EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Women Of Africa (WOA) was created in 1994 to give women the platform to engage in efforts to end direct military dictatorship in Nigeria.  Military rule ended in 1999 and WOAs focus shifted to supporting African families and professionals based in the United Kingdom, through advocacy and mediation services.  The aim was to reduce existing cultural misunderstandings and distrust between the UK and African cultures.

Achievements:

1.      Through dedicated one-to-one support, around 4,500 families and professionals benefited over a period of ten years resulting in more children and young adults of African origin remaining in formal education and progressing to higher institutions of learning. Better understanding of African culture led to more children and young adults of African origin returning from foster homes to their natural parents and successfully prevented African children from being adopted.

2.      Through our effective support, African families were granted leave to appeal a murder conviction by the British Court of Appeal in 2005.

3.      For more information about our achievement through our one to one support services visit our website: www.womenofafrika.org historical background: Diary of cases.

Addressing Africa’s Backwardness for the good of all

The experience we gained from working directly with families in the UK and Africa highlighted the root cause of the many challenges that Africans face both at home and abroad; namely the delay of Africa’s reform. Africans love Africa and those outside will return home if the situation on the ground was improved and less would emigrate.

The Problem and Presumptions

Contrary to international efforts to help Africa through international aid, UN Conventions, AU’s Decades For Women amongst others, the responsibility for Africa’s recovery and reform rests with Africans themselves and alone.

Our Mission is to raise the profile of African women for international recognition through lobbying influential people (politically and otherwise) across the world. We aim to achieve a positive shift of consciousness in favour of African women.

Policy decision makers in governments both in Africa and globally need to become aware that without African women at the high table, partnership agreements would not yield the desired outcome. African women are the providers in most homes and therefore understand the challenges they face. African women would deliver sustainable peace, socio-economic and political development. Importantly, the growing rate of violence against women and girl children can only be halted through direct involvement of Africa’s women.

  Our Working Philosophy:

It is true that African women define Africa’s culture and tradition and are the back bone of the Continent. Representing the combined voices of women, we react to challenges by issuance of position Press Releases amongst others from time to time.

Globalisation presumes partnership between Nations of equal standing.  However given Africa’s continuing backwardness, it is clear that most countries in the continent fall within the categorization of third world or developing countries. One therefore wonders how developed countries can comfortably partner with under-developed countries and expect them to interact as equals. For how long can developed countries support failing African countries with arms and international aid?

Negative Impact of Immature globalisation on African Women & Civil Society:

• Globalisation changed the developmental reality through the imposition of international norms on a still backward Africa.
• The misunderstanding of the role and status of women by the foreign traders who arrived on the Continent during the commercial and slave trading and colonial era injected a gender gap and role frustration which continues to haunt and hurt African women into the 21^st century. So now, the world is global without African women.
• The globalised agenda thus portrays African women as victims within their families and communities. This scenario ignores the fact that African women are the care givers and leaders of their Continent.
• Across the African Continent grassroots women are organising in an attempt to empower themselves and attract international attention to no avail as the rules of the globalised world appear to be set in stone in favour of African governments and hence African men. This is to the detriment of world peace, stability and Africa’s reform.

Africa’s recovery from her negative past depends on international recognition of African women as equal stakeholders.

Our Strategy & Progress:

We wrote formally to Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth of Britain and Head of the Commonwealth of Nations informing Ma’am of the work we are doing to raise the profile of African women for international recognition for Africa’s reform.

We have attempted to make contact with the African Union through letters to the immediate past President Dr. Thomas Yayi Boni: President of Benin Republic; The American President; The British Prime Minister; Secretary of State for Foreign Affair; World Bank Vice President for Africa; Mrs. Hillary Clinton; The Secretary General of the United Nations Ban-Ki Moon and many others with the message that a New World Order is urgently needed to end the global unrest and help Africa recover. Women as important civil society players need to be recognised and effectively empowered to contribute to Africa’s recovery and end centuries of abuse and negative imaging. It is important that the continuing growth in commercial interests in Africa’s market should include Africans themselves. African women want to be the catalyst for the emerging economic change so as to make it beneficial and sustainable in the future.

Our Partners: Women across Africa and in the Diaspora are organised under various groups under grassroots leadership, to support themselves to meet their day to day needs. Many organise as Non Governmental Organisations to meet their needs. Our work will bring women’s groups together to connect with what governments are doing nationally and internationally for greater impact and relevance.

The creation of the African Women Commission (AWCOM) aims to become a civil society body/voice for African women working with themselves; world governments and donors in the interest of our global project.

Exposure to leadership at the continental level as is being aimed, would Mentor, Support, Empower and give voice to African women.  This would enable them to regain their traditional status and authority to modernise Africa and equalise our standing with the rest of the developed world.

Women understand better what their needs are in their role as mothers, in the home and as peace makers.  AWCOM would enable women to bring their individual skills and authority in the home to bear on international decision making process.

Sexual abuse is a major challenge for Africans. African women working together void of competing interests have the capacity and authority to reduce this abominable act against humanity, tradition and culture. Most health concerns facing Africans and the world today will become a thing of the past if women are given the opportunity to restore their traditional role within Africa and the global world.   

To add value to humanitarian efforts worldwide, AWCOM aim to launch Project Africa Direct, a project that would ensure that every donation and effort expended by Africans living abroad and the goodwill of world citizens gets to the grassroots of Africa for whom these efforts and sacrifices are meant.

A major problem facing women across Africa and the Diaspora is isolation due to a lack of information. AWCOM aims to put an appropriate information mechanism in place to ensure that every African woman is connected to their government and is aware of how her contributions create a peaceful and better world. African women should be supported to feed their families, communities and the world in their own rights and through their own efforts.

Our Funding: As equal stakeholders in humanity we are appealing for world governments and investors in the humanitarian well-being of the world to kindly support this unique Mission so that together, we can save Africa in our lifetime