Today we celebrate Human Rights Day. We thank the many great women whose conviction and courage drove them to voice and act against gender injustices with the belief women’s rights is indeed, a Human Right. They worked hard to change laws, attitudes and behaviours in order to achieve the freedoms most women enjoy today. There are many African women who continue to fight against gender injustices and oppression and among them are the activists, human rights advocates, gender professionals, feminists and women who may not identify themselves with the term ‘feminist’ but still fight injustices as they come across them.
We revere the courage of Lilian Ngoyi, Sophia De Bruyn, Albertina Sisulu, Helen Joseph and Rahima Mossa who led the marching by the then Federation of South African Women (FSAW) in 1956 where more than 20 000 women of various races delivered petitions to the then-Prime Minister, JG Strijdom, against carrying apartheid’s ‘dompass’ by women.
We know there is more work to do. Child Abuse and Gender based violence is still on the increase. Women remain economically poor because they lack access to education, finance and means of production.
We also recognise the struggle for freedom continues and it is helpful to pause and remind ourselves of what it means and how we can realise freedom more holistically and sustainably. Freedom is defined as, the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants and sometimes this means we have to be first empowered economically, socially, culturally or politically in order to have the power for self-determination, which is the essence of freedom.
As we work towards gender transformation, we are inspired to consider noble ideas, such as, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ‘leave no one behind’, Dr Martin Luther King’s, ‘we are not free till we are all free’, non-violent community aspiration that leadership is ‘taking care of the whole’. We are also cautioned that the oppressed can become the oppressor. These are ideals as it seems more instinctive to react with force to oppression than to respond with the best our humanity. How do we take people who cause great violations with us? To this question, we are encouraged to understand needs with loving kindness and act with ‘courage, truth, and always love’. And while this is challenging, it seems to be the most sustainable way forward.
Freedom also appears to be mostly won through struggle and it is elusive in this way. Sometimes freedom is freeing ourselves from our own prejudiced minds and actions, be it prejudice born of gender, race, class, ethnicity and religion. Many of us either begin the battles with ourselves or we fight injustices outside us and then come back to rescue ourselves.
Whatever your preference, let us continue to increase our awareness, challenge our prejudices and raise our consciousness about freedoms. Let us treat others as we would like to be treated. We all have a role to play – the activists, politicians, professionals, healers, mothers, sisters, brothers, fathers, daughters and sons. Let’s find our conviction and garner the wisdom to act with ‘courage, truth and love’ to positively transform our homes, our communities and our world.
By Korkor Cudjoe.
The Trust supports and mobilises civil society networks on issues of ending child marriage, ending violence against children, ending female genital mutilation and promoting children’s rights, to carry out advocacy and action across Africa. Special focus is placed on Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia where child marriage continues to be a problem largely driven by poverty, gender inequality, harmful traditional practices, conflict, low levels of literacy, limited opportunities for girls and weak or non-existent protective and preventive legal frameworks.
Education is a fundamental right for all children, which is also a vehicle for social, economic and political transformation in communities, countries and the African continent at large. Recent studies indicate a lack of progress in some of the critical commitments aimed at improving education quality, access, retention and achievement, particularly for girls. In most African countries, girls may face barriers to learning, especially when they reach post-primary levels of education. By implementing multi-dimensional approaches to education which includes core education, personal development, life skills and economic competencies, the Trust partners with funding partners, governments, civil societies and the private sector to improve education access.
The Nutrition and Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition, (RMNCAH+N) of the Children’s Rights and Development Programme aims at promoting the Global Strategy for women, children and adolescents’ health within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. The strategy emphasises on the importance of effective country leadership as a common factor across countries making progress in improving the health of women, children and adolescents.
Through its Early Childhood Development (ECD) plan, The Trust will seek to put into action the new science and evidence Report that was presented by Lancet Series on Good and early development – the right of every child. This will be achieved by mobilising like-minded partners to contribute in the new science and evidence to reach all young children with ECD. The Trust’s goal is to be a catalyst for doing things differently, in particular, to rid fragmentation and lack of coordination across ECD sectors. In response to evidence showing the importance of political will in turning the tide against the current poor access and quality of ECD. Even before conception, starting with a mother’s health and social economic conditions, the early years of a child’s life form a fundamental foundation that determines whether a child will survive and thrive optimally.