Author: African Women's Development Fund

Women in Front Cameroon (WiFC) was formed in 2016 by 3 young feminist and LBTQ activists. WiFC works to mobilise LBQ women and girls to take up leadership positions and ensure sexual and reproductive health of women and girls of all sexual orientations and gender identities and provides them with STI care and treatment services. With the AWDF grant, WiFC will mount an advocacy campaign that will speak against VAWG especially against women living with HIV and AIDS. The grant will be used to organise psychological counselling sessions, form discussion groups among women survivors of violence and those living with HIV/AIDS and produce a short film to denounce VAWG

Women Challenged to Challenge was started by seven (7) women with disabilities with the aim of bringing together women with different disabilities in Kenya to address matters affecting their lives. With the grant, Women Challenged to Challenge will promote participation of women living with disabilities in politics. This will be done through sensitization on participation of WWD in leadership, campaigns on WWD’s right to leadership/political participation and the establishment of a network of WWD with political aspiration in 4 counties in Kenya.

Women & Community Livelihood Foundation (WOCLIF) was established in 2009 by Uduak Umoh, the current executive director to support widows. The organisation is known for being at the forefront in the fight against violence against women and girls (VAWG) in Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria. The grant will be used to improve the emotional and mental wellbeing of women and especially young women living with HIV/AIDS through community education on the challenges faced by women living with HIV/AIDS as it affects their emotional and mental health.

Voice of Mitooma is an association of female environmental journalists and environmental human rights defenders (HRDs). The organisation was founded in 2016 by two young female journalists to empower women to manage the world in a sustainable way. The funds from this grant will be used to mobilize grassroots women to resist environmental injustices, build protection networks and advocate for the promotion and protection of women’s environmental rights in Uganda.

Une Femme qui en Soulève une Autre (FESA) is a women-led organisation founded in 2002 by seven women committed to the fight against discrimination and violence faced by rural women. FESA aims to work with grassroots communities to dismantle the barriers that prevent women and girls from fully realising their rights including accessing justice and economic rights. The grant is to help mobilise women farmers, train them on their rights, organise them into cooperatives and support them to engage stakeholders on their rights to land. The women’s cooperatives will also be trained in climate smart agriculture and in the use of technology to enhance agricultural activities.

Transgender Equality Uganda (TEU) was started in April 2011 by Karungi Beyonce, a Ugandan transgender woman and a trans woman activist after noticing that transgender women’s issues were being neglected by the Ugandan LGB movement and trans sex workers’ issues were being ignored by the sex work movement in Uganda. With this grant, TEU will advance the sexual and reproductive health and rights of trans women and girls. Part of the grant would be used to commemorate the 2021 International Women’s Day Celebration.

Together We Can Foundation (TWCF) is a women-led organisation founded in 2012 by Bukavu women and girls from University of Bukavu with the aim to create a safe community by empowering women with information on gender-based violence, women’s rights, health promotion, livelihood issues among others. The grant awarded will be used to empower women and girls with greater access to NCDs information and services and to establish improved coordination and participation of key stakeholders in NCDs prevention.

CHESO was started in 2006 by a group of poor women who were concerned and committed to prevent the high number of school girl drop-outs due to neglect, sexual abuse, exploitation and mental violence suffered by girls. CHESO hosts the Temeke & Kisarawe Network of Girls living with HIV. This is a network of girls and young women living with HIV/AIDS and accessing treatment. With this grant, they will organise a retreat for young women and girls living with HIV/AIDS in Temeke and Kisarawe districts of Uganda to provide them with some knowledge and skills needed to effectively take care of their mental health and emotional wellbeing.

SPPDF is a national network of women’s organisations founded in 2008 and operates in all the provinces of Burundi. SPPDF’s overall objective is to improve the living conditions of women through the promotion of civil and political rights, economic, social and cultural rights including the right to development. The grant awarded will be used to pilot a network of peacemakers in Rumonge Province engaged in various local conflict resolution mechanisms that comprehensively integrates women in all stages of the peace making processes. This new network will be used as a case study to encourage other communities to comprehensively integrate women in their peace making mechanisms. Additionally, the network will address gender inequality at the root cause of VAWG by addressing male gender norms and power disparities The project will also engage various stakeholders to localize the provisions of UNSCRs 1325 and 2250.

Sisonke is a South African sex worker-led movement that was launched in 2003 at the second national sex worker meeting in Worcester in the Western Cape. Sisonke aims to reduce stigma associated with sex work, challenge and change existing laws, policies, and practices relating to sex work, and legalise sex work. The AWDF grant will be used to strengthen the sex worker networks and movements in South Africa to ensure they are adequately capacitated to speak for themselves in addressing some of their key concerns.