The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) is one foundation that is walking the talk when it comes to women and the issues that affect them.
Founded in 2000, the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) has a web of over 1,300 women’s organizations from 43 African countries in addition to 2 countries in the Middle East.
The organization has established itself as an innovative organization that has nurtured social justice, economic empowerment and women’s rights philanthropy in Africa.
The grant-making foundation supports organizations by and for African women that are working towards the promotion and realization of women’s rights while recognizing and establishing their leadership in all aspects of life at local, national and regional levels.
African Women’s Development Fund empowers women through institutional capacity building and program development with the aim of building partnerships and learning culture within the African women’s movement.
It also celebrates the achievements and contributions of women that are seemingly under the radar.
It cites and acknowledges the works of African women, promotes open access to knowledge, encourages sharing and learning spaces and maintains the AWDF-led knowledge platforms like AfriRep, the online library, and the physical Resource Center in Accra.
The African Women’s Development Fund also serves as an autonomous base for gender equality and development, supporting movements and initiatives of women that ordinarily do not have access to mainstream sources of funding.
Through its grants, the African Women’s Development Fund mobilizes financial resources to support small, local and established women’s organizations that are working in diverse ways to improve the lives of women and facilitate learning and networking opportunities for them.
The African Women’s Development Fund channels its grants to three specific areas, categorized based on the aspirations, needs and contributions of African women:
- Leadership, participation and peace
- Body and health rights
- Women’s economic security and justice
Its capacity-building program provides hard and soft skills with technical trainings, tools, grants and coaching support in areas such as governance, administration and management, coaching and other methodologies that address individual, interpersonal and organizational health.
It also runs a Writer’s Program that helps promote the voices of some of the best emerging writers on the continent.
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