About

The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) have developed a primer for African women’s organisations regarding preventing violence against women. AWDF is a grantmaking foundation that supports local, national and regional women’s organisations working towards the empowerment of African women and the promotion and realisation of their rights .By specialising in grant-making and focused, tailored movement-building programmes, we work to strengthen and support the work of African women’s organisations.

By amplifying and celebrating African women’s voices and achievements, AWDF supports efforts that combat harmful stereotypes, and promote African women as active agents of change.

The vision of AWDF is to have a world where all African women live in peace, with dignity and justice and where there is equality and respect for women’s rights and their mission is to mobilise financial, human and material resources to support initiatives for transformation led by African women, women’s rights organisations and African women’s movements.

Today, AWDF’s grantmaking practices are built to support the initiatives of African women who may not have access to mainstream funding due to capacity, language, location, and marginalisation. In fact, the AWDF has served as a key donor to 60 percent of grantees who experienced serious challenges to sustainable funding.

Why this primer?

This primer provides an overview of key terms, trends, approaches, and evidence used to frame violence against women (VAW) prevention programming. It is designed to strengthen programming, advocacy, and research for evidence-based violence against women prevention in Africa. We hope that it will both contribute to individual learning and promote collective knowledge on VAW—enabling organisations and groups to engage more meaningfully in VAW prevention programming, advocacy, research, and activism.

Who is this primer for?

This primer is intended for African women’s organisations, African women’s funds, and allied philanthropic actors to broaden their understanding of the trends in the rapidly evolving field of VAW prevention. The primer also serves to increase the participation of African women’s organisations, researchers, activists, and programme developers in advancing evidence-based work on VAW prevention grounded in feminist politics.

Ultimately, it is our hope that this primer supports African women’s organisations to take the lead on VAW prevention programming, innovations, implementation, and advocacy.

To download the primer, click on the following link