African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) is a grant-making foundation which supports local, national and regional organizations in Africa working towards women’s empowerment. AWDF through institutional capacity building and program development seeks to build a culture of learning and partnerships within the African women’s movement.

The vision of AWDF is for African women to live in a world in which there is social justice, equality and respect for women’s human rights. To this end, our mission is to mobilize financial resources to support local, national and regional initiatives led by women, which will lead to the achievement of this vision.

AWDF, the first Africa-wide fundraising and grant-making fund, was established in June 2000 by three African Women who have been active in various institutions within and outside Africa. The founders, Ms Joanna Foster (Ghana) Dr Hilda Tadria (Uganda/Ethiopia) and Ms Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi (UK/Nigeria), have a track record of successful empowerment interventions, which have helped strengthen the African Women’s Movement.

To support its mission, AWDF created a sister affiliate, the AWDF-USA Board to support AWDF’s fundraising and partnership building in the US. “The launch of AWDF’s global endowment campaign to raise US$ 15 million was co-chaired by The Honorable Graca Machel and The Honorable Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in Johannesburg, South Africa last November” said Barbara Y. Phillips, Chair of the AWDF-USA Board of Directors. “As part of our mission, the AWDF-USA launched the U.S. portion of the endowment campaign in Chicago in May. AWDF-USA is planning to hold other fundraisers around the country.”

The objectives of AWDF are fundraising within and outside Africa, grant-making on an Africa-wide basis, communicating the work and achievements of African women’s organisations and providing technical assistance to grantees.

AWDF has funded over 600 women’s organisations in 41 African countries.

For more information about AWDF,
visit www.awdf.org.