WOMEN’S EXPERT DIALOGUE ON IDENTITY JUSTICE: INNOVATIONS AND CHANGE

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The Ford Foundation has been going through a review of its strategy over the past one year and is now ready to launch its new programmatic framework. The Foundation while reflecting on global trends so as to better understand the state of human dignity  found that indeed there is growing inequality in all its forms. To address and respond to inequality, the Foundation will be working in six program areas: Civic Engagement and Government; Creativity and Free Expression; Gender, Ethnic, and Racial Justice; Inclusive Economies; Internet Freedom and Youth Opportunity and Learning.
This month, FOWODE was privileged to be one of the co hosts of the Women’s Expert Dialogue on Identity Justice that was graced with the presence of the Ford Foundation Vice President for Education, Creativity and Free Expression, Hilary Pennington, the Representative for Eastern Africa, Maurice Makoloo and all the Program Officers from the Eastern Africa office. The dialogue was attended by some of the grantees that have benefitted from the Women’s Rights Program. The goal of the dialogue was to provide a neutral space to enable the women’s rights movement reinvent itself to devise new tools for the structural dismantling of the power dynamics that contribute to all forms of discrimination in contemporary society.  The Expert dialogue enabled the identification of opportunities, allies, innovative issues and strategies to advance inclusive identity social justice in the medium and long term.
At the Dialogue, the Executive Director of FOWODE shared some of the organisation’s models of work that have enabled her to contribute to the advancement of the Women’s Agenda in Uganda, including the Women’s Caucus model and the Village Budget Club model. She also emphasised the need to address the critical issues in the governance context if we are to see a transformation in the lives of women and noted that this required strong partnerships, ability to ‘connect the dots’ as well as general operating support to enable organisations focus on long-term organizational strategy and effectiveness rather than on incremental outputs. Through the dialogue we were able to position ourselves as a critical actor in the women’s movement and to demonstrate that investing in women’s rights organisations and organising is the right thing to do.


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