GRANT ANNOUNCEMENT: The African Women’s Development Fund


SUMMARY: The African Women’s Development Fund has announced that it is accepting applications for grants that have clear applicability to many menstrual health and/or hygiene organizations. If your organization is female focused, woman-led, and primarily staffed by women – and if it is based in an African country (especially in North Africa, the Sahel, or Francophone West Africa) – an August 2020 application for this quite-sizeable grant may be worth considering.


FUNDING ORGANIZATION

The African Women’s Development Fund. Information about the AWDF can be found on their website here.

PRIORITIES

  • African feminist or women’s rights organizations, working to create systemic change that are led and primarily staffed by women.
  • Organizations registered on the African continent. AWDF will consider all applications from qualifying locations, but the funding call indicates that priority for this second round of funding will be given to applications from North Africa, the Sahel, and Francophone West Africa.
  • Organizations focused working on projects in one or more of the following thematic areas: 1) Economic Security & Justice; 2) Body & Health Rights; 3) Leadership, Participation, & Peace; 4) Post-Covid Response and Advocacy. For more information about the types of projects that qualify, click here.

AMOUNT OF FUNDING

The funding call says that grants will provide grant support that represents a maximum of 50% of an organization’s total income in the last financial year or aggregate of the previous two years.

DUE DATE

The program is accepting applications until August 10th.

APPLICATION DETAILS

All information and guidelines can be found here. Additionally, see this link to understand what to expect when applying for a grant from the African Women’s Development Fund. General information about AWDF funded grants can be found here.

IMHER NOTES

  • If your organization is based in Africa but not in the specific target regions for this round, consider applying anyway; the funding call makes it clear that it is a priority, without being a requirement, per se.
  • The AWDF website notes that “there are no facilitation fees/payments” and lists some anti-corruption policies associated with the organization. That is a good sign; however, as always, do due diligence (i.e., as much investigation as possible) to make sure any funding organization – and the terms of any of its applications and associated grants – are legitimate, and will be in your organization’s best interests.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many thanks to Jeddy Lemerone of the Malkia Initiative for calling IMHER’s attention to this funding opportunity.