Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA)

[Guest guest]

Members,

Feel free to contact this great organisation. The contacts are:

EAST AND HORN OF AFRICA OFFICE.

Plot 30

Bukoto Street, Kamwokya

P.O. Box 24130

Kampala, Uganda

Tel/Fax: 25641 543681/3

Email: amwa@...

Registered as an International NGO in Uganda by the NGO Registration

Board.

AMwA is an NGO in Consultative Status with the Economic and Social

Council at the United Nations.

Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA) is an international, pan-African,

non-governmental development organisation for African women based in

the UK with an Africa regional office in Kampala, Uganda. AMwA was set

up in 1985 by women from different parts of Africa resident in the

United Kingdom. Translated from Swahili, the name means 'solidarity

among African women', signifying African sisterhood. AMwA was founded

to create space for African women to organise, and build links with

African women active in the areas of their own development.

Vision.

A world in which there is social, economic and political autonomy of

African women.

Mission Statement.

Akina Mama is an African women's international non-governmental

development organisation based in the UK and Africa. Coordinating

local, regional and international initiatives, Akina Mama serves as a

mobilising, networking, information, advocacy and training forum for

African women, building their leadership capacities to influence

policy and decision-making.

Objectives.

AMwA serves as a research forum on African women's issues, and

provides a platform for African women to participate in policy and

decision-making. AMwA's objectives are:

#To influence policies that affect African women at national, regional

and international levels

# To participate in the construction of a feminist epistemology by

African women

# To strengthen and promote African women's feminist leadership

# To respond to the leadership needs of African women and African

women's organisations

Thematic Areas.

AMwA has UK/Europe programs and Africa Programs. AMwA's work is

carried out through advocacy, research, and provision of information,

networking and training. AMwA's programs fall under four key thematic

areas:

# Community Development

# Education and Research

# Human Rights

# International Development

AMwA's Concept of Leadership.

We at AMwA believe in an alternative framework for leadership, which

is not based on power and its acquisition and retention. Rather, we

offer a feminist analysis of leadership as a process of inspiring

ourselves and others towards the achievement of a vision, which

transform women's lives. Within this context, women should be seeking

the kind of leadership which can dismantle all forms of patriarchal

injustice and oppression.

The added value of the leadership training AMwA provides is the fact

that we encourage our participants to consider themselves as crucial

in the process of women's empowerment, both at an individual and

collective level and mobilisation around common concerns. Our work

through AWLI aims to challenge and transform accepted paradigms of

leadership which keep women from being in control of their own

destinies, and which thrives on their exploitation and exclusion. We

want to build a critical mass of feminist women leaders who can see

Africa through the 21st century with a new social, political and

economic agenda, grounded in the principles of social justice, good

governance and accountability.

The P.O.T Leadership Framework.

Akina Mama wa Afrika has conceptualised a leadership training

framework for the African Women's Leadership Institute called the

P.O.T. framework. The P.O.T. specifically addresses concerns of young

African women activist, and its holistic approach to leadership issues

for the next generation. The P.O.T signifies an inter-disciplinary and

multifaceted approach to activism, and addresses the personal,

political and contextual issues individual activists face within their

communities.

# Personal Empowerment.

This is crucial for African women activists to be able to commit

themselves to challenging deeply oppressive systems, most of which are

rooted in years of culture and tradition, and which makes it difficult

to advocate for change. Self empowerment, self esteem and personal

space are issues of concern for African women activists. Examples of

issues to be addressed will include leadership strategies,

self-development, and balancing personal and professional issues.

# Organisational Development.

The ability to make effective use of organisations or institutions to

promote a progressive agenda for women and advocate for fundamental

change. This also includes the need to mobilise and manage resources

needed to develop institutions. Organisational in this context might

be autonomous and non-governmental, or might be governmental machinery

set up to address gender concerns. Issues such as NGO structure and

management, conflict resolution, strategic planning and networking

will be covered under this theme.

# Transfer of Skill and Knowledge.

The African Women's Leadership Institute will develop

inter-generational systems of knowledge and skills transfer. Through

this progress, younger women will learn from older women and older

women will learn from younger ones. The ability to effectively

transfer knowledge on an inter-generational basis is also crucial to

the sustainability of a progressive development agenda. It is also

important to affirm women as knowers and creators of knowledge within

their communities, a fact which patriarchy usually ignores. Examples

of issues to be covered are feminist theory and practice, mentoring

and oral history.

Structure and Management of AMwA.

The head office of AMwA is in London, UK. AMwA is a registered charity

in the UK, and a company limited by guarantee. She is also registered

as an international NGO in Uganda, where the Eastern/Horn of Africa

Office is based. Plans are currently under way to establish a West

Africa Regional Office in Nigeria. AMwA has an International Executive

Board and staff based in the UK and Uganda. Its Africa and Europe

Committees works with AMwA on the implementation of its Programs.

Executive Board Members.

Stella Mukasa - President (Uganda)

Zeedah Meiherhofer-Mangeli (Vice-President) (Kenya

- Treasurer (Sierra Leone)

Jeannette Eno (Sierra Leone)

Iheoma Obibi (Nigeria)

Everjoice Win (Zimbabwe)

Mukami McCrum (Kenya)

Ngone Diop Tine (Senegal)

Thokozile Matshe (Secretary/Ex-Officio) (Zimbabwe)

Funders and Partners.

AMwA's funding comes from grants, consultancies and donations. We

thank the following local, national and international agencies that

have made our work possible over the years, through grants and

donations for various projects.

Africa Programs.

* Applied Research Centre

* Association of London Government

* Camden & Islington Health Authority

* CIDA

* Charities Project/Comic Relief

* City Parochial Trust

* Comic Relief

* Community Fund (International)

* Carnegie Corporation

* Department of Health

* Department for International Development (DfID)

* Ford Foundation

* Global Fund for Women

* National Lottery Charities Board (International)

* Mama Cash

* Shaler

* Skills for Southern Sudan

* United Nations Development Program (UNDP)

* United Nations Office for Project Services

* USAID-Uganda

* Women in Law