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AWID - Association for Women's Rights

  in Development - http://www.awid.org

Where is the Money for Women's Rights in Africa?

Summary of the proceedings of the "Where is the Money
for Women's Rights in Africa?" meeting held in Johannesburg,

South Africa, in November.

By Kathambi Kinoti - AWID

Resources for women's rights work have dwindled over the past decade. [1]
At the same time, there are new opportunities to tap into increased pools
of money such as an increase in Overseas Development Assistance (ODA), and
special funds such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria. There are also opportunities for women's movements to influence
emerging aid policy trends such as the Aid Effectiveness and Financing for
Development agendas.

Between November 7 to 9, 2007, women's rights advocates from East, West,
North, Central and Southern Africa converged in Johannesburg, South Africa
to discuss current trends in financing for women's rights work, and to
strategize for increased resource mobilization.

The meeting was convened by Action Aid International, the African Women's
Development Fund, Urgent Action Fund- Africa, the International Network of
Women's Funds and AWID. Its aim was to create change at four levels; at a
personal level for each participant, within women's rights organizations,
within women's rights movements, and amongst the donor community. The
organizers' intention was for the meeting to contribute to a significant
increase in access to and amount of funding available to support women's
rights organizations in Africa.

The meeting provided an opportunity for participants to focus on what AWDF
Executive Director Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi called the "3 M's"; mission, message
and messenger: How clear is the mission; is the message getting across; and
how credible are the messengers?  Throughout the meeting the theme of
clarity and commitment to the mission of securing women's rights recurred.
During one of the sessions participants discussed what their dreams for
women's rights work would be if money was no obstacle. It came out strongly
that they would stick to their mission and not compromise it to suit donors.
Competition for resources would not exist between organizations since they
are all working towards the full realization of women's rights.  The
Charter of Principles for African Feminists [2] was cited as a road map to
achieving and maintaining clarity of mission.

Many participants reported that a session that examined personal
relationships to money was a major eye-opener. During this session the
participants linked their personal relationships with money, based on their
first childhood impressions about money, to the way in which they approach
fundraising. They explored their fears about asking for money and hearing
'no', understanding financial matters and handling money. It was clear that
most fear engaging at the macro level of economic discourse including
getting involved in discussions about aid agenda setting such as the Aid
Effectiveness and Financing for Development processes.

Movement building was a central theme to the meeting. It was agreed that to
harness resources for women's rights work it is necessary to work
collectively. Some of the obstacles to collaboration are the scarcity
mentality and the attendant sense of competition. However a feminist
approach to resource mobilization will entail women's movements working
together to influence not only specific donors, but whole funding sectors.
The role of women's funds was discussed in depth in the meeting. These
funds already play a critical role in strengthening feminist movements by
funding marginalized groups such as young women and women with
disabilities, building their beneficiaries' capacity and movement building.
Their role in influencing the practices, behaviours and priorities of
funding sectors was also highlighted.

The need for an African feminist philanthropic culture was discussed at the
Johannesburg meeting. There is already a culture of giving in Africa. In
Southern Africa there is the philosophy of 'Ubuntu' which espouses a
humanitarian ethic. In Eastern Africa the practice of 'harambee' raises
funds for community projects as well as educational and other endeavours.
The amount of remittances from Africans living in the diaspora exceeds the
aid given by donors. However these fundraising models are largely for
welfare needs. African feminists will need to develop a culture of giving
for social change. In order to do this, they will have to make their
messages compelling and also explore making it easy and convenient for
people to donate.

The donor-recipient relationship was discussed in different sessions. Since
both parties need each other and have a common purpose, the relationship
ought to be one of mutuality, respect and partnership even though this is
most often not the case. A skills building session on fundraising caused a
paradigm shift in many participants. Rather than focussing on the proposal
writing aspect of fundraising, it looked on the 'friendraising' or
relational aspect; the cultivation of a connection with the person behind
the donor.

During the meeting funding for young women's rights and young women's
participation in feminist movements was addressed. It emerged that there is
a need for more multigenerational dialogue as even amongst the participants,
not all agreed with young women who say that they or their concerns are not
included in women's movements. Nevertheless it was agreed that without
young women's involvement, feminist movements cannot be sustained.

Participants' understanding of the new aid modalities and the Aid
Effectiveness and Financing for Development agendas was deepened. Their
overall effect is to diminish the amounts of money available for women's
rights work. A number of opportunities to influence the aid agenda were
discussed, including next year's Commission on the Status of Women which
will discuss financing for Gender Equality and the High Level Dialogue that
will take place in Accra, Ghana in 2008 to discuss the progress on the
implementation of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. Participants
resolved to get involved in the processes in order to secure more funding
for women's rights work.

The next steps that emerged during the meeting and that participants
committed to were:
1. Forging strategic regional and sectoral alliances in order to mobilize
more resources for women's rights work.
2. Investing in the long term financial sustainability of feminist
organizations and movements.
3. Continuing research to track the money and make the case for funding
women's rights work.
4. Feminist resource mobilization capacity building
5. Macro level advocacy to influence policy and practice.

The meeting was closed by Graca Machel. She reiterated the importance of
local philanthropy in financing women's rights work. She also challenged
the participants to ensure that women are present in the spaces where
policy decisions about funding for women's rights are made. She said that
civil society organizations 'are outside the window looking in' and urged
that for women's rights to be a reality, 'we will have to stop shouting
through the window and speak from the inside.'

_____________________

Notes

1. According to AWID's second FundHer Report "Financial Sustainability for
Women's Movements Worldwide" available at http://www.awid.org

2. Available at http://www.awdf.org/pages/?pid=1&sid=62

The detailed report of the meeting as well as the presentations made during
the meeting will be available shortly on the AWID website. The primers
distributed can be downloaded from the website.

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