By Augustine Asiedu-Asamaoh, GNA
Accra, Nov. 5, GNA – The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), the first Africa-wide grant-making foundation led by African women, has marked 26 years of advancing women’s rights and strengthening feminist movements across the continent with an anniversary dinner in Accra.
The event, held on Wednesday, was on the theme: “The Next 26 Starts Now.”
It brought together founders, partners, grantees, beneficiaries and allies from across Africa to celebrate the Fund’s achievements, reflect on its journey and chart a path for the future.
Established in 2000 by Joana Foster of Ghana, Dr Hilda Tadria of Uganda, and Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi of Nigeria, the AWDF was founded to mobilise resources and support African women’s rights organisations to drive social transformation.
During a panel discussion, Ms Adeleye-Fayemi said the future of the women’s movement depended on solidarity and collective action rather than rivalry.
“Women are not each other’s worst enemy, but patriarchy is our worst enemy,” she said, urging women to unite against entrenched systems that continued to undermine their progress and advancement.
She said sustained collaboration among women was essential to strengthening the movement and advancing gender equality across the continent.
Dr Tadria said the Fund had defied the scepticism that greeted its establishment, when few donors believed an African women-led grant-making institution could succeed.
She said the AWDF had since transformed lives, built movements, amplified women’s voices and advanced gender justice across Africa.
The anniversary celebration also honoured the vision and contributions of the three founders, particularly the late Joana Foster, whose pioneering leadership helped lay the foundation for the Fund.
Tributes were also paid to those who nurtured the institution in its formative years, the funding partners who invested in its vision and the women’s rights organisations that translated its support into meaningful and lasting change.
Professor Abena Busia, a distinguished Ghanaian academic feminist activist, encouraged young African women to embrace leadership roles and sustain the gains of the feminist movement.
In a commemorative message, the AWDF said the 26-year milestone represented more than the financial resources it had mobilised and disbursed, but also the hope it had inspired, stories it had amplified, opportunities it had created and possibilities it had opened for women across the continent.
The Fund operates across three main thematic areas: Body and Health Rights; Economic Security and Justice; and Leadership, Participation and Peace.
The celebration saw a toast to the next 26 years, reaffirming the Fund’s commitment to bold aspirations, courageous action and greater impact for African women and feminist movements.
GNA
Edited by Agnes Boye-Doe