African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF)
Established in June 2000, is the first Africa-wide fundraising and grant-making fund, which aims to support the work of organisations working to promote women’s rights in Africa. The AWDF funds local, national, sub-regional and regional organisations in Africa working towards women’s empowerment.
The objectives of the AWDF are fundraising within and outside Africa, grant making on an Africa-wide basis, communicating the work and achievements of African women’s organisations and providing technical assistance to grantees.
AWDF began grant-making in October 2001. By October 2003 we had awarded grants worth US$1,257,000 to 144 women’s organisations in 32 African countries.
The vision of the AWDF is for African women to live in a changed world with integrity and in peace.
To this end, our mission is to mobilise financial, human and material resources to support local, national and international initiatives for transformation led by African women, which will lead to the achievement of this vision.
STRATEGIC GOALS
The strategic goals of the AWDF are:
· To support the African Women’s Movement through grant-making and technical assistance.
· To secure adequate financial resources for all aspects of AWDF’s work
· To build a viable and effective institution
· To implement a multi-purpose communications strategy
· To develop and sustain a culture of organisational learning
PHILANTHROPIC GOALS
The goals of the AWDF as a philanthropic institution are:
· To invest in the efforts of African women who are engaged in innovative efforts to develop their communities
· To increase the amount of resources available to women’s organisations and women’s projects in Africa
· To strengthen the capacity and infrastructure of women’s organisations
· To advocate with other donors and policy makers, for resources for African women
· To establish alliances and build relationships with other grant-making institutions within and outside Africa, individual donors and organisations committed to promoting and protecting women’s rights.
Strategies at a national scale
The never-ending conflicts, decades of war, and now the scourge of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa are enough reasons for African women to be part of the decision-making process in their various countries. Since women are the most vulnerable and suffer most during these crises, it is only logical that they participate actively in debating issues and making decisions affecting them. Women would make a difference in the kind of policies formulated because they bring in issues that have not been highlighted before. They bring issues important not only to themselves as women but also issues of children and other marginalised groups because they understand marginalisation, having been marginalised themselves.
Fortunately, the changing political climate in Africa bodes well for women. The trend of increased democratisation has opened space and opportunities for women, and they ought to be encouraged to maximise the democratisation process taking root in their respective countries. Women must, therefore, have an increased representation in decision-making.
In South Africa, women played a pivotal role in the struggle against apartheid. Liberian women have also been extremely instrumental in the peace process, which brought an end to the war in their country. Within these successes, however, are complex nagging questions surrounding women’s full participation in political issues, for instance, why are women still not coming out to participate actively in politics? At the core of women’s participation lies the question of empowerment. If women were systematically marginalised from participation in decision-making, then it becomes necessary that women be provided with the opportunities for training and development that would enable them to participate as full members of society.
Again, lack of economic empowerment as a primary obstacle to the political advancement of women is very real. The lack of access to and control over resources, the lack of economic and political strength to compete with other interest groups for a better share of resources, and the inability to influence the decision-making process create a vicious cycle among women in their attempts for achieving the well-being of their families and themselves. The political empowerment of women must in essence include economic empowerment, to enable women actively compete with their male counterparts.
Strategies to get More Women Involved
· Awareness must be created, especially at the grass roots level on the need for women to be actively involved in the decision-making process. Women must, therefore, be armed with information about their rights.
· Women’s coalitions and especially Women’s Wings of existing coalitions can function as lobby groups for women’s full participation in politics.
· Women politicians from different parties should also be encouraged to get together and create a women’s voice in parliament.
· Efforts to build the confidence of women to speak out and to run for office are especially important. Women must realise that it is their right to run for office.
· Money and economic security are crucial if women are to actively participate in politics.
· Networking and the development of solidarity among women is the key to women’s participation in politics.
· Mentoring of younger women to take interest in politics would enhance their future participation
In Africa, Some AWDF’s grantees which can be identified with the political empowerment of women are:
EMANG BASADI
Emang Basadi was established in 1982 and registered as an association in 1986. It was established by group of women in Botswana who were reacting against the 1982 amendment of the Citizenship Act, which was discriminating against women. The amended Act denied Botswana women married to foreigners to pass on their citizenship to their children, while Botswana men who married foreign women could automatically passed their citizenship to their children. The Third World Conference on women which was held in Nairobi-Kenya in 1985 also influenced the formalisation of Emang Basadi.
Emang Basadi’s objectives are as follows:
To identify through consultation and research the problems related to women in Botswana.
To increase awareness among women and the public in general about the specific problems faced by women in all sectors of the Botswana society.
To develop action-oriented strategies and mobilise women to take steps that will help to change the social, political, economic and legal position of women in Botswana.
To highlight and give concrete recognition to the important role that women play in national development.
To work towards greater equality and the removal of all cultural and legal barriers which hinder the advancement of women.
FEMNET (Kenya)
The African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) was set up in 1988 to share information, experiences, ideas and strategies among African women's non-governmental organisations (NGOs) through communications, networking, training and advocacy so as to advance women's development, equality and other women's human rights in Africa.
FEMNET's aims to strengthen the role and contribution of African NGOs focusing on women's development, equality and other human rights. It also aims to provide an infrastructure for and a channel through which these NGOs can reach one another and share information, experiences and strategies to as to improve their input into women's development, equality and other women's human rights in Africa. FEMNET is governed by a Constitution and the following governance and administrative structure:-
AKINA MAMA WA AFRIKA (UGANDA/UK)
Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA) is an international, pan-African, non-governmental development organisation for African women based in the UK with an Africa regional office in Kampala, Uganda. AMwA was set up in 1985 by women from different parts of Africa resident in the United Kingdom. Translated from Swahili, the name means 'solidarity among African women', signifying African sisterhood. AMwA was founded to create space for African women to organise, and build links with African women active in the areas of their own development.
Akina Mama wa Afrika established an African Women’s Leadership Institute (AWLI) in 1996, which serves as a network for strengthening young African women activists and convenes regional and national leadership training programs, including an annual regional institute. AMwA also serves as a mobilising, networking, information, advocacy and training forum for African women, building their leadership capacities to influence policy and decision-making.
THE LIBERIAN WOMEN INITIATIVE (LWI)
The Liberian Women Initiative (LWI) is a non-partisan movement that evolved among the women of Liberia to foster disarmament, peace and free and fair elections. Mounting concerns among the women regarding the stalemate in the peace process prompted them to add their voices to the call for disarmament and peace.
This was based upon the fundamental premise of "above all Liberia comes first, and if Liberians want disarmament, peace and reunification, everything else is secondary." The initiative is not just another women’s group, neither is it an umbrella for women’s groups, it is a movement of women from all walks of life who have come together to transcend all socio-economic, political and ethnic barriers.
Case study: An Integrated Rural Development Program to Improve the Quality of Life in Kibwezi, Kenya
Involves over 2,500 destitute women left as heads of family when males went elsewhere for remunerated work following repeated, severe droughts. Because of women's poor physical and mental condition, bee-keeping and honey processing; milk-goat, fish and rabbit breeding; sun-dried brick-making; handicrafts and an income-generating and nutrition-teaching canteen were initiated
and implemented.
Kibwezi is a small town which until very recently was only an overnight stop for heavy transport vehicles. Its inhabitants are mostly Eastern Bantu people who migrated into this area sporadically, over many years. In the 1960s the area was hit by the aftermath of the Sahelian drought, whatever livestock people had brought, either died or was eaten. The men left for work elsewhere and the women remained as heads of their families. By 1981 they were truly desperate and when children started dying they approached the Catholic Mission of the Sisters of Mercy in Kibwezi which, in turn, contacted the Council for Human Ecology-Kenya (CHEK), at that time the only NGO with a holistic attitude to development. The women were organised in traditional mutual-help societies called "mwethia" and the Council decided to take advantage of these to reach as many needy families as possible and make the most impact on the quality of their lives.
After meeting the mwethia leaders many times and discussing with them the possible ways of increasing the women's food production and cash income and, taking under consideration the poor physical and mental condition they were in, the Council decided that an integrated, multilevel and multi-disciplinary approach, combining material, financial and technical assistance was called for. The women needed to be shown ways commensurate to their state and which would enable them to help themselves whilst also improving their common lot. Very little could be done initially in the way of community participation; the women's state precluded anything but immediate actions to relieve their dire poverty, hunger and ill health. Once their capabilities were established, CHEK embarked on two possible programmes which, however, involved skills traditionally reserved for men only. It took courage and desperation for the women to decide that in the absence of their men-folk, they would attempt bee-keeping and brick-making. Later, a very successful stall-fed, milk-goat breeding programme was established and, later still, having ascertained that the Kamba people would eat fish and rabbits, ponds were built and stocked with Tilapia fish and a rabbit-breeding scheme was set in motion. Still later, a canteen was designed and built on a plot of land in Kibwezi town which had been acquired by CHEK for the women and on which a honey and wax refinery had already been built.
Both the women's groups and the town prospered. Many more Government departments established field offices in Kibwezi and the influx of more and better educated people brought in because of the women's activities, in turn, increased the demand for more and better facilities in the town itself. The number, kind and quality of shops and businesses rose rapidly, banks, private medical clinics, beauty parlours and hardware stores came into existence, a mosque, a public library and a dart club were established. The open-air market has vastly increased in size, water has been piped to it and from being held only once a week, it is now a daily occurrence. Many other NGOs have also opened offices in Kibwezi and the sight of young, expatriate, motor-cycle riders of both sexes, is now prevalent.
Sustainability
The Programme has caused Land Adjudication to take place throughout the 4 locations of the District and most former plot holders now have Title Deeds. A special training curriculum for untutored but intelligent businesswomen has been formulated and accepted country-wide. The rules and regulations of co-operative movements and societies of women in rural areas have been modified in their favour. The women have learnt to work with each other, with Government and NGOs, and have become vocal and active politically. The women asked for adult literacy training and over 5000 adults are benefiting from this advance. Because of the stall-feeding goat programmes a certain amount of denudation and environment degradation may have been stopped while many children now have a regular, daily supply of goat milk. Almost all the women now have individual savings bank accounts and many have gone into various businesses. The women have proved willing and able to embark on trades and techniques not only unfamiliar and innovative to them, but which also encroached on the men's traditional spheres of activity. They have started to replace old mud houses with large and better built shelters; all the girls of the appropriate age now attend the Boarding Secondary Girls' School in Kibwezi; many send their daughters to university and indulge in fashionable clothes and hairdos. The programmes on which they embarked, were adopted by consensus; they have succeeded in changing institutional arrangements and governance in their participation in a previously males only "world" and have proved that they can very effectively handle decision-making processes. As a result, we feel that this programme can be replicated in other parts of the world and, given a motivated, homogenous group of women, should achieve the same sustainable success.
Contact
Kibwezi Women Integrated Rural Development Group
P.O. Box 142, Kibwezi, Kenya
Women’s Organisations in Bangladesh