Category: News

The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) and the African Grantmakers Network (AGN), co hosts of the 3^rd AGN General Assembly, invites nominations for the 2014 African Philanthropy Awards. This award recognises excellence and innovation in philanthropic practice in Africa. Suitable candidates for this award are African philanthropic institutions and individuals who show a tangible commitment to lasting and institutional change, who are committed to genuine partnership with local, national or international communities, and who advance a vision/voice of African agency and self-determination.

The recipient of the 2014 African Philanthropy Award will be recognised at an awards ceremony held during the AGN Assembly which will take place from the 17^th-19^th November 2014, in Accra, Ghana. Nominations can be made online by filling in the Online Nomination Form on the AGN website or by registered post to ‘2014 African Philanthropy Awards, African Grantmakers Network Secretariat, Postnet Suite 100, P/Bag X121,Midrand, 1685, South Africa. The deadline for submitting nomination forms is 31st August 2014. Only emailed submissions received by close of business on the deadline date and posted submissions bearing a postmark of the deadline date will be considered.

Theo Sowa, CEO of AWDF and Board Chair of the AGN states, “Philanthropy in Africa is a time honoured tradition. This award is an opportunity to recognize those individuals who give selflessly – not just in terms of money but also their time and talents. Many of you will know such individuals. I will urge you to take 10 minutes to recognize these people by nominating them for the 2014 African Philanthropy Award.”

On the 30th of July, the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) in partnership with the Ugandan Women’s Association (FEMRITE) will hold a public dialogue and literary event at Hotel Africana in Kampala, Uganda. The theme for the event is ‘African women speaking for ourselves: What difference does it make?’ This event is open to the general public and starts at 3.30pm.

Speakers at the event will include Dr Hilda Tadria, Executive Director of MEMPROW and Board member of AWDF; Theo Sowa, CEO of AWDF; Yewande Omotoso, author of Bom Boy; Mamle Kabu, author of The Kaya Girl; Hilda Twongyeirwe, Executive Director of FEMRITE; Hon. Mary Karoro Okurut, Founder of FEMRITE; Lina Zedriga, Director of Women, Peace and Security at Regional Associates for Community Initiatives and Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah, Communications Specialist at AWDF.

Also speaking and performing at the event are the participants of the 1st regional creative non fiction workshop organised by AWDF and FEMRITE. These are:

Abena Kyere – Ghana
Adegbeye Olutimehin – Nigeria
Alexis Teyie – Kenya
Amina Doherty – Nigeria
Beatrice Lamwaka – Uganda
Comfort Mussa – Cameroon
Deborah Frempong – Ghana
Eunice Kilonzo – Kenya
Fafa Yvonne Quashigah – Ghana
Florence Khaxas – Namibia
Hannah Wanja Maina – Kenya
Jennifer Thorpe – South Africa
Kagure Mugo – South Africa/Kenya
Kechi Nomu – Nigeria
Moiyattu Banya – Sierra Leone
Njoki Wamai – Kenya
Rita Nketiah – Ghana
Ritah Atwongyeire – Uganda
Tendai Garwe – Zimbabwe
Valérie Dginia Bah – Benin/Haiti

The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) has since it began operations in 2001, invested in various systems and processes to ensure transparency and accountability in all our activities. In order to achieve the latter objective, our performance has always been subject to scrutiny by a number of internal and external stakeholders such as our donor community, our grantee partners, other Non-Governmental Organisations, employees, the media, citizens and consultants and service providers . Stakeholders want to feel confident that AWDF is effectively and ethically managed, and is yielding the desired results.

Annual audits are a key part of our accountability processes and the audit of our 2013 financial statements further affirmed our commitment to be transparent and accountable to ourselves and to our stakeholders. Financial statement audits are generally performed to confirm the validity and reliability of information as well as to provide an assessment of the effectiveness of internal control systems. The objective of annual audits is for the external auditors to give a reasonable assurance that the financial statements are true and fair and are free of material misstatements.

The AWDF financial statements for 2013, audited by KPMG has just been published. We are proud to say that this year’s audited financial statements are unique in that it is our first year of adopting the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS); which is the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) for the public entities.

The adoption of IPSAS has enhanced the transparency of our accounts due to the nature of the standards as well as additional disclosure requirements. It has also improved the comprehensiveness, quality, consistency and comparability of AWDF’s financial statements. IPSAS represents international best practice and therefore by adopting IPSAS, there is better comparability of AWDF’s financial statements with other international organisations.

 

Highlights of the 2013 Financial Statements

• Total revenue for the year 2013 was USD$4.26million
• Funds received from donors was USD$4.2million
• Other income from our endowment fund investments was USD$101,291
• Total expenditure for the year on grant making, other programmes and institutional costs was USD$4.2million
• Total grants awarded in our six thematic areas was USD$ 2.2million
• Our non-grant making programmes include, capacity building workshops for grantees, monitoring and evaluation, programme outreach and partnerships.
• Total non-grant making programme expenses was $1.3million
• Fundraising, communication and institutional development costs represented 15% of total expenses

 

By: Gertrude Bibi Annoh-Quashie, Finance Manager, AWDF

 

Click on the link below to view AWDF’s 2013 financial statements.

2013 Audited Accounts

Click on the link below to view AWDF’s expenses for 2013.

AWDF Expenses 2013

AWDF’s third Chief Executive Officer’s Forum was held on the 2-4^th June, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Nairobi. It attracted Directors from different African countries, all immersed deeply in the common work of striving for women’s rights. Many were eager and thirsty, looking to drink from the communal sisterhood cup, missing this form of sanctuary in their busy lives. Some felt deeply connected to this feminist busyness, feeling self-indulgent in the attempt to be away from work for three days and really struggling to be still. Others were simply open to what may come.

 

The forum created a safe space for the CEO to take a step back and engage with critical issues of leadership, governance and communication. It broke through the usual NGOs habitual ways of organizing by discussing and practicing ‘self care’ a feminist practice very much related to effective leadership.

 

Through presentation, dialogue, and storytelling, the Directors agreed that the qualities of doing of a feminist organisation involve deep listening to the ‘constituency’, to emerging patterns and power dynamics within the context in which they work, leading from inside the organisation and not just responding to the outside world, working not only for, but with the people they claim to represent, learning from those that have come before them; (the sister ancestors), and from other sectors. One of the founders of AWDF, Hilda Tadria, noted that a feminist organisation is open to transparent, authentic and accountable practices while it embraces the principles of personal consciousness, creativity, responsibility and freedom. It challenges the status quo by organizing and arousing genuine activism amongst people. The Chief Executive Officer of AWDF, Theo Sowa, observed that a feminist organisation has an authentic stance to which it remains true, even in the face of challenge, opposition and backlash. ‘We need clarity about our stance, we should not be ambiguous, but rather have courage for this stance’. The Chair of AWDF, Professor Sesae Mpuchane, talked about the importance of effective governance, systems and policies.

 

Paula Fray, a South African based communications expert noted the importance of communication and visibility. She challenged the Directors to engage with the media, let go of victim mentality and seize their own power as the media is not an enemy.

 

Through much of what was spoken, the need for the Directors to take care of themselves became deeply resonant and quietly urgent. Therefore, throughout the forum, self care practices such as yoga, steaming and exercises created lightness of being, a sense of fun and wholeness. Individuals reconnected with neglected parts of themselves, those parts not used to being stretched were.

 

Above all it was clear that the Directors are working in a culture of fragmentation, of high-speed technology, of immediatism, a disempowering context, dealing with daily backlash while looking for resources and hence the importance of coaching and support.

 

The forum brought a renewed connection and hope in the work of women’s rights, new relationships was formed and a renewed certainty and vigour made the Directors reaffirm that the work they do has a future and a purpose.

By: Hope Chigudu, Coach and Organisational Development Specialist

CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE LIVELIHOODS OF WOMEN: THE AWDF AND GRANTEES APPROACH

Climate change is the global or regional shift in climate patterns due to the high emissions of greenhouse gases produced by human activities. Rising levels of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases) in the atmosphere have warmed the earth and are causing wide-ranging impacts including rising sea levels, melting snow and ice; extreme heat events, fires and drought, extreme storms, rainfall and floods.

These climatic events impacts negatively on areas such as agriculture and food security, biodiversity and ecosystems, water resources, human health, settlements and migration patterns. Women are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change because they constitute majority of the world’s poor and are more dependent on natural resources that are threatened by climate change for their livelihoods. More specifically in the field of agricultural and food security, women constitute about 90% of the labour force in Africa.

Notwithstanding their vulnerability, women’s strong knowledge and expertise in managing natural and household resources make them effective actors of change in relation to both mitigation and adaptation.However, grassroots women whose activities are negatively impacted by the adverse effects of climate change are not part of policy discourses and have no access to climate information, technology and the requisite resources to strengthen their coping capacity.

In the light of the above, AWDF supports women to respond to these challenges by supporting women to adapt and mitigate the impact of climate change through its grant making and technical support activities. AWDF works with smallholder women farmers to improved food security through the preservation of indigenous seeds; to undertake land conservation practices that will help to improve crop yields; provides alternative sources of income such as bee keeping to maintain and improve livelihood; use of solar energy; water harvesting and irrigation technology for dry season agriculture among others. AWDF has also been supporting small-scale industries and agro processing activities to diversify and strengthen women’s income earning opportunities. It also strengthens women’s advocacy on land and food sovereignty.

In 2013, AWDF committed an amount of $623,200 which is 27% of its annual grant making budget ($2,232,250) to 46 women’s groups and organizations within 21 countries in Africa to undertake innovative projects which improve women’s livelihoods and also support them to adapt and mitigate the impact of climate change. The various interventions reached over 18,700 African women.

 

Examples of Climate Change and Adaptation Initiatives by AWDF Grantees

– Restoration of forest cover and regeneration of soils through Agroforestry systems (CAEPA-Cameroon)

The Community Agriculture and Environmental Protection Association (CAEPA Cameroon) is an education and a research body set up in 2007 and legally registered in 2009 with the mission to enhance health, agriculture and environmental protection within Cameroonian communities and beyond.

CAEPA Cameroon through the support of AWDF trained 200 rural women farmers in techniques of nursery creation, seed collection, storage and pretreatment as well as the development of agroforestry systems. CAEPA also provided the women with indigenous tree seedlings. As a result of the project, 50 small holder women farmers from 5 communities in Bamumkumbit Subdivision have incorporated agroforestry into their farming systems. The women also now have the skills to check soil erosion using sustainable cropping systems in addition to wind and fire outbreaks.

CAEPA Cameroon through the support of AWDF has organized series of educational activities in schools. The educational activities were to make students more sensitive to environmental issues.

 

 

– Use of environmentally friendly agricultural production systems (organic agriculture: Children With Future in Zambia-Lumwana project)

Children with Future in Zambia (CwFiZ) is a local NGO established in 2006 to promote the welfare of the vulnerable in society with emphasis on women and orphans. CwFiZ works in the Copperbelt, Northern Province and North-western Province of Zambia.

With AWDF’s support CwFiZ has been able to train 225 women as smallholder groundnut farmers in improved peanut farming and processing. The training covered topics such as climate and soil requirement, varieties of peanut, crop rotation, land preparation, planting, spacing, weeding, diseases and crop protection. In addition, they were also trained in quality processing and packaging of peanuts. The project has enabled the trained women farmers to adopt organic farming methods and to cultivate 9 hectares of peanuts. They have acquired and installed a processing machine to process the harvested peanuts to enhance the crop’s market value and increase income.

 

 

 

– Water harvesting and irrigation for dry season agriculture (Uluntu Community Foundation-Zimbabwe)

Uluntu Community Foundation (UCF) was registered in 2008 by a group of development professionals in Zimbabwe’s second city, Bulawayo, to spearhead development in Zimbabwe using the Matabeleland region as an entry point. UCF was set up to provide a people-centered mechanism for community development and empowerment.

Food insecurity is a major issue in the Matabeleland region of Zimbabwe. The Foundation as a result of AWDF’s support has provided two women’s groups with water harvesting systems for watering 2 community gardens in Njabulo, Qedudubo in Sinkukwe and Zhokwe and Gwanda North and South. This has facilitated dry season gardening for the women who now produce vegetables throughout the year for household consumption and sale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

– Advocacy by traditional women leaders to protect Sacred sites (Mupo Foundation-South Africa)

The Mupo Foundation was established in 2007 by Mphatheleni Makaulule, a woman from Venda who was inspired to empower women in her community to protect their environment and livelihoods. The purpose of the organization is to empower women and girls to secure their livelihoods and participate in decision making processes that affect their lives. The organization operates mostly in Vhembe, a district of Limpopo Province of South Africa. The Mupo Foundation plays an active role in the activities of the African Biodiversity Network (ABN), a regional network into environmental activities.

Through AWDF’s support, Mupo has empowered 109 Makhadzi (women elders young and old), 6 chiefs in Vhembe district (Tshidzivhe, Vhutanda, Mphaila, Tshiendeulu, Tshivale, Ramunangi and Khwevha) to become the voices of their communities, asserting their territorial, environmental and human rights. Traditionally, women in Venda had very specific roles that gave them status and recognized their leadership role in communities and they were respectfully called Makhadzi. The Makhadzi (women elders and community leaders), the custodians of the sacred natural sites (SNS) that play a central role in maintaining the health and cohesion of the community governance system. These sacred forests, lakes, waterfalls and other sites are now critically threatened by the push for tourism development, plantations and mining.

The unravelling of these threads that held communities together and gave them autonomy and resilience, is something that must be urgently addressed as environmental and economic pressures escalate. One of The Mupo Foundation’s (Mupo) priorities is to support the Makhadzi, empowering them to become effective community leaders. MUPO Foundation want to deepen the women local leaders’ empowerment to a point where they can consolidate their constitutional rights to all areas of ecological, spiritual and cultural importance. This will enable them to secure and diversify their livelihood systems.

 

– Women into agro processing activities (Manchie Women Cassava Processing and Marketing Group-Ghana)

Manchie Women’s Cassava/Food Processing Group is a cassava farming and food processing group in the Ga West District of the Greater Accra region of Ghana. The group was formed in 2002 by Hon. Comfort Zormelo the Assembly woman of the area to economically empower the rural poor women. The group is made up of 20 women involved in the gari processing business. The group in addition, supported the construction and setting up of a school where women could leave their young ones while they make an income.

The group as a result of AWDF’s support has been able to purchase cassava processing equipment to support their processing activities; they have been able to rent a 50 acres farm land which they have cultivated. The produce from their farm feeds the processing facility. This has greatly enhanced their processing and marketing activities and has also improved income levels of women, many of whom are single mothers and widows.

Madam Comfort Zormelo, the leader of the group as a result of all the work the group is doing with AWDF’s support, was nominated from the Greater Accra region of Ghana with other nine women from the rest of the country and given an award of excellence for their work on the economic empowerment of women by development partners.

 

– Food storage using traditional silos and integrated pest management (KOWA Farms-Ghana)

The Kobo No. 3 Awoma Co-operative Food Farming & Marketing Society (KOWAFARMS) was formed in 2005 to empower women and the youth in crop production using organic methods to ensure food security in its operational areas. The group operates in the Volta Region of Ghana and its beneficiaries are women and the youth. KOWAFARMS has in the past trained women and youth in its targeted communities in integrated pest management, land conservation, grass-cutter, rabbit and snail farming and has also undertaken anti-bush fire campaigns in some traditional areas within the Volta Region of Ghana.

AWDF’s support enabled the group to empower women small-holder farmers to find and disseminate solutions that will reduce waste from postharvest losses of grain and tuber crops and turn typically discarded by-products into something of increased value. By addressing food security, creating demand for grain and tuber crops and improving efficiency at all stages along the value chain. The project has introduced new locally made silos that are designed to keep harvest in a low-oxygen atmosphere at all times in order to prevent the onset of mud and decay. This unique and innovative project has greatly improve the livelihoods of women farmers with low incomes. KOWAFARMS is piloting traditional granary and metal silo technology in the four district of Volta region of Ghana and expected to be rolled out by 2015 countrywide to help farmers to cut the 30 per cent post-harvest losses (PHL).

 

– Environmental sanitation activities (Women’s Leadership and Training Program (WLTP-South Africa; SOS Addis-Ethiopia, collects plastic waste, recycle to generate income and ameliorate environment)

Women’s Leadership and Training Programme (WLTP), was initiated in 1985 by the Grail, an international women’s movement active in South Africa since 1950. WLTP is an integrated leadership and development programme for girls and young women that analyses gender and cultural practices that demean women and make them subordinate to men, it also empowers women and girls to be more conscious of the threat pose by environmental degradation.

WLTP through AWDF’s support was able to educate over 200 women and young women on environmental sanitation and waste management. WLTP’s waste management activities are in four local Municipalities, Kwa Sani, Ingwe, Umzumbe and Ubuhlebezwe.Hlokozi falls into 2 local Municipalities, Umzumbe with 19 Wards stretching inland from the South Coast of KZN, and Ubuhlebezwe, in the Highflats/Ixopo areas, with 12 Wards.

WLTP in a bid to reduce the threat posed by indiscriminate dumping of waste and to ameliorate the environment, embarked on a community sensitization drive on the negative impact of environmental degradation. Community members were also educated on how to use waste to create livelihood opportunities for community members.

SOS ADDIS, is another organisation based in Ethiopia that is supported by AWDF. It mobilizes women to protect the environment from pollution through the collection of plastic waste; the women collectors of the plastic waste sell them to recycling companies to generate income to meet their social needs. AWDF over the years has supported SOS ADDIS to train some of the women collectors to use the waste SOS ADDIS was supported by AWDF to advocate for better practices of plastic bag use. Their advocacy for recycling reform turned into a real policy, Proclamation 513, which bans the manufacture or import of plastic bags less than 0.33mm in thickness.

 

– Research: African Biodiversity Network (ABN)-Kenya

The African Biodiversity Network (ABN) was first conceived in 1996 in response to growing concerns over threats to biodiversity and community rights in Africa and the need to develop strong African positions and legal instruments at the national, regional and international level. The overall purpose of ABN is to ignite and nurture a growing African network of individuals, organizations and communities working, with capacity to resist harmful developments and to influence and implement policies and practices that promote recognition and respect for people and for Nature. The ABN has developed into a regional network which now consists of 36 partners in twelve African countries: Benin, Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Though AWDF’s support, ABN researched, produced and launched a report on women’s knowledge systems and their critical role in seed selection, household food and nutritional sovereignty as well as climate change resilience. This is an evidence based document to be used for advocacy.

 

 

– Environmental Film Festival of Accra-Creative Storm- Ghana

As part of the advocacy efforts, AWDF supported the Creative Storm to organize the 2012 (second edition) State of the Environment Forum. The forum brought together over 200 participants from across Ghana to deliberate and report on progress towards environmental sustainability in Ghana. The 2012 forum highlighted issues that inform the role of women in the environment. AWDF support enabled Creative Storm to bring more women participants and presenters to the forum. This enriched the sessions and turned out to be a much welcomed initiative. Presentations were made in three thematic areas: climate change, degraded environment & flooding; water and sanitation; natural resources.

Environmental Film Festival of Accra (EFFA) was founded in 2005 as a non profit project to raise awareness of environmental issues through the powerful medium of film and related platforms. EFFA has been described by Times Europe in its March 2006 edition as “the stellar festival of Africa.”

 

– AWDF’s EEL Convening in South Africa

To strengthen women’s role in advocacy, AWDF in 2013 organized an Economic Empowerment and Livelihood (EEL )convening in South Africa that created the platform for women experts and practitioners in the EEL to brainstorm and discuss current and emerging trends in women’s livelihood and environmental issues. At the end of the workshop a statement was issued which was used to further highlight the impact of climate change on women’s livelihoods during the World Economic Forum in South Africa.

 

– Sustainable Livelihoods and Natural Environment Conservation through Beekeeping and agroforestry (Kawuku Women’s Group-Uganda)

The Kawuku Women’s Group is a local women’s group that was formed in 1998 by some women in the local church parish of the district. The purpose of the group is to improve the standard of living of women in terms of increased incomes, improved general health and improved nutrition in the communities. The group operates in Kawuku village, Gaba Parish, Makindye Division of Kampala District. The group was supported by AWDF to undertake beekeeping activities to provide income to women and also to cultivate trees to restore degraded farm land. The group members as a result of the project have experienced increase in incomes. This is because among the 40 beehives, they have been able to harvest honey from 36 hives. Each hive produces a minimum of 1 litre, meaning that from the 36 hives we are able to get 36 litres every 3 months. The income generated has been used to acquire an office at Lubaga and purchase of office equipment. The next money earned will be given to women as revolving credit. The group was able to heat and make 8 packets of 15 candles every week. The degraded land used for the apiary is now vegetated.

 

 

 

– Movement of Women Farmers/Farm Workers Participating in a Food Sovereignty Campaign: Surplus Peoples Project-South Africa

Surplus People Project (SPP) was formed in 1985 by researchers who documented forced removal during apartheid in an effort to address lack of land and housing for black people. The purpose of SPP is to build and support social movements in its struggles for food sovereignty and agrarian transformation. To achieve this, SPP facilitates pro-poor agrarian transformation and food sovereignty. It supports and promotes the implementation of agro-ecological practices as an alternative to the dominant forms of production. The organization currently works in two provinces in South Africa (Northern and Western Cape). SPP’s programs are targeted at small-scale farmers, farm workers & dwellers (women and youth in particular).

The Rural Women’s Assembly is a space where women from the Food Sovereignty Campaign share their struggles for land, water and development resources. Through AWDF’s support, SPP was able to provide spaces where women can strategically engage on issues of natural resource rights. SPP also developed the skills of rural women to build solidarity and to effectively participate in political spaces such as the Food Sovereignty Campaign.

As the African Feminist Forum Working Group we are distressed to hear that nine women human rights defenders were arrested on 21 June 2014 in Cairo after participating in a peaceful protest against the Protest and Public Assembly Law[1]. The nine women are: Yara Sallam, Sanaa Seif, Hanan Mustafa Mohamed, Salwa Mihriz, Samar Ibrahim, Rania El-Sheikh, Nahid Sherif (known as Nahid Bebo) and Fikreya Mohamed.

 

As Africans and as feminists we have witnessed the tremendous leadership of Egyptian women before, during and since the 2011 revolution and in organising for democracy, including taking to streets where they have continued to mobilize despite facing violence and harassment for being women. We know that this is the continuation of a legacy of brave and important activism that Egyptian feminists and women’s rights activists have made across history towards shaping freedom in Egypt.

 

As the African Feminist Forum Working Group we send out solidarity to our fellow activists and sisters.

 

We also add our support to the following six demands made by Nazra for Feminist Studies, to the Egyptian authorities:

 

1. Drop all charges directed at the women human rights defenders and effectuate their immediate and unconditional release;

 

2. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of all the aforementioned women human rights defenders;

 

3. Cease the harassment and persecution of human rights defenders and ensure that all human rights defenders in Egypt are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities free from persecution, arbitrary arrest, judicial harassment and physical violence;

 

4. Ensure that the Protest and Public Assembly Law is revised to be fully compliant with relevant international standards and the newly passed Egyptian constitution;

 

5. Guarantee the right of women human rights defenders to engage in human rights work and take measures to ensure their protection before the law and in society;

 

6. Quash the convictions of other human rights defenders that are based on a Protest and Public Assembly Law and drop all charges stemming from the legitimate exercise of the rights of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

 

Signed,

African Feminist Forum Working Group

Date 24th June 2014

 

[1] Law No, 107 on the Right to Public Meetings, Processions and Peaceful Demonstrations, passed in 2013

The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) is looking for an experienced consultant with demonstrable expertise on women’s rights work in Africa to undertake a formative evaluation on one of its thematic grant making areas – Health and Reproductive Rights (HRR).

The overall objective of the HRR thematic area program review is to identify current and emerging issues of focus under the health and reproductive rights of women in Africa to inform its grant making work. It is also to assess and document the work AWDF has done under this thematic area over the past twelve years including examining the relevance of the newly selected priorities in advancing women’s health and reproductive rights on the continent. The evaluation will also look at the major challenges that is associated with the low patronage of the thematic area and the areas AWDF needs to bring on board to strengthen the scope and coverage. The full terms of reference are attached.

The time frame expected for the execution of this study is four weeks between the months of August and September, 2014.

Interested applicants are encouraged to send their expression of interest including CVs and proposals (Technical and financial) to the following address:

zeytuna[at]awdf dot org and copy yengsaanchi[at]yahoo dot com

The deadline for submission of applications is by close of work on Friday July 11,2014. Only shortlisted consultants will be contacted. Applications from women consultants based in Africa are especially welcome.

Please see link to the Terms of Reference for this consultancy below:

Terms of Reference, Thematic Evaluation

In 2013, I was leading a gender and peace building workshop in which the organisers intuitively built in institutional work as an essential part of creating peaceful and holistic societies. Organisations present were asked to look inward at their personal and institutional practices and values on gender. As part of institutional reflection, we invited three organisations in the host country to speak about the meaning of building gender equitable organisations. Two of the presenters highlighted their activities and achievements. The final presenter focused on the sweat, blood and tears that her organisation had gone through in its close to fifteen year journey of working to end gender based violence. She did this through illustrations[i] that highlighted six major moments in her organisation’s growth cycle.

 

It was a presentation that was cited repeatedly during the workshop because it did two things. First, it told the story behind the story. This is the story behind activities, staff qualifications, experience and strategic plans which could be found on the website but which do not tell us what it means to do the work and live the values. Second, it challenged the workshop participants who had hitherto declared that their organisations were very gender sensitive, to re-examine the true state of their institutions beyond the value statements on banners and websites.

 

What does the above have to do with results based programming (RBP)? RBP contains sometimes confusing terminology – outputs, outcomes, results, indicators and targets, which are accompanied by multiple ways of thinking, writing up and collecting evidence to support each. It is a received framework – World Bank derived – which makes institutions and individuals that want to build organic processes that speak to their contexts reluctant to use it.

 

However, in my view, RBP is simply a process that enables us to tell a compelling story about why we do the work we do. This is a story that does not start with the strategic plan, priority areas and activities, however critical they are in the later stages of an organisation’s planning process. It starts withcontinuous reflection on the vision for change we desire in our communities and why we are best positioned to deliver it. Second, RBP as a framework asks us to take a step back to assess whether the change we desire is supported by a sound analysis of the root causes of the problem and its current manifestations. Third, can aspects of the change we desire be achieved through the set of priorities we have identified and the constituencies we have targeted? Fourth are we realistic about our ability to deliver what we plan for with our communities. Fifth, how do we know when change is happening and our role in it?

 

In May 2014, at a workshop on RBP with twenty small to medium sized organisations that are AWDF grantees, 10 lessons emerged about the meaning of creating and articulating innovative programmes within our communities:

 

1. Clarity: RBP terms can be confusing but it is a process that begins with clarity of purpose. We may all want “happy, healthy societies for women” – but each organisation wants it for a different reason. The need to be clear about what you believe “happy, health societies” will achieve and how you realistically propose to get there is an essential part of the programming journey. Clarity about who you are working with, where and why you are doing a specific activity/project/programme will make the process of planning for reporting and tracking much simpler especially when you are a small organisation
2. Identifying our strengths: Most of our work is driven by compassion, personal experience and the failure of the state to deliver services amongst others factors. As a result, we do not create time to reflect on our capacity to drive the change we seek. It is important to identify where our strengths lie and build on those as well as identify our weaknesses and plan to improve on them. This process facilitates effective and efficient programmes and allows us to identify where additional resources need to go to in order to strengthen our organisations as vehicles for movement building.
3. Root cause analysis: The absence of “happy, healthy societies” is caused by a number of factors, some of them decades in the making. Do we have a sense of what the causes are and the factors that prevent these causes from being resolved? Mapping our understanding of the state of affairs, why we believe it persists and how to transform it offers a good foundation for reviewing our journey towards changing the status quo. Sometimes, our analysis of root causes, are found in broad statements such as “poverty”, “lack of policies”, “culture”. While valid, it makes it difficult to make a case for how training 6,000 rural women in business skills in a remote village in Namibia will resolve poverty and the lack of enabling government policies in that village. Making a clear (even though life is complex) link between the activities you propose, your target groups and how the changes you envisage contribute to resolving what you have identified as the problem is a useful element of RBP.
4. Responding to causes and consequences: How much of our work is geared towards dealing with the causes of the problem? How much work deals with the factors that sustain the problem? How much of our work responds to other things that are remotely related to the problem? Continuously developing clarity about how your work contributes to resolving the factors that cause as well as enable the problems you are responding to, facilitates a more thoughtful mapping of who else is working on the issue, why you need to work with them (and sometimes against them), at what level and how – as allies, influencers, power brokers, gate keepers and direct constituencies who sustain movements for change.
5. The value of numbers: The pressure associated with raising funds to sustain organisations means that we articulate our work as sets of activities and the immediate results. We focus less on how those activities contribute to the broader change the organisations were set up to achieve. For example, a report that begins and ends with 6,000 women were trained in business skills, effectively shows how 5000USD was spent. However, when we think beyond shillings and cents, speaking about what why that training was useful in the first place is a more useful story about impact. Articulating the value of training 6,000 women and gathering evidence to show what the training has facilitated in real terms, is the next layer – medium term – of thinking about results within the RBP framework. How many of the women who were trained are using those skills, in what areas, with what effect on their livelihoods and that of their communities. RBP pushes us to think about the transformative intention of the numbers.
6. Plan and write for you: when we are accountable to ourselves and not to the next reporting cycle that releases funds, then our commitment to planning for and reflecting on the work becomes part of movement building and creating institutional memory. The identification of sign posts of change – indicators, developing simple mechanisms to collect information regularly and building memory through reports, discussions, debates, videos, becomes part of a learning journey for the organization and not a process initiated for funders.
7. Proof: There is immense anxiety around proving to donors that work is being done. When focus is placed on proving to donors, the last minute collection of proof to show impact follows. This proof is often in the form of quotations from beneficiaries – “we are very grateful for the training X gave us”, case studies and pictures. While all of this is important, this proof is often used for “show and tell” purposes. It is evidence that we were here and a workshop was done. It is proof that we met the Y ministers we said we would meet. The pictures and videos should not be seen as proof of work done but as the illustration of how the change (impact) process is unfolding.
8. Honour the experiences: Always remember that one size does not fit all. Interventions and subsequent reporting mechanisms need to suit the constituencies you work with and honour their agency. While stories about an individual in a community are powerful, stories about communities and their journey with you are equally compelling. It enables us see the connections in peoples lives and the process of change. In the era of social media, we should not always be pressured to find the perfect quote that can be re-tweeted or blogged about. We must remain authentic to the essence of the message/story/testimonyshared with us. We are entrusted with stories by virtue of our work, honour them as part of us but also as part of the lives they speak about.
9. Reflect and review: The process of implementing programmes and writing about failures and successes is ultimately a process about studying our environment and how it is adapting to and/or resisting change. Challenges and obstacles are an essential part of understanding the environments we operate in, the new dynamics that shape our work and the lives of our constituents. Do not lose the opportunity to reflect on the meaning of those challenges in order to emphasize how successful you are. Challenges enable us review our approach to the change (impact) journey and keep us alert to mapping the state of affairs, our responses and the new barriers that block change.
10. The soul: Always remember the passion and purpose that drove the work when it all begun. Organisations must grow, however, it is important to focus on what you know best and strengthen how you deliver it in response to new challenges and innovations. The pressure to take on new areas of work because of funding opportunities should not drive how our movements grow. Always remember the story behind the story. The spirit that started the journey.

 

[i]Start and launch; grow and deliver; delegate and evaluate; specialize and control; renew and rebuild; envision and commit

 

Dr. Awino Okech is a programme development and management specialist with 10 years experience in the delivery of social justice programming in Eastern Africa and the Great Lakes region.

 

 

Master Class on Writing Children’s Stories and Young Adult Fiction with Mamle Wolo, June 14 in Accra

This coming Saturday, award-winning author, Mamle Wolo will be teaching a writer’s master class focusing on children’s stories and young adult fiction. Many of her short stories have been published in several journals and anthologies. Also, her young adult novel, The Kaya Girl, won the Burt Award for African Literature in 2011.

If you are a man or a woman interested in participating in the workshop, please send a short bio and a sample story or article to info@mbaasem.net by Tuesday, June 10. Successful applicants will be notified by June 12. The workshop will take place from 9:00-4:00 on June 14. It is organised by the Mbaasem Foundation and the Golden Baobab Prize. AWDF and the Royal Bank are sponsoring. We hope you will apply!

Link to Mbaasem Foundation’s post: here.

 

I spent the first three days of this week attending the African Women’s Development Fund’s (AWDF) third Chief Executive Officer’s Forum at the Crowne Plaza Hotel here in Nairobi. The CEO Forum brings together leaders in women’s organizations that work with AWDF.

I admit it, I had no idea what to expect. Yes I had received the program in advance. Yes, I’ve heard of many of the women previously. Maybe even worked with one or two of their organisations. And yes, like me all of these women are African feminists. But but but…there was also a key difference. I am self-employed and in a very practical way, whatever actions I take regarding my advocacy on women’s issues is my own decision and often affects only me. These women, leaders in their own organizations, take actions that impact other women in ways I could never even begin to do.

I knew that I would meet a woman who is pushing to get more African stories by African writers for African children on the continent – my younger sister Deborah Ahenkorah of Golden Baobab.

I had Googled the women training women in politics and those looking out for the rights of young women too often under threat from patriarchy through forced marriages and payment of fines to parents (mostly fathers) where girls have been raped instead of prosecution – Mawusi Awity, Amy Oyekunle, Yvette Kathurima.

I would meet the amazing food microbiologist and retired Dean of Science from the University of Botswana who I planned to ambush to become my son’s newly adopted grandmother, Professor Sesae Mpuchane who is also the Chair of the AWDF Board.

And the legends in Afro feminist circles – Mary Rusimbi, Sarah Mukasa and Hope Chigudu (I knew these three as being part of the team that gave us the Charter of Feminist Principles for African Feminists but had never met them) and the Ugandan Woman Achiever 2013,the incorrigible and lovable Dr. Hilda Tadria.

Then too, I would meet the women behind my meeting these other fantastic women, the AWDF team consisting of the soft-spoken but uncompromising (on feminist issues) Theo Sowa, convenor of all these amazing women Nafi Chinery, well-known Afro-sexuality blogger Nana Darkoa, and of course the aforementioned Sarah Mukasa.

My leadership, if I can be said to have any, is different from any of the women above and consists of much navel-gazing and compliment seeking on whether a word or phrase sounds right and yet, in the three days I never had a single moment of being an outsider looking in. It was amazing listening, learning, laughing, crying, comforting, sharing with all of them. Through being with them, I learnt some very important things that I should have known but did not know. I learnt that whatever successes one makes of whatever they are doing is not very useful if it isn’t communicated to the people who should know about it. As an example, we can set up mentorship programs for young women or set up a centre for abused women, a workshop for women writers but if we do not communicate the message to the people who it’s set out for; to the public among whom may be a sympathetic audience that may help out when needed then there is a degree of failure. And yes, too often while self-identifying as a feminist and talking of a feminist cause on this continent often leads to a hostile media within, there are ways to counter the hostility through proper messaging.

Equally important, I learnt that being a ‘strong African woman’ at the expense of my well-being is counter-revolutionary to the feminist movement. I learnt that it is okay to admit being tired. To ask for help and admit that I cannot do it all and most importantly, I am under no obligation to do it all. To quote Hope Chigudu, “after all, what are human rights if we are fragmented, have no support and are unhappy?”

On Monday 2^nd June 2014, I went into a room full of strangers, and left having met some people I know will be lifelong friends. And for those whose paths may not cross with mine again (why ever not?), I leave having learnt valuable lessons from each and every one. A major reason for this was that the group was small enough that in the course of the three days I got to chat with each of the women and found echoes of myself in many of them. As I reflect on the three days spent with the women I met at the CEO Forum, I happily admit that whatever it is I expected, what I experienced was beyond my expectation. If the coaching that many of these women will undertake in the next ten months is as successful as the three days I spent with them, the future of African women leadership and the African feminist movement is in good hands. Best wishes to the CEOs and Executive Directors taking part in the 10 month coaching program as a follow up to this forum on leadership, governance and communications.

By: Zukisiwa Wanner

Zukisiwa Wanner is a writer who was most recently recognised “…as one of the top 39 sub-Saharan African novelists under 40 writing in English, French, Portuguese or an African language.” Check out her blog