For Christiane and Yannick Milev, tackling teen pregnancy is a family affair. Together the mother-and-son team run Village Exchange Ghana, a community-based NGO offering support to young mothers and other youth in Ghana’s rural Volta region. "Teen-age pregnancy programmes used to focus only on girls – what not to do or punishment – no support," Ms. Milev says. “Men go on with their lives without consequences. Men have all the power and decision-making and don’t ask women what they think or want.”

Kenyan women have called for an immediate end to inter-ethnic killings, impunity, and gross violations of human rights, especially the increasing cases of sexual crimes and gang rapes. In a communiqué handed over to the mediation team led by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, they demand the proclamation of a national disaster as well as the enhancement of security for the civilian population by the State.

Your Excellency Kofi Annan
Your Excellency Graça Machel
Your Excellency Benjamin Mkapa

We thank Your Excellencies for the opportunity to address this forum. We make this presentation on behalf of Kenyan women who have been meeting in Nairobi over the last two weeks. Action Aid International, Vital Voices, UNIFEM, Nairobi Peace Initiative and Urgent Action Fund-Africa have facilitated the consultations. A committee of 11 women present here, represents the larger group.

Kenyan women assert their rights as citizens of this country to participate in all political processes and initiatives that seek to find solutions to the crisis that currently that our beloved motherland faces. We are mindful of our special responsibilities in all the spheres of nation building including truth & justice seeking, peacebuilding and reconciliation. We embrace all our diversities as we collectively seek solutions. We acknowledge that in the resolution of the current conflict, there has to be ‘give and take’ from both sides of the political divide. We assert that as citizens we must take responsibility for resolving and transforming the conflict and the inclusion and participation of civic groups, including women’s groups at the community level is critical to the success of efforts to resolve the conflict.

The important role of women’s participation in the prevention and resolution of conflicts is reaffirmed in The Constitutive Act of the African Union, The AU’s Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality, The Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of women in Africa, The African Charter on the Rights and welfare often Child, and by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325. The resolution stresses the importance of women’s equal participation and involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security, and the need to increase their role in decision –making with regard to conflict prevention.

The UN Resolution 1325 further calls on all actors involved, when negotiating and implementing peace agreements, to adopt a gender perspective, including, inter alia

a) The special needs of women and girls during repatriation and resettlement and for rehabilitation, reintegration and post conflict reconstruction.
b) Measures that support local women’s peace initiatives and indigenous processes for conflict resolution, and that involve women in all of the implementation mechanisms of the peace process.
c) Measures that ensure the protection of and respect for human rights of women and girls, particularly as they relate to the constitution, the electoral system, the police and the judiciary;
All these instruments recognise the centrality of women to the development of democracy and democratic institutions and the importance of their participation at every level, and in every process. Women are central actors and ‘right holders’ in any process that addresses sustainable development, security and human rights. During this crisis, Kenyan women have been at the forefront in community peace building and mediation efforts in the North Rift and other areas.

Is there a conflict? What are The Facts?

A political crisis has engulfed the country following the announcement of presidential results on December 30, 2007.There are allegations of a flawed tallying process by the electoral commission , hence the dispute as to who the actual winner of the presidential vote was. As a consequence, violent conflict broke out in many parts of Kenya from December 30, 2008 and continues to this day. This conflict is expressed in the following ways:
1. Spontaneous and organised demonstrations against the ECK and the government.
2. Killings that have so far claimed the lives of over 700 Kenyans. These killings are by a) extra judicial executions by the police of targeted communities and demonstrators. b) Militia executions, torture and mutilations of civilians targeted at particular ethnic communities (these include forced circumcisions & castrations) and c) by ordinary citizens
3. Criminal conduct by citizens looting, burning and destruction of private and public property.
4. Increased sexual violence against women and children.
5. Suspension of constitutional freedoms including the freedom of conscience, assembly and worship.
6. Violation on the rights of the media and right to information by a ban on media broadcasting of live events.
7. Ethnic and politically instigated evictions of populations of certain communities from their properties resulting in large numbers of internally displaced Kenyans ( approximately 260,000)
8. Ethnically instigated employment displacement of workers in certain regions (tea peckers in Kericho) and eviction rental properties.
This situation has resulted in:
- A breakdown in the rule of law and a lack of confidence in institutions of law and order.
- Breakdown of social relationships and trust among Kenyan Communities and an exacerbation of existing ethnic tensions.
- Human insecurity (including food insecurity).
- Continued systematic and widespread violation of human rights and a lack of respect for the sanctity of life.
- Proliferation of propaganda by all parties including the state and an increase in hate media on all media (FM stations -in particular vernacular FM stations, print, electronic and new media -text messaging, email, internet) that demonises particular communities.

What are the gender dimensions of the conflict?

Institutionalised discrimination against women even before the current violence broke out has informed the expression on gender-based violence. Discriminatory laws sanction marginalisation and exclusion of women. Despite a 2006 presidential decree for a 30% inclusion of women in public institutions, there is no constitutional provision or law providing for affirmative action.

Rapes and sexual violence on women and children has reportedly increased. Statistics from the Nairobi Women’s Hospital show a steep increase in admission and treatment for rape. Majority of the new cases since January 1 2008 are of victims of gang rapes. Increased exposure to HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases.

High levels of poverty and landlessness affect women disproportionately.

Humanitarian Relief Aid

The majority of displaced are women and children. Humanitarian Relief kits often fail to take account of the needs of women and children. There exists a gap in the provision of Sanitary towels, infant mix and Mosquito nets. Sanitation and hygiene needs of women in the camps require attention.

Security in the camps and troubled areas is insufficient. Threats of gender specific attacks against women are high.

People living with HIV/AIDS have had their treatment interrupted; Provision of Health services has been compromised. Access to PEP’s and immediate medical care fro rape victims’ non-existent. The closure of certain areas by security personnel has locked in populations from accessing health facilities.

Recommendations on the resolving the Crisis

Immediate:
A political solution backed by force of law that assures the following:
- An immediate end to the killings.
- A public acknowledgement by both parties that the current crisis was triggered by electoral malpractices in the tallying process that culminated with the announcement of results of the presidential election of December 2007.
- An acknowledgement that Kenyans are entitled to know the truth and to seek justice over the issue having participated in the electoral process. The problem (and solution to it) is beyond the two political protagonists. Women as a group constitute 52% of Kenya’s population and the majority of voters and those most affected by the current crisis.
- An independent investigation into the trigger event to establish the truth of what happened: the outcome of which should be tailored to establishing a political solution to the current impasse and restoring public confidence in Kenya’s institutions of democracy. Any agreement should be backed by force of law and ensure women’s participation as key actors.
- Immediate reinstatement of constitutional freedoms – the right to assemble, right to worship, right of media to broadcast live events. Citizens have a right to assert their constitutional rights without hindrance.
- Cessation of violence against civilians by the police, militia and others.
- Immediate cessation of hate propaganda currently on all media (by Legislation or administrative action).
- Resettlement: should take account of the special needs of women and children displaced by the violence. State should provide security for the civilian population.
- End to impunity for violations of human rights (by all parties) by investigating crimes that are being committed and prosecuting perpetrators.
- Strengthening of institutions that support democratic constitutional governance (The Electoral Commission, the Judiciary, the Anti Corruption agencies and Parliament). This can be done through immediate legislative reform pending comprehensive constitutional reform.

Medium and long term –Nation Building

Women acknowledge that they must embark on a process of Nation building for sustainable peace to be achieved. Important mid-term solutions include the following: The times call for Women of Kenya call fro transformative leadership at this time that brings values and ethics to the management of public affairs

- A minimum constitutional settlement and reform that would ensure an urgent reform of institutions that support a constitutional democracy grounded on sound legal framework followed by ;
- Comprehensive Constitutional Reform that would ensure equitable distribution of national resources, gender equality, affirmative action, equal rights for minorities and persons with disabilities including rights political participation. .
- Transitional Justice mechanisms that deal with the question of historical injustices that include gross human rights violations, massacre, assassinations, economic crimes and corruption , ethnic and political clashes .establishment a historical record, confronting and gaining truth about past injustices, creating accountability for human rights violations and ultimately reconciling Kenyan communities.
- Finalisation and adoption of the Peace and Conflict Prevention Policy.
- Peace education for prejudice reduction in primary schools.

Recommendations for the Process

- That there should be a mechanism for accountability by the mediation team to Kenyan women on the progress of the mediation. Such mechanism could be spelt out in a public mediation agreement.
- That there should be continued engagement with women as key stakeholders in all stages of the mediation.
- That a local gender advisor be appointed to provide the necessary expertise to the team of mediators. There is sufficient expertise within the women’s movement in Kenya in the fields of gender, children’s rights, women’s rights, and peace and conflict transformation.
- Political parties should have women represented on their teams in keeping with the enabling instruments.
- That the mediation continues until such time as peace is restored in Kenya.

This statement is presented and signed by the Committee Nominated by the Women’s Organisations 25th January 2008 (For a List of women attending the Women’s consultations over the last three weeks, please contact Pambazuka News).

1 Florence Mpaayei -- Nairobi Peace Initiative –Africa
2 Atsango Chesoni --Member ODM and Consultant, Human Rights
3 Njeri Kabeberi ---Center for Multi Party democracy
4 Mildred Ngesa---Association of Media Women of Kenya
5 Margaret Shava-- International Alert
6 Catherine Mumma --Consultant, Human Rights & Governance
7 Kaari Betty Murungi --Urgent Action Fund-Africa
8 Saida Ali --Young Women’s Leadership Institute
9 Rukia Subow --Maendeleo ya Wanawake
10 Josephine Ojiambo – Member of PNU ‘s National Coordinating Committee
11 Margaret Hutchinson --Education Centre for Women in Democracy

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

The SOAWR Review and Agenda Setting Meeting was held at the United Nations Conference Centre, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 22 - 24 January 2008 on the theme: Building an Accountable African Union: Perspectives of the African Women’s Movement. The meeting reflected on the national and continental campaign experiences on the rights of women to date with a view to laying down continental strategies for the full ratification and the effective implementation of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa by Member States.

The Inner Circle, a Muslim gay rights organisation, is dismayed after declaration by the Ulema body of the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) that any Muslim who believes that homosexuality is acceptable is regarded by the Muslim community as apostate.
This was said at an emergency meeting with full assembly of the MJC on 22 November last year, where the Ulema body said the decision was based on the Shariah Law and the Muslim way of life throughout the ages taught by all Holy prophets, and it is in the Holy Scriptures.

A Regional Court in Douala (Cameroon) sentenced three men accused of homosexuality to a maximum sentence of six months in prison and fined them 50.000 Francs (R700) each and another 27.000 Francs (R378) for legal expenses. These three men were among the nine arrested in August last year on charges of homosexuality and they only appeared in court for the first time on 2 January this year.

The Somalia town of Galkayo is known as a refuge from the violence to the south. But girls and women who are separated from their clans know little safety: An 8-year-old was raped and her mother must keep working with the man who did it.

The Pan African ILGA, a body representing 41 movements of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders and intersexual people in Africa has written to the Commonwealth complaining about the behaviour of the Ugandan police towards LGBTI activists in Kampala during the Comonwealth Head of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kampala last November.

This Student and Teacher Baseline Report on School-Related Gender-Based Violence in Machinga District, Malawi details the methodology, population characteristics, and results of a recently conducted survey on gender-based physical, psychological and sexual violence at schools including in the classroom and on the school grounds as well as going to and from school.

Rape and other forms of sexual violence remain prevalent in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), despite the cessation of military activities and the disarmament of militias in the region, according to aid workers. Before, this was mainly attributed to men in uniform, but now civilians comprise a significant number of the perpetrators.

The United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women is seeking a project officer to support follow up to the Secretary-General’s in-depth study on all forms of violence against women (A/61/122/Add 1 and Corr 1) and General Assembly resolution A/RES/61/143 on “Intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women. Expressions of interest, together with a CV and a brief (5 pages) writing sample, should be sent not later than 11 February 2008.

Ms Aurelie Razafinjato, elected for the Vohibato constituency following the September 23 2007 Legislative Elections, speaks. The new lawmaker participated in the EISA capacity building programme for women in politics in Madagascar.

HIV-infected women living in rural areas are finding it increasingly difficult to access life-prolonging antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) and tend to be more marginalised than those living in urban areas, non-governmental organisations say. "Rural women who need ARVs find themselves in a quandary because levels of income for a rural household tend to be low," said Tariro Kutadza, provincial coordinator of the Zimbabwe AIDS Network (ZAN) in the northern province of Mashonaland West.

A lesbian sex scene in an Egyptian film has outraged religious scholars, who are telling people not to watch the 'sinful' movie. An Islamic Studies professor at Cairo University wants the Egyptian authorities to prosecute the director and both actresses involved in the scene, Ghada Abdel-Razeq and Sumaya Al-Khashab.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Philadelphia, ruled on December 20 that a gay Egyptian man should receive a further hearing from the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), which earlier rejected his bid to stay in the US.

A Moroccan court of appeals upheld the prison sentences of six convicted homosexuals, MAP reported on Wednesday (January 16th). One of the men in the highly-publicised sexual rights case received a 10-month prison term and a $130 fine. The five others received lighter sentences. The men were rumoured to have participated in a supposed gay wedding ceremony in Ksar El-Kebir in northern Morocco.

Anene Ejikeme underscores the need for African women to be seen as an integral part of the solution.

In 1929 women in southeast Nigeria mounted a war against the forces of British colonial rule. The women targeted all the symbols of the new political order – the offices and homes of colonial officialdom, as well as its representatives. The "disturbances" and the demands made by the women at the Commission of Inquiry set up by the colonial government to investigate surprised the British. The women who testified before the Commission consistently demanded that women be represented in the new institutions which had been set up by the colonial government. More than 50 women lost their lives, but colonial authorities failed to appreciate the extent to which women felt aggrieved by colonial policies which rendered them invisible. Although the women organized and carried out this rebellion, it did not stop colonial authorities and missionaries from continuing to insist that African women were "no better than cattle and sheep" and completely lacking in agency.

"The assumption that African women lack agency continues to be the prevailing view."

Almost eighty years later, the assumption that African women lack agency continues to be the prevailing view about them. This impression is so often at variance with what I see, for example, when I am at home in Nigeria where, every day, I meet women who struggle to feed their families and to send their children to school, daily making decisions that help sustain their families.

The role of "Tradition"

Researchers and development workers appear eager always to point to "Tradition" as the reason for African women's lack of agency. Take, for example, the statement issued by a recent international summit convened to address the economic crisis in Africa.

"In Africa, the gender gap is even wider and the situation is more complex due to the cultural and traditional context which is anchored in beliefs, norms and practices which breed discrimination and feminised poverty. There is growing evidence that the number of women in Africa living in poverty has increased disproportionately to that of men."

This was the conclusion of the 8th Meeting of the African Partnership Forum (APF) in Germany in May 2007. The APF was founded in 2003 as a forum designed "to facilitate Africa's economic growth." The members of the APF are Western donor countries which give more than $100 million in aid, multilateral institutions such as the UN, World Bank, IMF, WTO, African regional institutions such as ECOWAS, SADC, ADB, as well as the pan-African NEPAD and AU.

There is no doubt that there are many traditions in Africa that hamper women's ability to lead economically prosperous lives, but to point to "Tradition" as the root cause of African women's poverty obscures reality more than it clarifies it. First of all, there is no single "Tradition" which exists all over Africa. Secondly, what is considered "traditional" in African communities is often of relatively recent vintage and was colonially-generated. Foreign aid workers and African men are too eager to point to "Tradition" when excluding women from development projects. For example, in Kenya, local men – and "development officers" – are often quick to insist that it is "untraditional" for women to own land. The truth is, of course, that individual land ownership is not "traditional" for anyone in Kenya; individual land ownership was usefully introduced by British colonial authorities keen to claim the most fertile lands for Europeans.1 "What is considered "traditional" in African communities is often of relatively recent vintage and was colonially-generated. Foreign aid workers and African men are too eager to point to "Tradition" when excluding women from development projects."

The idea conveyed when "Tradition" is blamed for African women's economic predicament is that African beliefs and practices constitute part of an ancient, unchanging way of life, not easily amenable to change. The reality too often is that aid and development workers assume that the existence of "Tradition" makes African women incapable of acting as authors of their own lives. Numerous studies now exist which point to the unwillingness or incapacity of development workers to engage African women in dialogue as a fundamental obstacle to the success of many so-called aid programs.2 Fundamental to any task of understanding Africa is the acknowledgment of the continent's diversity. Not even within a single country do sweeping generalizations hold. An absolute priority to ending poverty in Africa is to listen to the experiences and wisdom of poor African women.

As we acknowledge that "Tradition" cannot be the beginning and the end of any analysis of African women's economic realities, we must also acknowledge that the facts of African women's lives do not make for happy reading. The statistics, while they do not capture the reality of women's lives in all the different contexts in which they live, give an overall picture.

Of all the continents, Africa has the largest percentage of people living in poverty, with signs that ever larger numbers will be threatened by poverty in the future. HIV/AIDS, for example, is leaving millions of African children as AIDS orphans. The HIV/AIDS epidemic, which is recognized to be of significant consequence for development, affects women in notably higher numbers than men in some African countries. In Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya and Malawi, this has resulted in a lower life expectancy for women than men, a reversal of what typically obtains.3 Although African women work longer hours, they own disproportionately less than African men. African women receive only 1 percent of credit facilities extended to agricultural producers. Yet, at least 70 percent of African women are involved in agriculture. A disproportionate percentage of African babies are of low birth weight, a factor closely related to maternal poverty.

"African women receive only 1 percent of credit facilities extended to agricultural producers. Yet, at least 70 percent of African women are involved in agriculture."

Ending Poverty?

How to end poverty in Africa? This question has become a staple of discussion for commentators from pop stars to world-renowned economists. For decades, the image of Africa in the world has been as the poor neighbor, always receiving charity yet remaining forever destitute and helpless. Despite numerous pop concerts, organizations with a plethora of acronyms, roundtables, meetings and conferences, poverty in Africa remains.

The most ambitious poverty-eradication effort to date is the Millennium Development Project, which was ratified by all the UN member nations as well as major donor and aid institutions in September 2000. Its goal is to eradicate poverty all over the world, especially in Africa. The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) explicitly recognize the centrality of women's economic empowerment to any serious poverty reduction program: the third of the eight goals is "to promote gender equality and empower women."

While it is clear that Africa will not meet any of Millennium Development Goals by the 2015 deadline, 4 it is important that the MDG acknowledge that development cannot take place in a vacuum. In 2005, five years after the MDG were passed and ten years before their due date, the UN issued a major report assessing achievements so far and delineating what needs to be done. According to the UN 2005 MDG Report, in 1990 44.6 percent of Africans were living on less than a dollar a day; by 2001 the percentage of Africans living on less than a dollar a day had actually increased to 46.4 percent, a goal even further removed from the Millennium Development Goal of about 25 percent by 2015 (MDG
2005 Report). Since 1990, millions more people are chronically hungry in sub-Saharan Africa, where half the children under the age of five are malnourished. (MDG Report 2005)

Despite these disheartening statistics, aid is certainly not the panacea. In the first place, "aid assistance" and "development programs" have typically discriminated against women. In the second place, attempts to incorporate women into development programs may be tempted to "bring women up to men's standards." The economic situation of African men is no model! But the strongest argument against aid is the fact that 30 years of ODA have produced little beyond huge amounts of crushing debt. In 2000, African external debt accounted for over 51 percent of GDP; by 2003 it had fallen to 49 percent of GDP. Such global figures obscure the particularly harsh reality for individual countries: for Malawi external debt was almost 200 percent of its GDP in 2006; for Sao Tome & Principe it was 350 percent!5 "Aid is certainly not the panacea... the strongest argument against aid is the fact that 30 years of ODA have produced little beyond huge amounts of crushing debt."

Fortunately, in 2006 debt was about 25 percent of GDP for Africa as a whole. There are other signs for cautious optimism. For example, several African countries have reported economic growth rate of 5 percent or more for the last two years.6 A stronger economy is the only path poor countries have to get out of poverty. In 1980 Africa contributed 5 percent to global trade. By 1995 the figure was 2.2 percent. In the 1990s Africa was attracting 3 percent FDI. Compare this with 20 percent for Latin America and 50 percent for East Asia.7 On practically every indicator used to measure poverty, and in contrast to Africa's continued weak position, Latin America and East Asia have made positive gains, and this is no doubt a direct result of the positive gains in their position in the global marketplace.

Rather than idealistic slogans about making poverty history, we need to attend more closely to practical ways to increase Africa's share of the world market. Here, the role of African governments is paramount. Clearly, investors will invest only in places where profit seems likely and stability can be guaranteed. For too long, African regimes have failed to provide a climate attractive to investors.

"Rather than idealistic slogans about making poverty history, we need to attend more closely to practical ways to increase Africa's share of the world market."

Related to economic development must be the question of arms sales.
Africa is awash in arms, from small ones to massive missiles. Armed conflict makes agriculture impossible and does not allow for the kind of stability that investors want. The number of Africans affected by armed conflicts is staggering. Between 1994 and 2003 more than 9 million Africans, mostly women and children, perished as a result of armed conflict. That's the entire population of Sweden. Much more than the population of Switzerland. No region in the world comes close to such statistics. In Southern Asia, the region next in terms of casualties from armed conflict, the figure was under 2 million. War produces not only casualties in terms of deaths, but also refugees and other displaced peoples. It will come as no surprise that Africa far exceeds any other region in the world in its refugee and displaced populations.

People cannot farm or run factories if they are dodging bullets or coerced to fight wars. Governments cannot invest in infrastructure if they use their country's wealth to buy military equipment. It is almost impossible to imagine a world in which the arms producing nations of the world agreed not to sell to impoverished countries. Impossible to imagine, but what a world of difference it would make!

Women and Economic Development For Africans, women and men, to become economically more prosperous, African economies have to be radically restructured. Most of the economies in Africa remain monocultures. There can be no prosperity for the majority of its citizens if a country relies on the exportation of low-value raw materials that are sent to other countries where they are processed and then returned to the world market with a much increased price-tag. Exporting copper or coffee will only make a few individuals or a multinational rich; copper and coffee alone will not a country enrich.

Greater diversification of African economies has to incorporate a more inclusive and empowered role for women. Today, individual experts and agencies all claim to acknowledge that African countries can move significant proportions of their populations out of poverty only if women are able to improve their economic lot. "Women in Development", from its start in Western feminist circles, is now a staple concept in all multilateral agencies. Yet the success of Women in Development programs has not been much better than that of development tout court. This is because too often a paternalistic approach persists and projects are designed without any consultation with the target women who are seen only as recipients.

"Greater diversification of African economies has to incorporate a more inclusive and empowered role for women."

It is critically important not to make assumptions or to behave as if categories from Western societies can be uncritically used to analyze African ones. We have to be vigilant not to be careless in our thinking: too often, for example, education is treated by experts as a fetish. Because people are poor or "uneducated" does not mean they are stupid.

The success of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh provides one example that poor, uneducated women know what they want and will successfully implement it if they have the opportunity (via credit, for example). In my own research on Onitsha, Nigeria, an important center of trade where women controlled the marketplace in the nineteenth century, I found that lack of literacy was no bar to the ability of women to accumulate enormous wealth. Students of West African history are very familiar with self-help microfinance groups organized by women; such groups have a deep history, long predating the current "discovery" of microfinance in the West, due in large part to the award of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize to Mohamed Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank.

The kind of aid with which we are most familiar, involving "experts"
going from the global north to tell people in the global south what to do, especially in the form of government to government monetary packages, cannot bring poor people permanently out of poverty. On the other hand, assistance which is conceived as a partnership and actually involves the "recipients" in the planning as well as implementation, can succeed. And there are examples of such successes. The Canadian organization, Match International, was founded on just such principles.

According to the organization's mission statement, "Match supports initiatives identified by women in the global South, led and implemented by the women, and innovative in their context. This approach is based on Match's belief that women's development must be considered within their own context, and for strategies to succeed, women's views and agendas must be taken into consideration." In Nigeria, the organization Baobab for Women's Human Rights, has achieved notable successes. It is worth noting that, in one campaign, Baobab was forced to expend much energy and resources in asking women's groups in the global north to scale back their activities as these were negating their own local initiatives, threatening to derail the goal on which all were agreed. Baobab's activities have focused in the primarily Muslim parts of Nigeria, and under the rubric of "women's human rights" the organization has been able to address a wide range of issues, including women's economic empowerment.

A work that remains - unfortunately – very relevant is Barbara Brown's book The Domestication of Women which shows just how expensive can be well-intentioned but ill-conceived projects devised by men and women who "go to help" without ever bothering to listen or even consult with those whose lives are supposed to be impacted by their projects. Her book is a catalogue of failures spearheaded by various branches of the United Nations and other multilateral organizations. One tragicomic scenario involving the building of wells comes readily to mind: exasperated, "aid" workers abandon the building of wells because, despite all their efforts, local men do not maintain the wells as instructed. The fact that it is women who fetch water had never been taken into consideration by the "aid" workers. The poverty eradication programs which have been shown to produce significant and lasting results tend to be smaller in scale and always involve the active participation of the so-called "target women". The point is not that large organizations are doomed to failure but that they must learn to listen as well as to acknowledge that poor people are not only students but also can be teachers. Women at the so-called grassroots level must be heard because only they have the intimate knowledge of their lives and needs.

"Women at the so-called grassroots level must be heard because only they have the intimate knowledge of their lives and needs."

Conclusion Who should speak for African women? Too often it is either African men or Western women. We need to hear more from the African women themselves whose lives we all claim we wish to improve. Also, we must incorporate the important critiques by African women scholars of the flawed categories that continue to be used to describe African women's lives and African societies. Scholars such as Felicia Ekejiuba, Achola Pala, Nkiru Nzegwu and Oyeronke Oyewumi have written about how the categories used to describe African women's lives often are derived from very different realities in other parts of the world and end up doing more violence to the women whose lives the activists/scholars claim they seek to ameliorate.

In the context of the discussion here, it is important to note that the UN Commission on the Status of Women has declared its theme for 2008 as "Financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women". In February 2007 the Commission convened an informal expert panel to discuss how to move forward on this agenda. It is disheartening – but, unfortunately, not surprising – that no African women were amongst the list of panelists; indeed the only African – the Minister of Finance for Zambia – was also the only man.

* Dr. Anene Ejikem is Assistant Professor of History at Trinity University. This article was first published in the AtIssue ezine

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

* Please click on the link for the article notes

This Case Study has examined how rural women mobilised to establish a women's shea butter sector enterprise in Burkina Faso. By adding value through processing of shea nuts into shea butter, women are directly reaping the benefits of their labour. The enterprise is creating jobs and providing extra income to the women. Shea is one of the few economic commodities in the region that is entirely under the control of women.

Last year saw three female presidents come into power. In Argentina, left-leaning Cristina Fernandez was elected president, becoming the country's second ever woman to occupy its highest office. In her inaugural speech, Fernandez vowed to ensure the conclusion of the numerous human rights abuses cases arising from the dictatorship era from 1976 to 1983.

Recently, I was involved in getting prosecuted a man who raped a ten-year-old girl in Imo state in Southern Nigeria. In the course of this, I visited several police stations in Southeastern Nigeria where I met, interacted and encountered various police officers. And I must say that I was deeply shocked and disappointed by what I saw-by what I noticed going on at the police stations in the name of police work.