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Congratulations to Abena Amoah, former Board member of the African Women’s Development Fund, on her appointment as Deputy Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange.

Abena’s appointment is exciting as this makes her the first female executive director of the Exchange, a hitherto male-dominated industry; but not surprising because she is an accomplished investment banker and capital markets expert who has led on many landmark transactions for over two decades.

She was a stellar member of team while she served on the board of AWDF and brought her wealth of experience to bear. Abena is an inspiration to both staff and partners, blazing the trail, and showing that she is a true African woman: determined, intelligent, dynamic and unstoppable.

We are proud of you Sister, and we cannot wait to see what the future holds for you.

Read the GSE Press Release here:

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Félicitations à Abena Amoah, ancienne membre du conseil d’administration de l’AWDF, pour sa nomination au poste de directeur général adjoint de la Bourse du Ghana.

La nomination d’Abena est particulièrement intéressante, car elle devient la première femme directrice exécutive de la Bourse, un secteur jusqu’alors dominé par les hommes ; mais ce n’est pas surprenant, car elle est une banquière d’affaires et une experte des marchés des capitaux accomplie qui a dirigé de nombreuses transactions marquantes pendant plus de deux décennies.

Elle a été un membre éminent de l’équipe lorsqu’elle siégeait au conseil d’administration de l’AWDF et a mis à profit sa riche expérience. Abena est une source d’inspiration pour le personnel et les partenaires, elle ouvre la voie et montre qu’elle est une véritable femme africaine : déterminée, intelligente, dynamique et inarrêtable.

Nous sommes fiers de toi, sœur, et nous avons hâte de voir ce que l’avenir te réserve.

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We’re looking for an African Feminist Consultant to support our virtual training.

The AWDF Capacity Building Unit is seeking an expert consultant to work under the supervision of the Director of Programmes and Capacity Building team to advise on the design, structuring and delivering of online trainings. As part of this we will be taking into account both the need to review training approaches in the online environment, consider implications for participants with disabilities, security and privacy, and also ease of access to virtual platforms given that many participants have difficulties with internet connectivity.

If you have a track record of work supporting activist NGOs to build online learning platforms and approaches and are committed to Feminist values, please contact us today! Click here for the Terms of Reference

Closing Date: 27th July 2020

Image ©LaylaBird via Getty

Written by: Jennifer Donkoh, Communications Associate, AWDF

25 years after the Beijing Platform for Action, women still live in constant fear across the African continent. Despite the signing of the peace agreement in 2018, South Sudan has one of the highest rates of sexual violence against women in the world. Female protestors in Egypt often face violent sexual assault; their attackers suffer no punishment. Every three hours a woman is murdered in South Africa. These are the more glaring examples of patriarchy. It is still however very much present in so-called more advanced countries. Female political candidates are berated and discriminated against in most countries by the media and public opinion. Many women are paid much less than their male counterparts. In some parts of the world, feminism is at best tolerated, while in many others, it is faced with stiff opposition.

A glaring reminder that men’s lives are still viewed as more valuable than those of women is the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in the United States of America.

On March 13 2020, Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), was murdered in her home by police officers who barged in while she was asleep, in a case of alleged mistaken identity. In fact, the person the police meant to accost was allegedly already in custody. It has already been 3 months. Her killers still roam free and her death has not sparked policy-changing outrage like that of Ahmaud Aubrey or George Floyd. The media has decidedly dubbed the BLM movement a fight against police brutality perpetuated towards black men. This has excluded women victims like Sandra Bland and Atatiana Jefferson from the conversations around police brutality.

The fight for women’s rights is obviously still an uncomfortable subject for many. This is because patriarchy is the most potent political power in the world. Whether it manifests in subtle ways like the stifling of female executives’ voices at a board meeting or more stomach-turning ways like murder and sexual assault, men have a death-grip on patriarchy because it favours them both economically and socially. Tired of relying on failed to non-existent policies on gender equality, many women have been frustrated into conforming to and even defending patriarchy. Many anti-feminist people have also capitalised on the disunity of the feminist movement to cheapen its credibility.

Yet, we simply cannot give up the fight because even a small act towards the advancement of women goes a long way. Let’s take the case of Yaa Asantewaa, a former queen mother of Ghana who famously suited up to lead the charge against the British colonisers. Though she died in 1921, her sheer heroism remains a shining moment in Ghanaian history. Ghana is still very much a patriarchal country, but her example has been used by many to encourage young women and girls to take a stand against what is not right. Also, after civil war broke out once again in Liberia in 1999, Liberian women put aside the unspeakable horrors they had endured at the hands of rebel and state forces alike to advocate for a peaceful end to the war. Recognising the role of women, the country elected its first female president: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. These women are among a tall list of incredible women who are leading the charge against patriarchy, empowering young women and girls in their communities to the best of their abilities and encouraging others to do same.

Though the road to gender equality may be a rough one, we should take pride even in the individual lives we are able to change. Individual empowered women have started revolutions, empowered women are changing the world. It may take only one woman to reverse the status quo. As the COVID-19 pandemic lays bare injustices and systemic failures, it is time for feminist movements to target specific causes that are bound to bring lasting and revolutionary results. For instance, Ghanaian feminists can push for the passage of the marital rape bill, siting the fact that COVID-19 lockdown measures may exacerbate the incidences of marital rape in the country. Majority of frontline workers during this pandemic are women. Governments can be pressured to improve required work conditions of women-dominated groups like domestic workers. CSOs such as Abantu For Development have made great strides, currently calling on the Government of Ghana to speed up the processes to get the Affirmative Action Bill into Parliament, but a lot more momentum is needed.

Contrary to what some people believe, the pandemic has not diminished the relevance of feminism, rather, it has shown that the fight for women’s rights is relevant now more than ever. This is no time to be weary, on the contrary, it is time to amplify our voices. Let us continue dismantle patriarchy, one girl at a time.

I remember Hope Chigudu warmly embracing me, whispering to me these words, “It is time to let go of everything even if it’s going to hurt others…so you can heal, be free and start thinking of yourself as a person.” These words are still my guiding principles today.

~ Florence Awuor, Flourish Retreat participant.

AWDF’s inaugural Flourish Retreat was launched in February this year in what will turn out to be an incredibly empowering start to what was going to be a very difficult year.

Taking place at the beautiful Sogakope beach resort located in the Volta region of Ghana, the Flourish retreat is one strand of the AWDF Flourish Project aimed at strengthening feminist organising across Africa, a partner project of the NOVO Foundation’s Radical Hope Fund. Built deliberately around African healing philosophy and practices, the Flourish facilitators used a plethora of tools – art, chakras for emotional, spiritual and physical wellbeing, breathing exercises, affirmations, dancing, aromatherapy, meditation, moon rituals, yoga, poetry and creative writing, individual and group reflection sessions, journaling, theatre and counselling sessions.

The NoVo Foundation launched the Radical Hope Fund in July 2017 with a global call for projects grounded in new partnerships, bold experimentation, and a deep commitment to social justice. The vision of Radical Hope is to create spaces for dreaming new possibilities, experimenting with new collaborations and developing new, creative strategies to overcome structural failures. AWDF’s Flourish Project was one of 19 initiatives selected to support this vision on the continent.

Using a transformational, feminist approach, the Flourish retreat created a dynamic healing space for 20 African feminists. These were women working on the frontlines of VAW prevention in the fields of sex work, women living with HIV, running rape crisis centres, healing and feminist movement building.

In an interview, Jessica Horn, Director of Programmes at AWDF, speaks about healing, the AWDF Flourish retreat and her vision for what the retreat could do within the African feminist movement. Jessica is a writer and political commentator, co-founder of AIR. She curates open mics where people explore the concept of Revolutionary Love and also acted as a Flourish Facilitator at the inaugural Flourish Retreat.

Written by Nana Akosua Hanson, Programme Officer, Catalytic Initiatives, AWDF

Click here to read the full interview and also the reflections of the participants – A Flourish State of Mind blog

To see more pictures from the retreat, visit our Instagram page @theawdf

For women in the formal labour force, there is the reality of the glass ceiling and the discriminatory requirements for moving past a certain point on the career ladder which is exacerbated by a lack of access to a broad range of job opportunities. In addition, there is the normalisation of sexual harassment in the workplace due to patriarchal work cultures. Finally, there is greater precarity with contracts when it comes to women (including those tied to immigration e.g. Kafala in Lebanon; and the use of short term contracting to evade worker protections as employees are then not eligible for full time worker benefits e.g. Kenya tea farmers).
Organisations fighting for women’s labour rights face the perpetual challenge of accessing adequate funding which is needed to build and sustain advocacy, community level groups and the national and transnational momentum for change. The presence of supportive, flexible and multi-year funding in particular makes a tremendous difference in the ability to maintain labour right activism.

In November 2019, AWDF held a convening in Accra with six grantee organisations of Leading from the South, to discuss the different aspects of women’s labour rights advocacy in Africa and the Middle East and also to explore commonalities in strategies and approaches, challenges and areas for growth.

To read the Report from the Convening, click here: Labour Rights Convening Report

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs)—which include cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, and mental health conditions—are already leading causes of death and disability for women in many countries across Africa with worrying forecasts for the future. National, regional and global attention with regards to women’s health on the continent however remains largely fixated on infectious diseases and maternal and child health

In an effort to address these gaps and explore the opportunities to better support African women’s organisations around engagement with NCD prevention and control, the African Women’s Development Fund, commissioned a research project to look at:

(1) the scale and key gendered concerns around NCDs and women in Africa;

(2) the key actors responding to the rise in NCDs in Africa;

(3) how these actors are responding and whether gender, equity and rights being considered in these responses; and

(4) the opportunities and challenges for African women’s organisations around engagement with NCD prevention and control and ways to support greater engagement on links between NCDs and women’s rights.

To read the Executive Summary of the Report, click here

For the full report on Women and Non-communicable Diseases in Africa, click here

Women and NCDs Exec Summary

Women and NCDs in Africa

In February of this year, AWDF held its inaugural Flourish retreat, a groundbreaking and much needed space for African feminists to rest, rejuvenate and build emotional resilience. After heading home, participants continued the work with their own energies, building ongoing sisterhood to sustain their activism. Read the stories of seven African feminists living and working in Uganda, sharing their survival techniques for coping in these challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the diaries here

A feminist just earth, as expressed by Bridget Burns of WEDO, ‘is a world centred on recognition and care for ourselves, for others and for mother earth’.

As COVID-19 continues to impact our communities, it is imperative that we actively and consciously devise ways of protecting the health of our planet. The environmental challenges before us today are prompting us to view our development through an environmental health lens. They also highlight the fact that we need to change the way we live, work, relate to one another and interact with the outside world. It is clear that our current development model is unsustainable, and is taking a heavy toll on the earth and her lifeforms. If we continue to take our natural environment for granted and continue to produce, consume and power our lives the way we do now, forests, oceans and weather systems soon will be overwhelmed and rendered incapable of supporting life as we know it.

The lives of the majority of African women, especially rural poor women are closely connected to the environment as a result of their livelihoods being largely dependent on natural resources. In cognisance of this, feminists and women’s rights organisations in Africa have undertaken various innovative and community driven interventions to forestall unsustainable agriculture, fisheries, infrastructure projects, mining and energy. All of these have resulted in unprecedented biodiversity loss, habitat degradation, over-exploitation, pollution and climate change which have negatively affected the livelihoods of rural women.

AWDF is a strong advocate of sustainable livelihoods through women’s innovation and local response and has supported several women-driven local initiatives to address environmental degradation.

CAEPA Cameroon, with support from AWDF, galvanised over 1000 rural women within 6 communities in Bamenda to re-vegetate marginal lands through agro-forestry systems with fast growing tree species. The wood lots serve to enrich soil cover, ameliorate local climate, provide fodder for livestock and energy for cooking. CAEPA Cameroon has also mobilised about 1500 young environmental feminists in 6 schools within Bamenda to join in the re-vegetation drive. As a result, the schools have incorporated re-afforestation in extra curriculum activities and have re-vegetated about 200 hectares of marginal land within their respective communities.

Another partner, Iseguri Initiative in the Oti Region of Ghana has supported rural women smallholder farmers in organic agriculture and agroforestry practices. Over 2000 rural women smallholder farmers have adopted such practices to improve their farming activities, boost their income and rejuvenate marginal land for farming.

African Gender and Extractives Alliance (WoMin) worked tirelessly to strengthen the voices of marginalised women in resource rich communities to advocate against extractives and large-scale infrastructure projects.

African women have always played a critical role in managing natural resources, and are also the most affected by environmental degradation. As a feminist organisation, AWDF believes in the power of solidarity to radically transform our world into a feminist earth. Environmental issues are feminist issues and must be prioritised by all.

Happy Earth Week!

By Rose Buabeng, Programme Officer, AWDF

22/04/2020

We are excited to announce the publication of Feminist Africa Issue 22, a collection of essays, opinion pieces and artistic reflections on feminist organising across the African continent. This special edition was produced through a collaboration between Feminist Africa and the African Women’s Development Fund. The content germinated out of conversations at the 4th African Feminist Forum, organised by AWDF in Zimbabwe in 2017. This collection aims to articulate the priorities, concerns and collective aspirations of contemporary feminist activists and organisers from various parts of the continent. The special edition, titled Feminists Organising: Strategy, Voice, Power was produced with editorial direction from Guest Editor Charmaine Pereira, Feminist Africa editors Jane Bennett and Amina Mama, and AWDF staff Sionne Neely and Jessica Horn. As you read, we invite you to consider some of the crucial questions offered in the journal’s editorial introduction by Charmaine Pereira: How has contemporary feminist organising in Africa addressed the nexus of strategy, voice and power? How have feminists in Africa organised and what are the ends to which feminist organising is directed? What strategies are used to pursue which goals and what trajectories of change are envisaged? How do we effect change within ourselves, even as we strive to change relations and conditions at local, national, regional, and/or global levels?

We hope this edition engenders deep critical reflection for readers, as we move towards our collective feminist futures!

Click here for the New Edition: Here

AWDF Co-founder Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi has launched a new blog targeted at mature audiences.

Above Whispers is a space “primarily, (but not exclusively) for middle-aged women, and will provide an opportunity for people to engage in discussions about a range of issues such as politics, social justice, development, financial security, women’s rights, health, entrepreneurship, popular culture, faith, parenting and relationships.”

It hopes to offer a unique platform to engage with other people in an atmosphere of mutual respect.

Click here to read Bisi’s response to Nigerian writer Olatunji Ololade’s article on African Feminists “Beasts Of No Gender, The Nation.”

Bisi Adeleye- Fayemi, a feminist activist, philanthropist, social entrepreneur and writer, is one of AWDF’s co-founders.