women through fundraising and grant- making 10 years ago, the task may have seemed insurmountable. But last No- vember Bisi Adeyemi-Fayemi, Dr Hilda Tadria, and Joanna Foster were joined by over 200 women from across Africa, Europe and America, including President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, Malawi’s vice-president, Joyce Banda, and other high-profile dignitaries, to celebrate the founding and successes of the African Women’s Development Fund (ADWF),


W


hen three visionary and passionate women came up with an ambitious goal, to better the lives of their fellow African


which they co-founded in 2000. In her congratulatory message, Presi-


dent Johnson-Sirleaf praised the AWDF thus: “You have succeeded in your goals; you have weathered the global economic crisis; you have demonstrated resilience and determination to succeed in your noble cause to promote leadership and empowerment for African women... today we can boast of an organisation that has funded numerous initiatives to promote African women’s leadership and empow- erment.” Empowering women and other gender


equity issues always present huge chal- lenges in virtually every African country, but what the AWDF has achieved in just


10 years can be described as remarkable. “We decided to establish an organisa-


tion that would not only be a resource for African women that will enable them to amplify their voice and raise issues that af- fect them within their communities. Tese are women who have a lot of energy and urgency, but regardless of their capabili- ties and abilities to accomplish, they are considered second-class citizens. So we came up with an idea of an in-


stitution that can organise resources and place these resources in the hands of these women, not only to enable them, but to also help the women’s movement agenda,” Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, the newly appointed president of AWDF tells the NAW(see


WINTER 2011 | NEW AFRICAN WOMAN | 37


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