AWDF’S PARTICIPATION IN THE SIXTH AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT FORUM: ACTION ON GENDER EQUALITY, EMPOWERMENT AND ENDING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN AFRICA

The team (Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi - Executive Director, Sarah Mukasa – Director of Programmes, Rose Buabeng – Anglophone Programme Officer) arrived in Addis Ababa on the 19th of November 2007. Challenges with accommodation bookings and registration processes did not enable us to participate in the opening ceremony which had the Ethiopian President as the guest of honour. Despite this inconvenience, the rest of the conference went very well and enabled organizations who could not participate in the recent Association of Women in Development forum the chance to lend their voices to the discourses on action on Gender Equality, Women’s Empowerment and ending violence against Women.

The African Development Forum VI was a major gathering which discussed critical development issues, mobilized consensus and built partnerships among stakeholders in gender issues on the continent. A broad spectrum of stakeholders participated in the 3-day forum. The stakeholders included: government officials, civil society organizations, media networks, special groups such as nomads, indigenous people, persons with disability, persons living with HIV/AIDS, women and girls affected by violence, religious organizations, traditional leaders, international civil society organizations, UN partners, Bilateral organizations, international and regional financial institutions.

AWDF currently has a grantee profile of over 500 women’s organisations throughout sub-Saharan African and support from the African Capacity Building Foundation has enabled us to expand our Capacity Building Programme to include the development of a resource base of African Women Experts who are able to provide technical expertise at international conferences, forums and convenings. For this forum, AWDF provided technical assistance for the development of the programme which included providing resource persons and financial support to enable the participation of AWDF grantees.

The forum was centred on twelve thematic areas which were:

• Violence against women
• HIV/AIDS
• Health and reproductive rights
• Education, training and skills development
• Migration
• Governance, conflict, peace and security
• Employment, markets and trade
• Food security
• Land and property rights
• Climate change, water, sanitation and energy
• Financing for gender equality
• Gender and ICT


The overall programme was structured to ensure maximum discussion and feedback.
There were various presentations on all the thematic areas as well as break-out sessions to discuss pertinent issues from earlier presentations and recommendations made to support the drafting of the final plan of action.

The utmost concern of most participants as well as gender activists who participated in the forum was the fact that resolutions from the forum will not be mere rhetoric just like other forums that have happened in the past but that concrete actions will be taken to accelerate the attainment of MDG 3.

Another critical issue that emerged was the availability of resources to support the implementation of proposed gender equality objectives stipulated in the developed plan of action especially, with the emergence of the current global financial crisis.

It is therefore incumbent on feminist funding organizations like AWDF to embark on strategic resource mobilization activities in order to increase support to women’s rights organizations on the African Continent if gender equality and women’s empowerment is to be attained for the achievement of MDG 3.

Generally, the forum went very well with fruitful deliberations on the selected thematic areas; it culminated with a plan of action which gave clear recommendations for member States and development partners to accelerate the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment and ending violence against women.

LAUNCHING OF AWDF’s “POPULAR CULTURE PROJECT”

AWDF had the opportunity to launch its 3-year project entitled: “Reclaiming Popular Culture to Promote Women’s Rights” on the eve of the second day (20th November 2008) of the ADF VI conference. The programme was witnessed by about hundred participants from various women’s rights organization on the African Continent. The Executive Director of AWDF, Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi on introducing the project lamented the negative impact of most local movies on women rights promotion as well as the coverage and audience such movies attract. She therefore called on women’s rights organizations on the Continent to join forces with various movie icons in the promotion of women’s rights through the development of movies with positive women’s rights messages, since most youth of today prefer movies and music.

One of the project movies ‘The White Handkerchief’ was shown to participants. There was a lengthy discussion after the movie. Participants saw the need and bought into the idea of using movies and music to propagate the women’s human rights message. The project was officially launched by the Liberian Minister for Women and Children. Two movies ‘The White Handkerchief’ and ‘The Narrow Path’) were distributed to participants after the programme. AWDF gave assurances that initiatives by women-led organization on the continent to utilise popular culture to promote women’s rights will gain AWDF’s support.

Rose Buabeng
Anglophone Programme Officer
AWDF