African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), Accra, Ghana

African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), Accra, Ghana
Logo:
Street address:	Plot Number 78, AWDF House Ambassadorial Enclave East Legon
City:	Accra
Country:	Ghana
Location:	Loading map...
Location coordinates:	5° 38' 16" N, 0° 9' 40" W
Contact number:	+233 (0) 302 28 722006
Contact email:	awdf@awdf.org
Website:	http://www.awdf.org/
Twitter:	http://twitter.com/#!/awdf01
Facebook:	http://www.facebook.com/AfricanWomensDevelopmentFund
Target:	Girls and Women
Organization type:	Women's network (network/coalition of people or organizations)
Sectors:	Economic Empowerment, Microfinance, Political Participation/Governance, Poverty Alleviation, Reproductive Rights
Year founded/registered:	2001

Summary

The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) is a grant making foundation that supports local, national and regional women’s organisations working towards the empowerment of African women and the promotion and realisation of their rights.

About

Over the past ten years, the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) has blazed a trail for women’s rights and philanthropy across the African continent. The first pan-African women’s grant maker on the continent, AWDF has established itself as an innovative organization at the cutting edge of social justice and women’s rights philanthropy in Africa.

Since the start of operations in 2001, AWDF has provided US$17 million in grants to 800 women’s organizations in 42 African countries. AWDF’s grant making processes are uniquely designed to meet the needs of African women and include the provision of small grants[1] ($1000-$5000) to community-based organizations, main grants (up to $50,000), capacity building support and a strong focus on movement building.

Members of AWDF’s staff and board provide capacity building support to grantee partners through convenings, monitoring, and evaluation visits as well as technical assistance to numerous national, regional and international processes. Advocacy and policy development are key areas of activity to support and embed the outcomes of our grant making in national and international legislation, and in development processes more generally. Examples of our support to key development processes include presentations to the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women Expert Group Meeting on financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women (2007); acting as a thematic lead for the International Colloquium on Women’s Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace & Security (co-convened by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia and President Tarja Halonen of Finland in 2009); and co-convening the first pan African assembly of the African GrantMakers Network in 2010.

Vision & Mission

The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) is a grant making foundation that supports local, national and regional women’s organisations working towards the empowerment of African women and the promotion and realisation of their rights. The vision of AWDF is for women to live in a world where there is social justice, equality and respect for women’s human rights. To this end, our mission is to mobilise financial, human and material resources to support African women and the work of the African women’s movement to advance women’s rights and gender equality in Africa.

Activities

AWDF provides grants in the following thematic areas:

• Women’s Human Rights
• Economic Empowerment and Livelihoods
• Governance, Peace and Security
• Health and Reproductive Rights
• HIV/AIDS
• Arts, Culture and Sports