Twenty years of promoting women’s rights in Africa: What next?

As President- Elect Barrack Obama was announced the next President of the United States of America, African Women’s Development and Communications Network (FEMNET) was approaching the climax of celebrating its yearlong 20th anniversary. FEMNET was set up in 1988 by a group of women who had the conviction about the strength of numbers in any transformation or change process. We are very lucky to witness the historical moment of President – Elect Obama’s election victory. There was a lot of crying, jubilation, hugging among people from different communities here in Kenya after the world listened to his inaugural speech. This election is not only significant in the lives of Americans it is for all people in the world. We want to see things change for the better – to have a more peaceful world where the main providers of development aid and humanitarian assistance are not the main producers and distributors of military arms especially small arms that have caused a lot of havoc in all regions in Africa.

When the founders of the African Women’s Development and Communications Network (FEMNET) resolved to set up the network 20 years ago they had a dream. They wanted to see to it that every woman in Africa is able to live in dignity, enjoy life free of violence and deprivation and be equal partners in the development of our dear continent Africa and in directing its affairs. They were convinced that the more women from different parts of Africa remained in contact with one another, the more they would learn from each others’ experiences, provide support for one another and build a strong women’s movement for the development of Africa.

It is indeed commendable that our founder members took action and today we have a very strong, well respected and reputable Network of women organizations in Africa. This is a very good cause for celebration of 20 years achievements. The network has mobilized women at all levels to take action to transform their lives. It has raised issues affecting African women at regional and international levels and lobbied to ensure that these issues are part of the mainstream agenda. Where the issues required special attention FEMNET and its members have demanded for it. The Network has also played a critical role of documenting African women’s experiences and sharing them widely through seminars, dialogues and meetings, publication of reports, newsletters, journals, email and though its website.

As we start on the journey of the next 10 years FEMNET is fully aware that the terrain has changed fundamentally since its inception in 1998. There are more actors on the continent working at different levels and on various women’s rights issues. There are multiple women’s networks that are either issue –focused or working in particular sub- regions or countries on selected issues. There are many more women organizations with varying capacities and composition working at country level that may not necessary be strategically linked with other women groups within the same countries. National women’s network and umbrella bodies have taken on slightly different roles as more and more women are able to organize and lobby for their concerns through different configurations in country, across sub - regions and in some cases covering a considerable part of the continent. This is an indication of success that many more women are mobilized and involved in the change and development processes in Africa. Many have taken the stand to challenge the patriarchal systems that have kept women in subordinate positions for far too long and create spaces for women’s organizing and activism.

On the other hand there are many more actors to link up with who are not necessarily well coordinated. This is a big challenge as it requires investment of many woman-hours to just attend to the communications received on a daily basis. As the bigger actors become more sophisticated in their strategies there is a growing gap between the activists working at the grassroots level and those operating at the regional and international levels. Though the issues of concern remain the same the approaches of the grassroots activists and those operating more at the regional and international levels seem to be so different and divorced from each other.

In this Special issue of Pambazuka you will find a story on a dialogue FEMNET held during the AWID Conference in Cape Town, South Africa from the 14th – 17th of November 2008. The women activists operating at the grassroots levels strongly expressed their concerns about the disconnection between women’s grassroots activism and the advocacy work at regional and international levels. They recommended that strategies must be devised specifically by FEMNET to minimize this gap.

Another story in this Special issue shares about the ceremony at which the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Development flagged off the three buses that are involved in the 2008 Men Travelling Conference (MTC). This is an annual event organized by FEMNET in partnership with the Men for Gender Equality Now (MEGEN – Kenya) as part of the 16 days of activism against gender – based violence (GBV). The members of MEGEN (majority are men) go out in different parts of the country to mobilize people to say No to GBV. They use drama, music, printed materials and informal discussion fora to share the message of the MTC.

The flagging off ceremony was held a Mathare North Social Centre. Mathare is a densely populated community. The three hours we spent with the members of this community made it very clear that as women feminists and activists we urgently need to get back to the basics if we are to build a critical mass of people to support the change we want to see in our societies and communities during our lifetime. Theorizing and intellectualism is good and necessary for reaching out to our governments and other intellectuals. However we need more foot soldiers, visionary leaders, more Mother Theresas who are willing and committed to spend less time in board rooms and more quality time in the field, with the people.

We have to inspire people to take action in order to realize their dream of having better services, access to clean and safe water sources, proper drainage and sanitation systems, clean and safer environments, better roads and planning of our cities and townships, more women leaders, better health facilities and services, communities free of violence.

Declarations and resolutions adopted in five star hotels have not resulted in the change we desire to see. The hit-and-run strategies that many organizations are engaged in will not and cannot bring about transformation of our continent and the improved status of women in Africa. It is time to change gear and get back to the basics.

It is on this premise that FEMNET for the next 10 years will lead by example to enable activists to get back to basics. We shall continue to advocate and facilitate communication on issues that are of concern to women specifically for purposes of inspiring action. We shall commit more time and resources to bridge the gap between the board room work and activism and women’s grassroots organizing. This will be done by strengthening our network in the region and collaborating with other networks and regional organizations working on the promotion of women’s rights in Africa. We shall provide platforms for activists operating at different levels in the region to engage more often. We shall mobilize resources to support the documentation of the experiences of women’s grassroots organizing to ensure that these experiences inform our lobbying and advocacy work at the regional and international levels.

* Norah Matovu is the Executive Director of FEMNET.

* Please send comments to or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/