Sarah Mpata2025-03-20T07:04:08+00:00March 20th, 2025|
In celebration of Womenâs Month 2025, we spotlight remarkable African women leaders from the Graça Machel Trustâs Expert Leaders Group (ELG). Among these trailblazers is Ms. Elsie Addo Awadzi, a leader whose 30-year career has been largely devoted to transforming financial systems and economies into more stable, resilient, and inclusive spaces.  A career defined
The Foundation for Community Development (FDC) is a private, non-profit organisation that works to combine the eff orts of all sectors in society to promote and advocate or development, democracy and social justice.
Founded in 1996, FDC has implemented and supported interventions in priority areas such as education, health, food security and income generation, water and sanitation and HIV/AIDS, with particular emphasis on children and women. Through working together with implementing partners, more than 100 organisations and civil society networks have been strengthened, in more than fifty percent of Mozambiqueâs 128 Districts.
In contribution to the reduction of chronic malnutrition and food insecurity in the country, through its Strategic Plan 2015-2025, the FDC intends to mobilise funds for the implementation of a Nutrition and Food Security five year project in four provinces. This will be undertaken by working through advocacy, coordination and implementation at the central, provincial, district and community level, together with the public and private sector, implementing partners, CSOs and funders.
CSONA is a coalition of local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and local civil society organisations (CSOs) working to ensure sustained improvements in nutrition in Malawi, and provide support to governmentâs effort to scale up nutrition.
Founded in 2013, CSONA is affiliated to the Global Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement which was launched in 2011 in Malawi. CSONA aims to facilitate CSOs to take a leading role in influencing and supporting government efforts in order to contribute to a successful roll-out of national nutrition interventions. CSONAâs members range from international and local NGOs, Community Based Organizations, Faith Based Organization, to other civil society actors.
By June 2016, CSONA had 106 members implementing projects around nutrition, food security, agriculture, livelihoods, health, governance, gender, education, and water, sanitation and hygiene. CSONAâs secretariat is based in Lilongwe, temporarily hosted by Concern Worldwide.
A coalition of over 300 international and local CSOs across the country dedicated to building the political and public will to support as well as intervene to end malnutrition in Tanzania. The nutrition CSOs are work in the following sectors; Agriculture, Education, Health, Community Development, WASH, Livestock and Fisheries. Established in 2010 through technical and financial support from Save the Children International (SCI), UNICEF and Irish Aid. Formed as a platform for CSOs to provide technical support, share information, and consolidate synergies on nutrition advocacy at national and local level. PANITAâs secretariat is based in Dar es Salaam.
The Women in Media Network (WIMN)Â is the Trustâs most recent network comprising 35 highly experienced journalists from 15 countries across Africa.
A key focus of the network will be to challenge the current perceptions and mindsets about Africaâs women and children and how they are portrayed in the media.
We believe that through balanced storytelling we will be able shape a new reality â one that reflects more nuanced stories, told in the way that women want and deserve their stories to be told.
New Faces New Voices (NFNV)Â advocates for womenâs access to
finance and financial services. The network aims to bridge the funding gap in financing women-owned businesses in Africa and to lobby for policy and legislative changes.
The overall objective of the network is to advance the financial inclusion of women by bringing more women into the formal financial system.
The African Women in Agribusiness Network (AWAB) aims to address challenges in food security and identify opportunities for women in the agricultural sector.
The network advocates for initiatives that enhance womenâs competitiveness in local and global markets. AWAB also seeks to foster market linkages for women, connecting them to projects in the agricultural sector that can improve their access to resources, knowledge and training.
The Network for African Business Women (NABW)Â 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.
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.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and African Childrenâs Charter, the GMT has partnered with a number of like-minded organisations over the years to implement child rights governance and child protection initiatives. These include the African Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, the African Child Policy Forum, Save the Children, UNICEF, UNFPA, Girls Not Brides and civil society networks working to end gender-based violence, child marriage, extreme violence against children and female genital mutilation.
The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (African Childrenâs Charter) sets out rights of children and defines universal principles and norms for the status of children on the continent. It was adopted by the Organization of African Unity, now the African Union (AU), in 1990. The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) was established a little after that, in 2001, with a mandate to promote and protect the rights enshrined in the African Charter. The ACERWC came into existence to complement the efforts of the already existing human rights mechanisms such as the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the African Commission and the African Court.
The Trust and the Save the Children Regional Multi Country Programming Unit have partnered in identifying good practice and gaps in the utilization of these complaints procedures by children and civil society. The aim of the project is to come up with ways of improving the use of the complaints procedures by working closely with the ACERWC, civil society, children, childrenâs organizations and National Human Rights Institutions in East and Southern Africa to improve this important.
The Trust believes that any child who is married under the age of eighteen is a victim of child marriage. It is estimated that globally, over 25,000 children under the age of 18 are forced into marriage every day. These numbers highlight gross violations of childrenâs rights.
Through advocacy and community-level action support engaged in by the Trust and partners, the Childrenâs Rights Programme supports networks and civil society organisations working towards Ending Child Marriage and female genital mutilation.
The Trust is part of the civil societies voice for affected girls and is active in advocating for policy reforms and enactment of substantive laws to end child marriage. These multiple voices have been advocating for social transformation at community level to eradicate gender inequality and harmful religious and traditional customs and practices which continue to be key obstacles in ending child marriages and providing support to already affected girls.
| Ending Child Marriage and Female Genital Mutilation Priority Countries
Through regional and global partnerships with organisations and ending child marriage networks such as UNFPA, Girls Not Brides, and UNICEF in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia, the Trust contributes to efforts to end child marriage in this generation. The work involves high level advocacy facilitating dialogues, media engagements and civil society mobilisation and capacity building. In the Mara region of Tanzania, the Trust has mobilised and is supporting a coalition of civil society organisations called the Mara Alliance, whose aim is to fight child marriage, end female genital mutilation and promote education, particularly for girls. |
Alleviating the suffering and building the resilience of those individuals still living in extreme poverty, in particular in sub-Saharan Africa. Social protection systems need to be expanded and risks need to be mitigated for disaster-prone countries, which also tend to be the most impoverished.
http://wwww.un.org.sustainabledevelopmet/
Ensuring healthy lives and promoting the well-being for all ages is essential to sustainable development. Significant strides have been made in increasing life expectancy and reducing some of the common killers associated with child and maternal mortality. Major progress has been made on increasing access to clean water and sanitation, reducing malaria, tuberculosis, polio and the spread of HIV/AIDS.
http://www..un.org.sustainabledevelopmet/
Gender equality is a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. Providing women and girls with equal access to education, health care, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision-making processes will fuel sustainable economies and benefit societies.
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.
Millions of children across Africa experience consistent threats to get education. One major challenge is of children who remain out-of-school. The Childrenâs Rights and Development Programme defines out-of-school children as children between the ages of 7-13 that do not have access to primary schools in their communities, do not enrol despite the availability of a primary school or enrol but do not attend or drop out.
The Trust is part of a global movement that seeks to ensure that all children can access quality education. The success of the programme requires advocacy work to influence public sector policies and programmes as well as the active involvement of families, civil societies and the private sector. The programme strives to ensure that out-of-school-children are identified, enrolled and retained, progress optimally and achieve their full potential through quality formal and non-formal education.
To contribute to the attainment of the Education SDG 4 on Education Goals, The Trust is mobilising and supporting civil society networks in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia. Apart from this, good practice models for knowledge base in education have been developed, such as, Mara Out-of-school Children project in the Mara region of Tanzania. The Trust also promotes global and regional policy integration and harmonisation in the education sector on initiatives that support the scaling up of good practice and sharing of lessons.
| Educate a child and the Mara alliance
The Mara Region was declared a priority area for the development of a unified intervention to address the needs of out of school children. Our Founder challenged the Mara community to form an alliance to undertake a more coordinated approach to tackle education challenges and child marriage in the region. Following intense preparation between the Trust, the Mara Alliance, local partners joined hands to start of the Out of School Children (OOSC) Project in partnership with Educate A Child (EAC) to enrol and retain 20,000 children in the region back into the countryâs education system over a two-year period. Mobilising and Supporting Civil Society Networks Advocacy Understanding that effective and relevant education requires a multi-dimensional and multi-sectoral approach, with the collaboration of governments, the Trust supports civil society networks to conduct advocacy, with a special focus in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia.
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As part of a joint project entitled, âRealisation of Rights of the African Child: advancing a holistic through advocacy, policy and practiceâ, the Trust supports UNICEF country offices and CSO networks on education in our four focus countries.
We undertake high-level and public advocacy to promote the development and implementation of education policies.
The Trust also provides support to locally based civil society networks to enable them to access decision makers to enhance their advocacy efforts.
In the Mara Region of Tanzania, the Trust, in partnership with Educate A Child, the Mara Alliance and the Mara Regional Government, is implementing a Complementary Basic Education (COBET), an accelerated education programme aimed at reaching at least 20,000 out-of-school children through a multi-dimensional response to education, which includes competencies in literacy, numeracy life skills and income generation.
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.
The Trust set up a youth mentorship programme aimed at identifying promising youth advocates and build their capacity to carry out advocacy for improved adolescent health. The strategies are based on the premises that;
The Mentorship Programme identifies and nurtures young and up-coming advocates who are poised to create social transformation in their communities and countries through their advocacy and action. The programme focuses mainly on education, health and nutrition, early childhood development and the fight giant child rights violations. Preferences is given to dynamic young school leavers who would benefit from mentorship which enables them to carve out a career in the social sciences field. Candidates for the programme are identified in partnership with the African Youth and Adolescent Network (AfriYAN) and the Youth Constituency of the Partnership for Maternal, New-born and Child Health (PMNCH).
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.
The Trust focused largely on advocacy activities in Mozambique during 2015. This included preparation for a high-level advocacy presentation that was made by our Founder on behalf of the Trust, the Civil Society Nutrition Alliance, United Nations agencies and other nutrition stakeholders in the country. An outcome was an agreement, in Mozambique, Carlos do Rosårio, to elevate the national structure for nutrition coordination in Mozambique to the office of the Prime Minister.
The Childrenâs Rights Programme works across Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia to mobilise like-minded civil society networks at national and regional levels, as well as with global development partners to jointly advocate for the holistic development of Africaâs children, with a special focus on the girl child.
Our efforts are centred around the following:
By leveraging the convening power of our Founder, the Trust is able to conduct and participate in high level advocacy meetings, to influence key decision makers and to drive the necessary policy and structural reforms needed to radically improve the lives of Africaâs children
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)31702-0/abstract
The Trust will implement the following three strategic objectives:
