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Health and Reproductive Rights Portfolio: A look back at the last 14 years of thematic grantmaking and recommendations for moving forward
Health and Reproductive Rights Portfolio: A look back at the last 14 years of thematic grantmaking and recommendations for moving forward
In an effort to ensure that the HRR thematic area remains relevant to women’s needs and reflect current and emerging issues that affect health and reproductive rights of women in Africa, AWDF commissioned an independent consultant (Ms. Everjoice J. Win) to conduct an evaluation of the thematic HRR area.
This report is an abridged version of the findings from that assessment. To obtain a full copy of the evaluation, please contact Ms. Zeytuna Abdella Feyissa-Azasoo, the M&E Specialist at AWDF. The overall objectives of the HRR evaluation were:
To document and assess the work of AWDF in this thematic area, examining the relevance of selected priorities;
To understand major challenges that have contributed to low patronage of the thematic area and suggest improvements;
To identify current and emerging HRR issues of importance to African women.
Grants Making for Women’s Rights: Lessons Learnt.
Grants Making for Women’s Rights: Lessons Learnt.
This report is an Abridged Evaluation of AWDF’s work. It focuses on the Projects completed under Comic Relief grant.
The purpose of the evaluation was to evaluate the project performance, identify good practices and draw out lessons that can be applied in future interventions. As the Comic Relief grant supported AWDF’s Strategic Plan, the evaluation looked at AWDF’s main areas of work and assessed the role of the Comic Relief grant within which the AWDF initiatives were conducted. The evaluation coincided with AWDF’s Strategic Plan midway point. Findings from the evaluation were also used to inform AWDF’s subsequent decision-making processes.
Forward with Health & Reproductive Rights in Africa : An Evaluation
Forward with Health & Reproductive Rights in Africa : An Evaluation
The AWDF convened a round table meeting with some
of our grantees and partners on 30 June 2015 in
Arusha, Tanzania. We met to discuss the evaluation of
our Health and Reproductive Rights (HRR) Portfolio,
which was completed in October 2014. The evaluation
gave us the opportunity to review the progress and
challenges in civil society efforts to advance women’s
sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).
Following the evaluation, the objective of the meeting
was to identify strategic interventions to help scale up
and sustain our impact on the ground. We also wanted
to identify more effective ways to influence policies
around (SRHR) at local, national and regional levels.
This report contains the key findings of the convening.
5th Chief Executive Officers Forum Report, AUGUST 2015
5th Chief Executive Officers Forum Report, AUGUST 2015
AWDF’s 5th CEO Forum on Leadership and Communications for Women Leaders of Women’s Rights Organisations in Africa took place in Nairobi, Kenya between 10 -12 August 2015. The three-day convening brought together 21 vibrant women executives from 8 organisations across Africa, including Botswana, Zambia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana. The program featured two main facilitators, Hope Chigudu and Paula Fray, who will serve as coaches leading the participants through a 10-month coaching program following the forum. Over the years, the focus of the CEO Forum has deepened and expanded. The forum and coaching program are also growing just as the participants are also developing their leadership and communications portfolio.
With each forum, the experience shared by the organisers and participants pushes the Capacity Building Program to take risks and try new and different processes. So, the forum and coaching program are interactive and responsive, shifting and changing over time like the women leaders who take part. Through this process, the Capacity Building Program is creating a unique framework that promotes African feminist leadership and coaching as a model for implementation for women’s rights organisations throughout Africa and, potentially, around the world. The idea is to mobilise more resources to support African women and organisations to build a compelling leadership practice that infuses the whole organisation. This can provide routes for the democratisation of leadership among staff and board members, so that human resource talents and skills can be adequately tapped and utilised for greater viability of the organisation. This can provide much needed support to the CEO and senior management team. With feminist leadership, leaders are built to carry the vision of the organisation into the future.
Bringing Gender Dimensions back from Obscurity
Bringing Gender Dimensions back from Obscurity
Introduction
Attempts to address the gender dimensions of governance, peace and security in Africa are often
plagued by several undermining tendencies. One tendency is that gender and, derived from this,
women’s concerns are presented as a standalone issue by an active women’s movement. This is done
without thorough engagement with the entire peace, security and governance environment. Mainstream
peace and security processes generally deal with gender and the women’s agenda as a peripheral
issue. They relegate it to the shadows of the governance and security debate. Policy interventions
aimed at achieving gender related transformation in peace and security have not delivered meaningful
change on the ground.
This policy paper discusses this disconnect between policy, scholarship and activism and the reality
on the ground; and its underlying causes. It makes proposals for relocating gender considerations in
mainstream governance, peace and security discourse and practice. Ultimately, the hope is that this
might begin to bring a systematic shift in the way all parties address gender issues. As such, this paper
brings several interrelated issues into focus:
● The relationship between governance, peace and security.
● The value of examining processes through which state and society forge a common understanding
around the protection of their citizens – and the place of gender in this. A key question is: why does
gender inequality remain relegated to the background while other issues occupy the foreground
of national conversation?
● The opportunities peace and security processes provide for reform of security governance in favour
of excluded citizens, particularly women, who are often at the receiving end of gender inequality.
The paper highlights the role of policy frameworks such as UN Security Council Resolution 1325.
● The constituency of actors who can help elevate the gender equality agenda as articulated in
Resolution 1325 in the policy and decision making arena.
● Despite efforts, the failure to achieve transformation in society and change for women toward
gender equality.
The summary section of this paper above includes three sets of recommendations for analysts, policy
practitioners and women’s organisations and activists.
Policy paper by: Dr Fumni Olonisakin
Bringing Gender Dimensions back from Obscurity (web version)17_12_15
Feminist Organizing for Women’s human rights in Africa: Current and Emerging issues
Feminist Organizing for Women’s human rights in Africa: Current and Emerging issues
Introduction
There have been some significant gains for women in Africa over the past 15 to 20 years. Women are taking positions of leadership in increasing numbers in political, economic, legal and social fields. In Rwanda, women constitute 64% in parliament, ranking it as the leading nation globally for representation by women in a legislature. In 2005, Africa witnessed the first woman president with the election of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia. In 2011, we had the second woman president, President Joyce Banda. There is legislation in countries such as Ghana, Kenya and South Africa against domestic and other forms of gender based violence. In 2010, the African Union (AU), launched the Decade for Women.
While these achievements are welcome, there is still a big deficit in implementation of key international and national policies and laws. Thirty years after the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), many girls and women still do not have equal opportunities to realise their rights as recognised in law.
The report below examines this in depth.
Policy Paper by: Everjoice Win
Feminist Organizing for Women’s Human Rights in Africa (final web version)
Health and Safety Technical Support Project Report
Health and Safety Technical Support Project Report
The African Women’s Development Fund’s Health and Safety Technical Support Project provided food and health safety technical support to 11 small – medium sized women’s rights organisations in Ghana engaged in food production and processing activities.
The training programme offers useful and practical help to women food producers and processors to ensure a safe and healthy environment at work, in line with the International Labour Organization’s Safe Work mandate, which aims to create worldwide awareness of the dimensions and consequences of work-related accidents, injuries and diseases.
Read the full report below:
AWDF’S 4TH CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICERS’ FORUM, NAIROBI, KENYA (2015)
AWDF’S 4TH CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICERS’ FORUM, NAIROBI, KENYA (2015)
[tp lang=”en” not_in=”fr”]The Chief Executive Officers’ (CEO) Forum, is a biennial event convened by the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) aimed at strengthening the organizational capacity of the various women’s organisations we support. The 4th installment took place from the 25th – 27th of March, 2015, in Nairobi, Kenya.
The forum brought together managers, board members and young professionals in senior roles within the organizations (dubbed “the next generation leaders”) from 10 women’s organisations supported by AWDF. By bringing these three groups together for the first time, participants were able to get a more comprehensive look at governance and administration – the two building blocks of a healthy organization. The women took part in an expanded coaching and mentorship project on Leadership and Governance aimed at strengthening the capacity and governance frameworks of their organisations.
Read the full report here: AWDF 4th CEO Forum Report (1)[/tp]
[tp lang=”fr” not_in=”en”]Le ‘Forum des Directeurs Généraux (CEO)’ est un événement biennal organisé par le Fonds africain de développement de la femme (AWDF) visant à renforcer la capacité organisationnelle des différentes organisations de femmes que nous soutenons. Le 4e volet a eu lieu du 25 au 27 Mars 2015 à Nairobi, au Kenya.
Le forum a réuni les gestionnaires, les membres de conseils d’administration et de jeunes professionnels aux postes de direction (surnommés «la prochaine génération de leaders») de 10 organisations de femmes soutenues par AWDF. En réunissant ces trois groupes pour la première fois, les participants étaient en mesure d’obtenir un aperçu plus complet de la gouvernance et de l’administration – les deux blocs de construction d’une organisation saine. Les femmes ont pris part à un entrainement et projet de mentorat sur le leadership et la gouvernance visant à renforcer les cadres de capacité et de gouvernance dans leurs organisations .
Lire le rapport complet ici: AWDF 4th CEO Forum Report (1)[/tp]
AWDF Women’s Economic Empowerment Policy Brief
AWDF Women’s Economic Empowerment Policy Brief
[tp lang=”en” not_in=”fr”]The African Women’s Development Fund’s (AWDF) Women’s Economic Empowerment Policy Brief is an outcomes document of our economic empowerment and livelihoods convening in Cape Town in 2013, where participants raised critical issues and contributions around the theme, and how they affect women’s economic participation, empowerment and livelihoods in Africa. This document also serves as an important reference point for a deeper understanding of the AWDF thematic area and the work our organisation does in promoting African women’s economic and livelihood development.
Download the Policy Brief here: AWDF EEL Policy Brief[/tp]
[tp lang=”fr” not_in=”en”]La note de synthèse sur l’autonomisation économique des femmes du Fonds Africain de Développement de la Femme documente sur le rassemblement de 2013 au Cap, qui portait sur les résultats de notre émancipation économique et de nos moyens de subsistance. A cette occasion les participants ont soulevé des questions critiques et apporté des contributions à ce thème, et sur comment ils affectent la participation économique des femmes, l’autonomisation et les moyens de subsistance en Afrique. Ce document sert également de point de référence important pour une compréhension plus profonde de la zone thématique d’AWDF et le travail de notre organisation qui fait la promotion du développement économique et des moyens de subsistance des femmes africaines.
Télécharger le dossier de synthèse ici: AWDF EEL Policy Brief[/tp]
Financing For Development Policy Recommendations
Financing For Development Policy Recommendations
[tp lang=”en” not_in=”fr”]Ahead of the United Nations’ Third Financing for Development conference in July 2015, The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), in partnership with the Post 2015 Women’s Coalition and African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), organised a regional strategic meeting for African feminist organisations. Held in Nairobi, Kenya from 6th-8th May, the main aim of the regional meeting was to facilitate collective action and create a space for organizing in anticipation of the upcoming July conference in Addis Ababa.
Read the outcomes and policy recommendations document from the Nairobi meeting here:
Policy Recommendations – FfD[/tp]
[tp lang=”fr” not_in=”en”]En amont de la troisième conférence de l’Organisation des Nations Unies sur le “financement pour le développement” en Juillet 2015, le Fonds Africain de Développement de la Femme (AWDF), en partenariat avec Post 2015 Women’s Coalition et le Réseau de Développement et de Communication des femmes africaines (FEMNET), a organisé une réunion stratégique régionale pour les organisations féministes africaines. Tenue à Nairobi, au Kenya, du 6 au 8 mai, l’objectif principal de cette réunion régionale était de faciliter l’action collective et créer un espace pour l’organisation en prévision de la prochaine conférence de Juillet à Addis-Abeba.
Lire les résultats et le document de recommandations stratégiques de la réunion de Nairobi ici:
Recommandations stratégiques – du financement du développement[/tp]