There is the wind..... The coming of the days
There is fire.... The foundation making way
There is the sun... The beginning and the end...The beginnings and the ends
There are the fallen leaves Of service and substance
There is the air
Expansive space
There is water
The architecture of the protea
Magenta coloured daisies
Offerings after a long days work
There are twenty-two years
Over 8,030 days
192,720 hours.
How can one possibly tell these stories?
One cannot.
But many, together, can try.
This story is told in the voices of those who contributed to the African Women’s Development Fund journey so far - over 22 years of our existence. AWDF founders, staff (past and present), partners, grantees, and friends. As you read, you may notice that the stories interchange between we and I and they - an interplay of what the narrators know, heard and saw. We ask that you read this journey in the way that it was experienced, very many voices - individual, and collective, so many sisters and siblings, together.
Dr Hilda Tadria
and
Joana Foster
connecting on the sidelines of a preparatory conference for Beijiing held in Dakar, back in 1994.
Followed by an early morning recreational walk on the beach to share reflections on the experiences
at the conference and subsequent conversations about needing a resource pool,
by African women, for African women.
A USD 5,000 grant to write a proposal offered by the Global
Fund for Women. A submitted proposal.
A follow up grant. Ruminations of an African women’s fund by Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, while at Akina
Mama wa Afrika.
“I was impacted by their vision and fearlessness…and the determination of the three women to make this work. At that time, there was nothing like a basket of funds going to the emerging organisations doing so much work, good work..all the funding was coming from Northern organisations …it was a very interesting and innovative idea…to have African women leading such an initiative was interesting, but also a little bit scary because you never knew where it would end – you know how sometimes you have a very good idea but you’re afraid to step forward, but it was clear to me that these women were not afraid to step forward. That stood out to me.” - Rose Mensah-Kutin, ABANTU for Development, Ghana
The three founders speak more here about the beginning, before the beginning.
The international development sector was exceptionally exclusionary at the time that AWDF started. The different voices we interviewed in creating this story spoke of partners that would tell you everything you needed to do to get money for African women, and their conditions were significantly different than for organisations outside of Africa. Some of the African feminists at the time felt that the philanthropic and development sectors just didn’t trust African women. They didn’t think them capable.
At the turn of the millennium, women from all over the globe were gathered in New York for the five
year review of the Beijing Declaration - a
visionary global agenda for the empowerment of women. It was June 2000. The AWDF founders - Bisi
Adeleye-Fayemi, Joana Foster and Hilda Tadria decided this was where AWDF
would be introduced to the world, alongside their African and diaspora feminist sisters.
There had been no plans to fundraise during the launch, but impromptu pledges were made by African
women who wanted
to be a part of kickstarting this fund. They gave what they could, raising USD 13,000 in one night.
A little over a year later, on a beautiful December day in 2001, African women gathered for the Africa launch of AWDF in Accra, Ghana with high hopes, ready to celebrate, and celebrate they did. As Bisi recounts, by the time of the launch, AWDF had already awarded USD 344,000 to 38 women’s organisations in 28 African countries.
“The launch in Ghana was very big, successful, a very beautiful thing…with the first lady of Nigeria, the first lady of Burkina Faso, but to me, the most important guests were the women’s movement,
those who have been strong, vocal voices in the women’s movement across Africa coming together to see the historic birth of AWDF.”
– Abigail Burgesson, former AWDF staff, Ghana
The first home for AWDF was the third floor of Aviation House, across from the Shangri-la in Accra. It was a great landmark.
The day of the opening, even the pillars were dressed up! A few years in, the third floor could no longer contain AWDF, and so by 2004, AWDF moved to a building that it occupied in its entirety.
Although AWDF was still renting, she was proud! Four years later,
AWDF managed to purchase two buildings, one of which it used as its more permanent, rent-free home to date. For Taaka Awori’s newborn baby, the AWDF House was the first stop from the hospital, even before he got home!
It was an exciting time, the early years. Everytime we would have meetings, all of the gatherings and consultations, there were always wonderful conversations. You just can’t imagine the quality of the debate in those early years.
We started with money. We started with money because we knew African women’s organisations needed funding for their programs, so we got to work, raising funds. Here is our story in figures.
Over the past 22 years between 2000 and 2022, AWDF has given out
2,884 Grants(from 38 in 2001 to 250 in 2022)
Equaling USD 68,801,984 in all-time grants(from USD 344,000 in 2001 to USD 11,447,143 in 2022)
to 1,555 women’s rights and feminist organisations
in 47 African countries + 5 Middle East countries*
(* These are the figures as at November 2022. )
AWDF’s Endowment Fund now stands at USD 4.7million There are so many stories in these numbers. And also, there is so much outside of these numbers.
“We like feminist funds. AWDF is a clear reflection of what a feminist fund looks like…AWDF doesn’t stress you - the application process is not as exhausting as typical application processes. They’re very supportive, they’ll show you they’re there to help, but I like the fact that they don’t micromanage, allowing you to own your project and own your work, which is different from other funders who will give you money and somehow want to micromanage because they want it to be very clear that you’re doing this work because they’re supporting you. AWDF is quite different. You are managing your work. They let you be. They will not put you under unnecessary pressure. They will just assure you that they’re here, if you need them. You have all this independence and liberty to implement your work the way you want, without feeling like there is someone hovering over you or dictating what you do.” - Gloria Mutyaba, FARUG, Uganda
In the beginning, most of our granting was focused on smaller organisations and supporting livelihood programs. Over the years, with more funding, and more voices in the movement pushing us to listen and expand our work, we did just that. Queer. Rural. Urban. Small. Medium. Large. Start-up. Sports-oriented. Arts centred. These are AWDF grantee partners, African women-led and feminist organisations AWDF invested in over the past two plus decades of our existence.
AWDF funded grantee partners, not only for programming and advocacy, but also to strengthen their institutions, with AWDF providing extensive coaching for directors, managers, and board members. We were not so focused on whether the organisations that we were funding were women led, as long as the specific programmes were run by a woman. As we learned along, we changed accordingly to ensure women and gender-diverse people have control of the money. Only women led organisations. Now we ensure that the organisations we fund are led by women executive directors and women or non binary board chairs (at least 70%).
“AWDF has been phenomenal. A lot of the smaller NGOs are not able to get
funding. AWDF has always been the startup for most of these smaller NGOs,
when you’re just starting, they give you the support you need - with all the capacity
building, all the technical advisory, you’re able to move out and seek other sources of
funding.
They’ve been very great and continue to be, especially for the up-and-coming NGOs who are
still trying to find their feet. AWDF has always been there to provide
support from the beginning.”
- Deborah Tayo Akakpo, Gender Center, Ghana
Over the years, we have witnessed our grantee partners do amazing work in all corners. Pushing boundaries, shaping and shifting policies, challenging attitudes and practices, building movements, strengthening themselves and their organisations, setting precedent for progressive rulings and advancing accountability mechanisms.
We’ve been in the philanthropy sector now for two decades and counting. We are still learning. We’ve understood, again and again, that alone, we can go fast. But it’s only when we go together, that we can go far. This comes with its own set of wahalas, but it’s worth the trouble in the end. We have embraced our mistakes and the major shifts that have altered our work, using them as moments to pause, introspect, tease out the lessons and grow.
Change takes time - especially the kind of systemic, deep rooted change we seek. It requires a real investment of resources, a commitment to engage deeply, to try varied methods from different angles. The resources and support needed are not only financial, technical and human, but also emotional. We have learnt to plan, while also being able to adapt to unforeseen circumstances, pandemics, emerging needs and lessons we learn along the way. We know that our funding processes must be flexible, responsive and relevant to actual needs at all times, including in emergencies.
Most importantly, we can’t do this work without centring those whose lives are most impacted by the change we seek, and without building the movements that sustain us. Our bold and ever evolving strategy is guided by our grantee partners and peers on the continent and around the world. We are here to support and resource the work of women’s and feminist movements, which means we must first understand what works for them. What kind of support do they need to work in transformative ways? What would strengthen them? What would allow them to adapt to changing conditions, to survive and weather the storms, and come out stronger? We convene them together so they can guide us, and based on what they tell us, and what we hear, we adapt our approaches accordingly.
When we started out, we knew African women’s and feminist organisations needed money for programmes but it was not long before they made it clear to us that money alone was not sufficient. They needed mentors and coaches, networks, knowledge and communication tools and platforms.
“You can’t build out, if in isn’t built” Cynthia Moses, Box Girls Kenya You’re in this movement long enough and you know that it won't last if it’s not joyful. It needs space for pleasure. Belly laughs and communion. Building organisations with a soul, as Hope Chigudu calls it. Over the years - listening to our grantee partners, seeing the work’s toll on our staff, on our bodies, feeling the anxiety in our communities, across the world - our work has increasingly focused on wellbeing and the centring of the people that allow movements to exist.
Early on in the work, it became clear that what we were keen to do was support activists, women’s rights and feminist organisations and feminist ideas. So, we gathered, we organised workshops and forums, we debated, we interrogated our own beliefs, privileges, identities and aspirations and, together, we worked to contribute to African feminist thinking and communion that defines us, as a collective.
In the words of an anonymous sibling… So, we’re in a meeting and we’re talking about something like abortion rights and unbeknownst to us, we had invited women to a meeting who were Christian fundamentalists. They started talking fire and brimstone, “the devil is a liar!,” one of them screamed. We were so shocked. We just thought, what have we just invited into this space? It’s not the first time something like this has happened. It wasn’t the last time. In one meeting, a woman complained that, “the lesbians are taking all of the resources.”
It’s so alive. The work. Over 20 years and I didn’t experience boredom. There was power in working with a determined women’s rights organisation like AWDF working with other determined women’s rights organisations. You know, I remember that I was in Kampala for a meeting and the director of one of AWDF’s grantee partners was there - Freedom and Roam Uganda (FARUG), a queer-led organisation based in Uganda. It was my first time meeting them in person. And they just kept on saying, “I can’t believe you trusted us with that much money, we’re a small organisation. You gave us money and then you gave us more…”
We have other funders. We know how it works. But, our relationship with AWDF feels different. It has been a long and grounded friendship that has bloomed throughout the years in love, solidarity, and sisterhood.
More so is the joy of knowing that we can always call on each other as friends, partners, and sisters on this revolutionary journey.We’ve learnt from each other, what solidarity looks and feels like. What it means to be your sister’s keeper - when it matters most. AWDF is like family. I don’t know how else to describe it. Like home. Like being welcomed with all parts of you. It feels like sisterhood. They believe in us. It’s like a good friend who's always in your corner. You need her and she’s there. When one person is struggling, we come together, even if we disagree on things, we come together. That’s AWDF. Strange that we keep saying we? We haven’t worked with AWDF for years. Some of us never really worked with AWDF. But that’s what it feels like, it feels like we. Here, sisterhood is prime.
AWDF would not be where we are today without the love, labour and leadership of the African feminists who have built and rebuilt our governance structures. Since our very first Board meeting in 2001, wonderful African feminists, on the continent and in the diaspora, have collectively steered AWDF’s growth, providing strategic advice and deepening our connections with feminist movements and funders. We are hugely indebted to all the women and feminists who joined our Board over the past two decades, and grateful for their commitment.
We believe very much in Sankofa - which refers to the belief that we must look back to go forward. We must learn from what we didn’t do right so that together, with all the lessons we learn collectively, we can go further. In order to keep moving, we must also look to the future and anticipate what is to come. In 2016, AWDF embarked on a strategic planning process that was inspired by the need to invest in building feminist futures. In thinking about what may come, and preparing scenarios so that we’re ready for any eventuality.
This work has always been about partnerships and the creation of diverse and expansive funding opportunities for African women’s movements and organisations. We entered partnerships with other Africa-based philanthropic initiatives, feminist funds, Global South funds and international organisations and continue to serve as founding member, advisor, partner and active participant representing the aspirations of African women and feminist organisations in the philanthropic sector.
Listen here for more reflections on sisterhood in the AWDF
And, we can’t forget that time that we made an album! Sheroes featured artists from 17 countries including Angelique Kidjo, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Oumou Sangare, Nneka, Wiyaala, and Sia Tolno to name a few, all of whom gave up their royalties so that all of the proceeds could go to the work of AWDF. It was the first time that we focused on African women artists as philanthropists and it very well might have been our most successful independent fundraising initiative. It was also fun!
On 5 November 2016, Joana Foster, our co-founder and sister, passed at the age of 70. Her spirit lives, her courage and fierce love for African women guides us still. In her honour, AWDF established the Joana Foster Memorial Grant and awarded grants totalling USD 55,000.
It has been beautiful, yes? We were there for our sisters and they were there for us. We were African women funding African women. We are African women.
We.
She said of the beginning of the journey that it defines what friendship is in the sense
that your friends are the ones you share ideas with.
AWDF was just an idea that friends discussed over tea. There were so many conversations. So
much debate. It was lovely really.
This story carries the words by AWDF co-founders, staff (past and present), Board members, partners, friends and grantee partners, collected and woven together, added to and organised by African feminist storytellers - Agazit Abate and Nebila Abdulmelik. Some are direct quotes while others paraphrased to create a community of voices. They are the writers of this story, together. The names of all those whose words are used in this AWDF story are detailed below. We directly spoke to some of them, read through responses to questions we had sent out to others. We also read through posts, write-ups, articles, documents, reports, even book excerpts - written by and about AWDF. We went through AWDF’s archives - including images of this journey, and this is what became of all of that.
This documentation project was carried out by African feminist storytellers Agazit Abate and Nebila Abdulmelik, with the guidance of Dinnah Nabwire (Knowledge & Voice Specialist), Malaika Naa Lamley Aryee-Boi (Knowledge & Voice Assistant), and Françoise Moudouthe (CEO) from the AWDF team. The design and illustration was done by Naadira Patel, assisted by Kirsty deKock. The story webpage was developed by Kihingu Inc. Audio content support was provided by The Stub Accra. Translation support was provided by Bolingo Consult.
We were in conversation with, and/or took quotes and inputs from the following:
Abigail Burgesson, Barbara Phillips, Beatrice Boakye-Yiadom
,Bella Matambanadzo, Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, Comfort Lamptey, Cynthia Moses, Caroline Armah, Deborah Tayo Akakpo, Dorcas Coker-Appiah, Everjoice Win
Françoise Moudouthe, Gertrude Bibi Annoh-Quarshie, Gladys Mbuyah, Gloria Mutyaba, Dr Hilda Tadria, Hope Chigudu, Iheoma Obibi, Immaculate Mukasa,
Jeanne Mapendo, Jessica Horn, Mohammed Sulemana , Ndeye Sow , Oluwatobiloba Elizabeth Ayodele, Pauline Houdagba, Petronie Nyawenda, Rose Mensah-Kutin,
Taaka Awori, Theo Sowa
It would be remiss of us to talk about who we fund and how we fund, without acknowledging who have
funded us in the past and those who continue to fund us - trusting our mission and resourcing the
centring of
African women and feminist organisations, individual activists and collectives.
Over the years, we have received funds from 80+ individual, institutional and corporate donors.
We must pause here to deeply thank individual donors for their trust and generosity.
The African women who gave what they could at the very start. Those who volunteered to raise big and
small amounts of money for our work.
And those who decided to include a gift to AWDF in their legacy estates. They have strengthened us
financially, but also emotionally.
Click here to view AWDF’s funding partners from the 22 years of
our existence
