about different forms and models of philanthropy in Africa.

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Janet Okumi is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana, Institute of Internal Auditors, Global and a student member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, Ghana. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Ghana Business School, Legon in Accounting.

She is currently employed by African Women Development Fund (AWDF) as the Due Diligence Officer, having previously worked for West Africa Program to Combat AIDS and STIs, Ghana (WAPCAS-Ghana) as the Internal Audit Manager. Prior to her employment at Ghana-WAPCAS, Janet worked with Kwame Asante and Associates (KAA) as the Assistant Manager in the Audit & Assurance service line.

Janet has over 7 years of professional experience in both public and private sectors. Her hobbies include reading, listening to gospel music and watching wildlife documentary.

Fauzia Kassim Ziblim is a Development Professional with strong passion for humanitarian ideals focusing on women and children affairs, especially the ‘girl child’. Prior to joining the African Women’s Development Fund(AWDF), she worked with Palladium as the Programme Support Officer on a DFID funded project, the Ghana Adolescent Reproductive Health(GHARH), in partnership with the National Youth Authority.

Fauzia obtained a Master’s Degree in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science in the UK, after she had graduated with B.A(Hons.) in Sociology from the University of Ghana, Legon. She has joined the African Women’s Development Fund(AWDF) as the Executive and Resource Mobilisation Officer and is committed to her role in a spirit of teamwork in pursuit of the vision of the AWDF

Abena Bomo AFARI joined AWDF in November 2018 as a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Associate. She completed her national service at the Ghana Institute of Languages, where she taught French. She has a bachelor’s degree in French and Marketing from Central university and a Master’s degree in Gender, Peace and Security from the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center.

She is passionate about women’s rights issues and issues of conflict in Africa.

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We are excited to share the star-studded #Sheroes Album, compiled with love and music from incredible artistes from across Africa. Sheroes represents the strength and diversity of African women, and features artistes who generously contributed to this album in support of our work.

Get your copy of Sheroes and join the campaign now! You will get your very own copy of this inspiring compilation of music as well as contribute to transforming the lives of African women.

Music has amazing transformational power and through revolutions and empires it has provided people with a world-view that often connects them and challenges them.

In recognition of this, AWDF is harnessing the power of music, through the SHEROES Album, to celebrate African women for their resilience and their capacity to transform their lives and their communities. Sheroes also serves to create awareness about the work of AWDF and mobilise additional financial resources to support the rights of African women.

Get to know the women who are a part of this wonderful work by tracking the tag #SongsforHer, #Sheroes, on twitter– where we’ll be posting profiles of the incredible women featured on Sheroes.

To read more about Sheroes, please click HERE

 

To get your copy of the Sheroes album please click HERE

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Nous sommes ravis de partager l’album surnommé #SHEROES. Il contient diverses musiques produites avec amour par des artistes extraordinaires venus de toute l’Afrique. L’album SHEROES représente la force et la diversité des femmes africaines. Les artistes présentées ont généreusement fait don de leurs chansons pour soutenir notre travail. Il représente la force et la diversité des femmes africaines et met en vedette des artistes qui ont généreusement contribué à cet album pour soutenir notre travail.

Commandez votre copie dès maintenant et faites partie de notre campagne!!! Vous obtiendrez votre propre copie de cette compilation de musique et contribuerez à transformer la vie des femmes africaines.

La musique a ce pouvoir de changer et de transformer pleines de choses de façon incroyable. De part le passé et à travers les révolutions et les empires, elle a aidé les gens à avoir une vision du monde qui souvent les relie et les met au défi.

Pour cette raison, AWDF, à travers l’album SHEROES nous rappelle non seulement de la puissance de la musique, mais rend aussi hommage aux femmes africaines pour leurs résistances et leurs capacités à transformer leurs vies et leurs communautés. SHEROES sert également à sensibiliser le public sur le travail de l’AWDF et à mobiliser des ressources financières pour défendre les droits des femmes africaines.

Nous publierons les profils des femmes artistes incroyables de notre album SHEROES. Pour les connaitre donc, suivez le hastag #SongsforHer et #Sheroes sur twitter.

Cliquez ICI pour en savoir plus sur SHEROES,

Cliquez ICI maintenant pour obtenir une copie de l’album SHEROES dès maintenant

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AWDF grantee partner, Campaign for Good Governance (CGG) blazed the trail when they won the “Outstanding CSO of the Year” award at the 2018 Sierra Leone NGO awards held in Freetown on December 13, 2018.

CGG is one of our grantees to benefit from the AWDF two-year coaching programme on leadership and governance targeted at CEOs, Executive Directors and second level management. AWDF believes that strong leaders and organisations provide the backbone for social change and development and therefore places a high premium on investing in both individual leaders and governance frameworks of African women’s rights organisations. Out of the Leadership and Governance Programme, CGG has been able to contribute immensely to the promotion of human rights, women’s political empowerment and good governance in Sierra Leone.

From mobilising women as active voters, training female candidates and first time voters, to recruiting a new executive director, CGG has taken the lead to reposition the Women’s Form and the All Political Party Women’s Association (APPWA) as effective social movements to champion women’s issues in the country.

Receiving the award, Executive Director Marcella Samba-Sesay acknowledged the work of the CGG team and thanked the organisers for recognising the work and contributions of the organisation in Sierra Leone. “This (award) is a stepping stone and motivation to do more and CGG will always work with the values for which it was established,” she added.

The Sierra Leone Business, CEO, Leadership and NGO Awards recognise leaders pioneering the reforms, rapid modernisation, consolidation, integration and expansion of Sierra Leonean enterprises, public institutions and promoting socio-economic growth across the country and beyond. This is the third annual ceremony presented at a gala dinner in the capital which is organised by a consortium of national and international organisations.

By Nana Akosua Hanson

Imagine this: You are walking through a busy street and everybody keeps grabbing at your body parts. You speak up, but you are shut down. You have no right to open your mouth, they say. They grab you some more. Your body is in pain, so you are in pain. It is such an awkward mind space; feeling the pain of a body that hurts because you carry that body, you own it. It belongs to you, and yet all these people who do not share in the pain of this body claim ownership of it. And they would kill you to make that point. Welcome to Patriarchy.

In Ghana, during the second half of the 90s, the first of the serial killings was traced to Kumasi. Akua Serwaa was found dead near the Kumasi Sports Stadium. The killings spread to Accra. Thirty-three more women were found dead in various states of mutilation and undress. The Accra Strangler became famous. In 2000, four men were standing trial for killing their partners. Seven women at least had been killed in the span of two weeks by their partners over alleged infidelities. These occurrences were not new. The style was familiar. The late 90s and early 2000s was Ghana’s Jack-the-Ripper moment. It played out to a chorus of fury and fear, the ruling government’s insensitivity in politicising Ghanaian women’s murders, and the lack of interest and urgency by the Ghana Police.

In Uganda, it was twenty women in four months. In South Africa, it is three women a day. Same script.

These women were sex workers, loving partners, traders, human beings with hopes and dreams, who had children, and people who loved them, but before everything else, they were Women.

I often think about the nature of patriarchy. Oppressive systems are made up of human beings. Human beings project beyond themselves, unify those projected ideas and from hence, come the establishment of a system. Patriarchy is a unified projection of our hate. In my life, this hate moves from irritating to downright scary. It is frightening to contemplate how grossly hateful a system can be that a by-product of its hate is an outburst of women-killings by a single-minded, hateful man or several groups of hateful men. It is downright scary when you are hit with the horror of the reality of a system that from birth hammers in a language of gender inequality, empowers this inequality by creating “divine” justification and systematises it such that its continuous existence is assured. This is downright scary.

But I have learnt to keep reminding myself to appreciate the many examples of hope that constantly surround us. These are reminders that there is a strong force of goodness in all of this hate and the unification of that projected strong force of love would also soon birth a loving world where people are not targeted because of their gender, sexuality class, ethnicity, race or any category used to create violent rifts because of differences.

Today marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. As we commemorate this very first day in our 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence, let us be reminded about the hope of this day, of this time. My many cards of hope today are the thousands of women who marched through the streets of Accra on April 6^th 2002, spoke truth to power and demanded the serial killings stopped and they did.

My special card of hope is that our activism against patriarchy and its consequent violence has come to live and thrive beyond just 16 days, and because of this, every new day brings us closer to a world free from patriarchy and free from Gender Based Violence. Just Imagine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feminist organisations have been at the forefront of women’s and girl’s rights advocacy and action across Africa and the Middle East. Often working in
challenging socio -economic and political contexts with limited organisational capacity and ever-increasing demands, women’s organisations help bridge the public service delivery gap, while redefining conventional ideas and practices on the rights and roles of women in society, the economy, and policymaking. How do these women’s organisations continue to push the envelope on impact
while embarking on feminist movement building? How do they remain innovative and relevant in ever-changing women’s rights, development and professional landscapes? How do they stay accountable as they tackle Africa’s challenging socio-economic and political issues?

To address the capacity building needs of African women’s organisations, the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) spearheaded the creation of the CEO Forum. Designed by African feminists, the CEO Forum seeks to build individual and collective leadership and skills of senior, mid -level and emerging women leaders and executives. Participants benefit from networking, technical skills acquisition and professional capacity building, alongside in-person and virtual coaching over a specified timeframe. The coaching process involves practical exercises and feedback for the continuous evolution and growth of African feminist leaders. To date, 60 feminist leaders and activists have been coached.

From 4th to 6th October, 2018, 30 representatives of grantee women’s organisations joined coaches Hope Chigudu, Paula Fray, and Yene Assegid and the AWDF team at Accra’s Best Western Hotel for a period of sharing, reflection, learning and evaluation on the CEO Forum’s successes, shortfalls and impact. The gathering marked the eighth edition and grand finale of the CEO Forum and featured past and prospective coachees working in 14
African and Middle Eastern countries, namely: Benin, Burkina Faso,
Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lebanon, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra
Leone, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

See below for the event report:

CEO Forum Grand Finale – Final Report

Article By Nana Akosua Hanson

Earlier this year, a video went viral on Ghanaian Twitter of six teen boys raping a young girl. Despite her resistance, these boys held her down and took turns. What haunted me most was their laughter.

Being a feminist activist means confronting this kind of raw ugliness on a daily basis. And it takes a toll. It is physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausting. Without healing, the accumulated trauma can push people out of our movement.

But there are also the magic times, when the unity of our voices and the force of our movement can be uplifting. Like that glorious moment on the 30th of June 2018, when thousands of Ugandans marched together to demand justice for the murders of more than 40 women, a trend in the country since 2015. Amidst drumming, dancing, and waving slogans, their united voices were heard all over the world: No more rape, No more killings, Women’s Lives Matter.

History shows us that feminist activism creates social, political, and economic change that benefits people of all genders. For this reason, it is crucial that activists have the healing we need to keep going.

Right now, African feminist activists are working toward a world where all people can live free from violence, including sexual violence. Where all people have what they need to take care of themselves and their families with dignity. Where all people can be their full selves and determine their own destinies. Who wouldn’t want that?

Empowering African women and promoting the realisation of their rights are critical milestones on the path to this better, more just world. And that’s what the African Women’s Development Fund does, by supporting courageous and dedicated women’s organisations across the continent.

In Liberia, African Women’s Development Fund grantee Zorzor District Women Care (Zodwoca) promotes women’s land and property rights in a region where women’s labour but not ownership of land is encouraged. In Benin, the Association des Femmes dans l’Education (FAWE Benin) is popularising the law on sexual harassment in response to the high incidence of sexual harassment of young girls in schools. And in South Africa, the Social, Health and Empowerment Feminist Collective of Transgender Women of Africa (SHE) is serving as a bridge for the better integration of trans women in the wider women’s movement, and equipping them with advocacy skills. And these are just a few of the thousands of African women’s organizations AWDF has supported since its inception, that are working in many ways to make the continent of Africa a better place for its women, and minorities.

But whether the work requires combing through rape reports, providing emotional support to a widow whose in-laws have just thrown her out of her house, or standing with a female political candidate who is being viciously trolled on social media, trauma builds up.

In Akan ontology, a person is more than their physical body—they are made up of at least three more aspects, the others quasi-physical or completely non-physical. This idea informs the general African approach to health: fully healing requires healing of the body, the mind, and the soul. To treat body aches, for example, a traditional priestess will provide both a physical cure for the body’s ailments, as well as a ritual for mental and spiritual healing.

We want to bring such healing to African feminist activists.

That’s why the African Women’s Development Fund — with the NoVo Foundation’s Radical Hope Fund and in partnership with AIR — is launching the Flourish Project, a three-year initiative that will strengthen feminist organising across Africa through these key interventions:

• Grounding through a pilot model of a retreat for African feminist activists facing burnout and stress, and in need of a reflective and healing space—designed and implemented in collaboration with AIR, a network of African practitioners developing transformative feminist approaches to trauma, emotional wellbeing, and mental health;
• Seeding inspiration for the growth of African feminist movements through intergenerational dialogues and documenting a generation of liberation-era feminist trailblazers; and
• Connecting feminist activists to convene and grow their organising at national and community levels linked to the African Feminist Forum.

The Flourish Project aims to refresh and tend to the vibrant movement of African feminists who have and will continue to shape the future of Africa. It is an investment in the deep movement work that needs support alongside frontline advocacy: the work of documenting and sharing our activist legacies, of finding durable ways to sustain activists working in hostile terrain, and of keeping movement strategy and base-building spaces alive.

Social movements drive social change. And sustainable movements depend on resilient activists. Those activists need space and time to heal—we will not see our feminist dream brought to reality without it.

The African Women’s Development Fund wants funders, activists, and others in the movement to recognize that healing is just as radical and necessary as marching, protesting, or organising.

As the Black American feminist writer Audre Lorde said, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare.”

For the original article click HERE

by Gertrude Bibi Annoh Quarshie

“Giving”- in its purest form includes using our hearts, our minds, our talents and other resources in ways that enrich the lives of all people whether poor or rich. It is simply being conscious about the problems around us and taking purposeful action to solve those problems. “Giving” is a dignified selfless act of passion and compassion!

As a staff the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), I am very passionate about what we are doing to transform the lives of African women. More often than not, people are interested in how they can also support activities or initiatives that promote or uphold women’s rights. The workplace-giving programme is one of the channels that any group of people can use to raise funds internally. In fundraising, individual efforts are important but the synergy from a group is usually worth the investment and that is why I love the principle of workplace giving.

Workplace giving is an initiative in which employees raise money internally by donating a certain amount from their monthly salaries, deductible at source. The contributors then decide on which project(s) to support with the fund.

The AWDF workplace giving programme was inspired by a donation received from the Hewlett Foundation’s staff workplace giving programme 12 years ago. Since then, the fund has grown in size and in reach, supporting various initiatives that have put smiles on many faces. The Fund is managed solely by staff, with a three-member executive committee. Interested staff members complete a form instructing that a certain amount of money be deducted from their salary each month. All the contributions go into a fund administered by the committee.

Some of the initiatives the fund has supported include the provision of a water tank at the maternal and child centre at the Korle-bu Teaching Hospital Ghana, provision of various sewing equipment to the Nsawam Female prisons and a donation to Operation SMILE. We recently supported the establishment of an innovation lab for students of the Africa Science Academy as well as the provision of equipment for PAYPD Kayayie centre for porter girls.

Having been associated with the workplace-giving programme over the past decade, I have become a stronger advocate of the phrase “don’t just complain about the state of affairs, take action”. GIVING is one way of taking action.

We are all capable of giving. If we can create a movement of individuals committed to donating a percentage of their resources to champion women’s social, economic and health rights, we will be helping to solve many problems. For more information on starting your own giving circles contact awdf@africlub.net/awdf.