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Stronger Together 1 Stronger Together March 2019 Womankind Worldwide Stronger Together: The power of feminist programmes to strengthen women’s movements in Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe March 2019 Cover image: Sally Dura, National Coordinator of the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe © Womankind / Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe This page: NAWAD’s women’s group who have experienced land grabbing, Nwoya © Womankind / Sarah Waiswa Authors This paper was written by Laura Brown and Lili Harris based on evidence and learning from three projects delivered by Womankind Worldwide and partners between 2017-2018. Interviews and meetings between the authors and leading young feminists in Kenya, the National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE) in Uganda and the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) supplemented this. Acknowledgements Kenya: Saida Ali, Catherine Kandie, Editar Ochieng, Purity Kagwiria and Shyleen Momanyi Uganda: Sostine Namanya (National Association of Professional Environmentalists - NAPE) Zimbabwe: Sally Ncube (Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe – WCoZ) Womankind: Sarah Masters (editor) and Bridie Taylor Womankind Learning Paper Series This is the first in a series of learning papers that aim to capture and collate some of the knowledge, learning and evidence around the focus and effectiveness of our work with partners. By sharing this learning, we hope to provide new knowledge on feminist programme approaches that support and strengthen women’s movements. About Womankind Worldwide Womankind Worldwide (Womankind) is a global women’s rights organisation working with women’s movements to transform the lives of women. Our vision is a world where the rights of all women are respected, valued and realised. We support women’s movements to strengthen and grow by carrying out diverse joint activities, including advocacy and communications work, women’s rights programming rather than service delivery, awareness raising, knowledge sharing, research, capacity development and fundraising. Definitions Women’s rights organisations (WROs): These are women-led organisations working to advance women’s rights and gender justice. Women’s movements: These are broad social movements led by women and their organisations that campaign for women’s rights and gender justice at national, regional and international levels. They include WROs and other actors, including activists, academics, journalists, lawyers and trade unionists. List of acronyms Association of Women in Development (AWID) National association of Professional Civil Society Organisation (CSO) Environmentalists (NAPE) Department for International Development (DFID) Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Gender and Development Network (GADN) Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Information, Communication Technologies (ICT) Theory of Change (ToC) International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) United Nations (UN) Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LBTQ) United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) National Association for Women’s Action in Women’s Rights Organisation (WRO) Development (NAWAD) 4 Stronger Together March 2019 Womankind Worldwide Table of contents Executive summary 5 Introduction and methodology 8 Case study: Kenya: The young feminist convening 12 Case study: Uganda: Supporting the eco-feminist movement 17 Case study: Zimbabwe: Responding to emerging opportunities for the women’s movement in the 2018 elections 21 Lessons learned 24 NAWAD women’s group perform drama on oil land grabbing, Recommendations: Movement strengthening for Nwoya © Womankind /Sarah Waiswa women’s rights practitioners and donors 27 5 Stronger Together March 2019 Womankind Worldwide (young feminists in particular) expressing feelings of Executive summary exclusion and/or discontent that their concerns are omitted from key debates. Womankind Worldwide’s programmatic approach Understanding her own position and role, and the to strengthening women’s movements, as detailed potential for transformation that young women in her strategy and Theory of Change,1 asserts that can bring, Womankind provided strategic support progressive change for women happens when for young women and their organising in Kenya. diverse and independent women’s movements Due to the fragmentation of the movement and have strength, resilience and collective power. the desire not to replicate some of the issues Whilst the actors in women’s movements are raised in the consultation, Womankind worked varied, Womankind understands that women’s with an informal group rather than a partner rights organisations (WROs) form the backbone of organisation. This resulted in the creation of a women’s movements and are the sites from which carefully considered organising committee of ten movements are built and supported.2 Collaboration young Kenyan feminists to plan, design and lead a and partnership between Womankind and WROs is two-day convening with participants from across central and is grounded in feminist values. To avoid the country. The engagement and leadership of replicating the power imbalances of patriarchal young feminists in the organising committee with structures and systems, these partnerships are based oversight from Womankind was a new way of on a power-with strategy with joint ownership working for all involved and at times challenged and shared risks, responsibilities and benefits.3 a shared understanding of feminist values and Womankind’s Theory of Change identifies a set approaches. However, this was an important aspect of programme inputs, called pillars, (See Box A on of learning from the project as such challenges were page 9) underpinned by feminist leadership, which addressed between committee members and, when summarise the areas of support that Womankind appropriate, with Womankind. Whilst the convening includes in her programmes and in project design itself was a short event, the new connections made with partners to strengthen women’s movements. by participants will be longer lasting, underpinned The focus of this paper: by solidarity and commitment to support each other Introducing the three initiatives and emerging initiatives. In this paper, Womankind draws on evidence and Uganda: Supporting the eco- learning from three distinct projects (sometimes feminist movement called initiatives in this paper and summarised While land – access, control and ownership – has below) to better understand her programmatic long been a locus of conflict and dissent, the most approach through project delivery and partnership recent wave of dispute is caused by what has in line with the Theory of Change and to document been termed the land rush or land grabs: investors how women’s movements are strengthened purchasing or leasing land for mining or producing and sustained. In addition to existing project cash crops. Women’s right to land is suppressed by documentation and evidence, Womankind explored the convergence of patriarchal social norms and a range of movement-focused questions, including commercial pressures on land and natural resources, which strategies and approaches were used in each while neither customary nor statutory law fully initiative to strengthen the women’s movement, protects their rights. This has particular impact on and what sustained changes were achieved for the women in rural areas, including violence and forced women’s movement as a result of the initiative. evictions, negative impact on women’s livelihood 1. Womankind Worldwide (2016), The three projects are described in more detail later and income, an increase in unpaid care and Women’s movements: a force for change. Womankind Worldwide’s on in the paper but are briefly introduced here: domestic work and restrictions to civic space. Strategy 2016-2021. Available online at Kenya, a convening of young feminists; Uganda, the https://www.womankind.org.uk/docs/ The National Association of Professional default-source/resources/womankind- eco-feminist movement use of Feminist Participatory Environmentalists (NAPE) and the National worldwide-external-strategy- Action Research (FPAR);4 and Zimbabwe, pre-election summary-2017.pdf Association of Women’s Action in Development 2. Batliawala, S. (2012), Changing positioning by the women’s movement. Their World: Concepts and Practices (NAWAD)5 initiated a movement for women to of Women’s Movements. AWID, 2nd Edition. Available online at https://www. Kenya: The young feminist have a say on energy, fossil fuel and climate justice awid.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/ issues in addition to agribusiness and extractive changing_their_world_2ed_full_eng.pdf convening 3. Institute of Development Studies industries. To date, NAPE and NAWAD have (2018), Participatory Methods: Power. In 2017-18, Womankind conducted a consultation Available online at https://www. identified 1,500 Ugandan women who are part of participatorymethods.org/method/power with women from the Kenyan women’s rights a vibrant eco-feminist movement with the goal of 4. NAPE/NAWAD/Womankind movement to understand priorities for women’s Worldwide (2018), Digging deep: mobilising 5,000 more in the next 2 years. Through The impact of Uganda’s land rush on rights. Following this, a project concept began women’s rights. Available online at consultation and collective action, they aim to https://www.womankind.org.uk/docs/
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