Network of African Business Women (NABW)
The Network for African Business Women (NABW) is currently the biggest network in terms of membership. Launched in 2011 the movement aims to strengthen business womenâs associations, identify existing business women and turn them into growth-oriented entrepreneurs. The network provides an effective platform for women to freely, equitably and effectively participate in the economic development of their countries through the establishment of sustainable business ventures and strong support organisations.
Ours is a national and regional umbrella body of business associations that seek to represent and serve the interests of business women across sectors.
There are 10 NABW and affiliate countries; Burundi, DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Each of these countries has an independent programme of activities that are carried out in collaboration with the Trust. Our data shows that network size at country level ranges from 2 000 members in Uganda to 250 000 members in Kenya. Sectors represented in the country networks include agribusiness, manufacturing, services, textiles, crafts, trade, tourism, mining and construction. Ours is a national and regional umbrella body of business associations that seek to represent and serve the interests of business women across sectors.
Country and Partner Networks
Our working pillars below drives our collaboration with the networks in addressing the common challenges they face, i.e., access to skills, markets, information and finance. Given our collective approach, we are leveraging the numbers to do advocacy and increase opportunities for businesswomen through sector value chain and cluster development. And other 3 pillars form part of the ecosystem of support interventions identified through our research with the networks for effective enterprise network building.
The 5 pillars that drive our work are:
Building entrepreneur capacity and growing businesses
Challenges faced by women entrepreneurs negatively impact their capability and capacity to grow their businesses, leading to them not being able to realise their full potential and become meaningful contributors of job creation and Africaâs socio-economic development.
Gaining insights of the barriers women face from its NABW membership, the Trust established Women Creating Wealth (WCW), an enterprise development programme to directly tackle these challenges.
Women Creating Wealth is an holistic one-year programme focused on key strategies such as; detecting business opportunities and planning for sustainable growth; improving efficiency and quality of their service offering and improving decision making by utilising multiple sources of information within their business operations and broader environment. The programme is being jointly offered in partnership with the United Nations Convention for Developmentâs (UNCTAD) Empretec initiative.
Offered in Zambia, Tanzania and Malawi
The Trust supports and mobilises civil society networks on issues of ending child marriage, ending violence against children, ending female genital mutilation and promoting childrenâs 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 Childrenâs Rights and Development Programme aims at promoting the Global Strategy for women, children and adolescentsâ 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 Trustâs 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 motherâs health and social economic conditions, the early years of a childâs life form a fundamental foundation that determines whether a child will survive and thrive optimally.