Forum for African Women Educationalists Enabling Access to Education and Training for Girls and Women in Africa
Who We Are
The Challenge
The Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) is a leading pan-African NonGovernment Organization working to promote girls’ and women’s through gender responsive education in Africa.
Education for girls in Africa continues to be adversely impacted by a variety of socio-cultural, economic and political factors. When FAWE was established in 1992, our efforts were focused on advocacy to place girls’ education on the policy agenda at national and international level. Our focus thereafter went beyond advocacy, moving towards influencing action across Africa to reduce gender disparities in access, retention and performance. Whilst the enrollment rates of girls in education has increased over the years, their retention, completion and transition rates remain wanting. Today, FAWE finds herself in a very dynamic environment where socio-political trends particularly in the educational sector in Africa call for responsiveness to contextual changes.
Founded in 1992 by five African women ministers of education, our membership is drawn from female ministers of education, university vice-chancellors, education policymakers, researchers, gender specialists and human rights activists. Our target beneficiaries and constituency are primarily girls and women.
Vision A just and inclusive Society in which
all African girls and women have access to quality education and training to achieve their full potential.
Mission
To promote gender responsive policies, practices and attitudes and foster innovations that will provide opportunities for African girls and women to prosper in all realms of their lives
Goal
Empower girls and women through
quality education and training to give them necessary skills, competencies and values to be productive members of their societies.
The Approach Adaptive programming- in order to remain responsive to contextual changes, address emerging issues, promote the rights and welfare of girls and women in adversity and empower them to be self-reliant and productive members of their societies. Rights-based approach- in order to focus on championing enabler rights of girls and women in dynamic environments around Africa. The new business model -that focuses on mobilizing financial and human resources within and out of Africa
Our network comprises 34 semi-autonomous National Chapters based in 33 countries across sub-Saharan Africa. FAWE’s Regional Secretariat is based in Nairobi, Kenya. Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, R.D. Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Southern Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, The Gambia, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zanzibar and Zimbabwe.
Our Strategic Objectives
SO 1
To facilitate access to quality education and training opportunities by girls and women across Africa, in order for them to develop relevant skills to achieve their full potential in all realms of life.
SO 2
To advocate for the integration of gender responsive approaches and policies in African education systems in order to inculcate skills and competencies in girls and women to enable them to contribute to and transform their societies
To work towards a strong institutional capacity for FAWE to deliver its mandate.
To build vibrant research, evidence generation and knowledge management systems within FAWE network so as to inform policies, new approaches and set the pace for girls’ education agenda in Africa.
SO 3 SO 4
Our Scope of Work
1
Advocacy and Policy Engagements
Due to the complexity of gender constraints to female education, efforts to advance girls’ education cannot be undertaken in isolation hence the need for sustained advocacy at the global, regional, and national and community levels. We target communities where culturebound constraints to girls’ education exist, such as early marriage, sexual harassment, excessive domestic chores and the low value placed on educating girls. We work towards building public awareness on the social and economic value of girls’ education so that citizens themselves take responsibility for the task and collectively work to support the agenda. Through analysis of education policies and plans and targeted action research, FAWE works to influence ministries of education and other policy makers to formulate and implement policies that will achieve greater and better participation of girls in education. At sub regional and continental level, these
efforts encourage reform and facilitate the translation of gender policies into practice.
2
Demonstrative interventions
We believe it is important to demonstrate, through practical interventions, what works in enhancing girls’ education. We have developed and deployed several gender-responsive interventions in various African countries that demonstrate that contexts that are conducive for girls’ and women’s education and training can be created to positively transform the environment in which they learn. FAWE’s Comprehensive Scholarship Packages enable bright but economically disadvantaged girls and women enroll in school, stay on to complete the school cycle at all levels and transition into tertiary education, acquire skills and contribute to the development of their communities. FAWE’s Tuseme (Kiswahili for ‘Let Us Speak Out’) youth empowerment model trains girls and boys to identify and understand the
FAWE’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) model provides out-ofschool girls with the opportunity to acquire technical, vocational and entrepreneurship skills traditionally reserved for males. TVET incorporates entrepreneurship training and grants provision to graduates who cannot enter the formal employment sector.
problems affecting them, articulate these problems and take action to solve them. It enhances girls’ self-esteem, leadership, social and life skills, and promotes a positive attitude amongst boys towards girls’ education. FAWE’s Gender Responsive Pedagogy (GRP) trains teachers to be more gender-aware and develops teaching practices that engender equal treatment and participation of girls and boys in school. The GRP model aims to create a conducive learning environment for teachers and students alike by reversing gender-biased attitudes, language, behavior and stereotyped assumptions that cause gender differentials in education.
3
Replication, mainstreaming and scaling up
We work at policy, institutional and community levels, with and through the ministries of education and other like-minded partners to replicate and scale up our demonstrative models. We support the adoption of these models locally through our National Chapters and provide technical expertise to ministries of education in mainstreaming the models at national level.
FAWE’s Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) aims to increase and sustain access, interest, participation and performance of girls in STEM subjects at all levels. The model trains teachers to adopt and use STEM curricula, teaching and learning materials, and classroom practices that are gender-responsive.
Our Sustainability Principles Sustainability Principles Are anchored on the following eight principles: 1
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Sustainable programme designs
Sustaining interventions and Results
Knowledge transfer and mentorship
4 FAWE’s partnership approach
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Strengthening capabilities of local actors
Learning and adaptation
VFM as a sustainability strategy
Financial Sustainability
Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE)
Forum for African Women Educationalists / Forum des éducatrices africaines (FAWE) Chania Avenue off Wood Avenue, Kilimani | P.O. Box 21394-00505, Ngong Road, Nairobi, Kenya Telephone: +254 20 77 30537, +254 20 25 97919, +254 714 60 6629, +254 20 3874150 Email: fawe@fawe.org Forum for African Women Educationalists
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