AWDF at the Civicus Assembly, Glasgow, Jun 18-21

AWDF's Executive Director Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi was interviewed by Terraviva, the official newspaper for the CIVICUS, 8th World Assembly recently held in Glasgow. The interview is reproduced below:

TV: How does AWDF resonate with this years Civicus World Assembly theme of people participation and power? What are you expecting from this assembly?

BAF: The theme of people, participation and power is critical to the work AWDF does because we support the women’s movement in all its diversity. AWDF works to empower women in order to enable the voice of women to be heard not only in their communities, but at the national and international levels.We want women to be strong and independent, taking charge of their lives .Our belief is that collective action and voices add up to collective power.

We are hoping this assembly will give us new opportunities for fresh networking and of course, consolidating our relationships with our old partners. It is important for us to attend the assembly so that we remain abreast of current thinking on development issues and share our experiences with other organizations.

TV: There are a number of grant-making organisations servicing African civil society. Is there anything that AWDF does that makes it different from other funding agencies?

BAF: AWDF is unique because we do not pay lip service to women’s issues but instead place women at the centre of our work. We genuinely engage women in all our planning and operations; this is demonstrated in how we fund women’s organisations. Apart from our mainstream grant-making programme, we have different grant making processes to enable us cater for the needs of all women. We have grants for local grassroots organisations where the women are usually illiterate and have no means for advancement; we have a rapid response fund which is a solidarity fund for emergencies affecting women, we also have a legacy fund for women’s right activists. This honors the memory of women who have fought for their rights and others, so that their work is remembered and continued. This is part of what makes us unique as a grant-making foundation.

TV: What are the challenges that AWDF faces in its work?

BAF: The challenges faced by AWDF are varied and similar to those faced by organizations working on the African continent. Some civil society groups working in repressive socio-political environments can be weak and have difficulty functioning, other organizations may have human resource challenges. We try to meet the needs of our various organizations by providing funding for capacity building and by encouraging networking amongst our grantees partners.

One of the challenges women’s rights organizations face is the resurgence of ‘issues”. For example, in Nigeria, we thought we had made some huge leaps in dealing with women’s rights and were moving forward. Now we see a resurgence of religious conservatism which is taking us back to where we started. We have to go back and start fighting for women’s rights all over again when we should be going forward.

TV: What does the future look like for AWDF?

BAF: The future has never looked brighter. We are in the process of setting up liaison offices in South Africa to cater for Southern African grantees, and another in Uganda for east and central Africa. We are also setting up an African Philanthropy network, getting all African grant-making organisations under one roof.