AWDF put smiles on the faces of African women

By Ama Achiaa Amankwah
Throughout the African continent women play vital roles in improving the lives of their families. They engage in various economic activities such as farming, pottery and weaving among others, in order to earn money to support their families.

As society is dynamic, the status of women has changed and continues to do so with interventions by governments and non-governmental organizations.
One of such groups is the African Women Development fund, (AWDF), which seeks to support African women to live in a changed world with integrity and in peace.

The AWDF is a fund raising and grant-making initiative, designed to support the effort of the various African women’s organizations.
It is the first grant- making organization in Africa that provides grants to African women’s organization and other organization, which are working for social justice, equal rights and peace.

The AWDF focuses on five thematic areas, which include political participation, peace building, health, reproductive rights and HIV\AIDS, economic empowerment, and Women’s human rights.

AWDF is therefore going to support training programmes for women entrepreneurs and a community based income-generating schemes for women with a holistic approach.

Its Small Grants Programme, (SGP), designed to enable a large category of women have access to AWDF’s funding. The SGP which is currently operating solely in Ghana also supports smaller women’s groups which are not likely to have access to any other financial support. The New Atuabo Women’s Palm Oil Processing Group in the Central Region, Ative Vocational Centre in the Volta Region and Timari-Tama Rural Women in the Northern Region are among the women groups that have received awards from the SGP.

The Executive Director of the AWDF, Miss Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi said before the SGP the women engaged in activities such as the production of batiks, confectionery and soap manufacturing under the scorching sun.

“One can therefore appreciate why the women are very excited about having a permanent structure to host their activities. Now they can boast of a concrete building where they can carry out their work, in addition to rooms for a crèche for their children, plus storage and toilet facilities, thanks to AWDF’s Small Grant Programme.”

In her opinion, even though such projects are meant for the women, the whole community stands to benefit from them.

She said with each success story, there are many more women in other women communities who need this kind of intervention. “We can all make a difference. We of course cannot reach out to everyone, but the few ones we do reach can be made possible if we put our money where our heart is.”