Togo

International Women’s Day: Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty

Mar 8th, 2012 12:38 PM UTC
By Peter Taylor

Guest blog by Léontine Ayawovi Gbadégbégnon, Secretary-General of Togo’s Groupe de réflexion et d’action Femme, Démocratie and Développement (GF2D) – winners of the ONE Africa award 2011 GF2D helps women in exercising their right to participate in decision making processes of their country.

International Women’s Day was founded to highlight the situation of women of all classes around the world. Billions of ordinary women – along with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, International Monetary Fund Chief Christine Lagarde and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf – are promoting their cause, and the women of the West African nation of Togo are making good progress.

Women have always played a vital role in our society. The “Nana Benz” (Benz Girls), named after their choice of car, left their mark on the economy when they got rich through the ingenious designs on the wax dresses they made exclusively in the 1950s. They were key supporters of the country’s independence movement.

Equal involvement of women in decision-making bodies was still far off when the GF2D organisation was founded in 1992 by a group of 30 women from many professions. The country was under one-party rule that made social and political life very difficult. But the courage and determination of GF2D’s founders, who wanted to ensure Togolese women had a special place when democracy emerged, produced countless remarkable achievements that bettered their legal and political status.

GF2D works to empower women by expanding their access to legislation. Paralegals (legal experts) are trained to make use of laws on the books that can help women, notably the Law on the Family and Individuals (CPF) and the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

The paralegals are energetic women (and also men) who are devoted to their communities and aware of the lack of social equality between men and women. More than 700 have been trained throughout the country since 1994 and from six legal assistance centres, they mediate and settle problems of violence linked to gender, inheritance, marriage and divorce. They also speak on Radio Nana, a station run by and for women (and named after the Nana Benz) which broadcasts their advice nationwide.

Most of the paralegals are ordinary women — farmers, merchants, seamstresses, artisans, mothers, teachers and women elders — who are trained and then promote women’s rights and encourage gender equality in democratic governance.

Mawussi Toublou, a Lomé seamstress, is a GF2D paralegal. She makes brightly-coloured clothes with a manual sewing-machine in her small workshop, earning enough to live on and to buy petrol to drive around the capital and its suburbs to work as a paralegal. This energetic woman is also a trade-union organiser and trains people (men as well as women) to know their civil rights and duties.

Ama Kemeh, from a polygamous family, lived in a village where women were in an inferior position. Her experience growing up amid the discrimination, bullying and humiliation endured by women made her very bitter, resentful and rebellious and gave her a burning desire to change things. But she did not know how.

She gained confidence and hope after GF2D trained her as a paralegal in 1994, opening her eyes, and she resumed her studies with courage and determination. Less than seven years later she was a senior Togolese civil servant and for the past four has been a United Nations official in Togo.

The two women are not the only ones to have overcome discrimination and bullying to take their place as full citizens in their families and communities. Other women paralegals and women helped by them have become leaders in the communities too.

Paralegal Djomba Somtoua is fighting violence against women in the district she now administers, notably husbands chasing their wives out of the home. Other women paralegals advise their sisters about financial, economic and social issues to help them expand their access to microcredit.

Some have also started their own associations to achieve their goals more effectively, such as Anne Kpedji, who founded a women’s literacy group. Akuavi Odah, a paralegal in Atakpame, set up and now runs a savings and credit co-op with thousands of members.

As well as the paralegals, 190 rural women have been trained as community leaders and help run development committees in villages and neighbourhoods.

GF2D also provides civic and political education for women who want to go into local or national politics. About 100 of them contested the last parliamentary elections and more are preparing to stand in this year’s local and legislative elections.

More trained women have joined the country’s decision-making bodies thanks to GF2D’s efforts and Togo now has nine MPs (up from four) and seven government ministers (up from five).

GF2D continues trying to get even more women interested in social and political life. A woman, Kafui Brigitte Adjamagbo-Johnson, stood for president in 2010, a historic event in a still-complex social and political situation and such a male-dominated country. She stands as a model for all African women.

We hope 8 March, with its theme of “Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty,” will be an occasion for all communities, villages, governments and people around the world to recognise and honour these women.

2011 ONE Africa Award Winner Announced

Dec 14th, 2011 4:43 PM UTC
By Dr. Sipho Moyo

I’m delighted to announce that Groupe de Reflexion et d’action, Femme Democratie et Developpment (GF2D), from Togo are the 2011 winners of the fourth annual ONE Africa Award.

The ONE Africa Award celebrates and bolsters innovative Africa-led, Africa-driven advocacy efforts to help advance one or more of the Millennium Development Goals, the world’s blueprint to fighting extreme poverty and disease. The goals specifically address critical issues to development, such as; halving extreme poverty; halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria and providing universal primary education.

GF2D helps women in exercising their right to participate in decision making processes of their country.

One of GF2D’s tools is the use of paralegals who are trained in Togolese laws by GF2D and empowered to communicate messages to communities about women’s rights, engage in mediations related to marriage, inheritance and children, and offer referral assistance for issues that need to be handled in court. Many of their paralegals are everyday women – traders, seamstresses, mothers, whose lives have been changed because of their paralegal training and some of them have gone on to seek local political positions. These women and men have become well-respected members of their societies because of their knowledge of Togolese laws and their ability to convey the rights of women to their peers in simple messages. GF2D has been integral to the increase in the number of female political office holders in Togo today.

As winners of this year’s ONE Africa Award GF2D receive $100000 in prize money.

As the award was announcement here in Johansburg, Léontine, GF2D’s General Secretary said:

“We dedicate the 2011 ONE Award to all Togolese women whose bravery and dynamism are well known. We want to recognize the silent majority of those who suffer from violence, discrimination and low incomes gained from their hard efforts. The announcement of the award was greeted with a great joy at the “House of women” by all the members and staff of GF2D.

This award represents the recognition for over 20 years of efforts to realize a vision where: women know their rights and fully benefit from them:

• Togolese women, freed from the constraints and socio-cultural burdens imosed on them, contribute to the development of their society
• equal participation of men and women exists in the political, social and economic decision making processes
• a genuine partnership exists between men and women in the management of their families, public and private institutions

We receive this award as an encouragement to persevere in defending the cause of women. We thank ONE whose mission is to recognize, reward and support the important work of African civil society organizations towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). “

The runners up of the award this year in no particular order include: Prévention Information et Lutte contre le Sida (PILS) – Mauritius, Africa Youth Trust (AYT) – Kenya, Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights (ARHR) – Ghana and Sylva Food Solutions Limited (SFSL) – Zambia

Previous award winners include Nigeria’s Development Communications Network (Devcoms) and Kenya’s Slums Information Development and Resources Centres (SIDAREC) and SEND West Africa.

We are here today to celebrate Africa’s unsung heroes and to play our part on changing the stereotype narrative on Africa. We don’t deny that there are challenges that exist, but, we also need to highlight the successes, the determination and the ingenuous creativity of the African people despite these challenges.

I’m sure you will join me in congratulating  GF2D and our runners ups, and thanking them for the amazing work they are doing across the continent. We wish them every success in the future!

ONE Africa Award 2011: Promoting women’s rights in Togo

Oct 24th, 2011 11:05 AM UTC
By Edith Jibunoh

The 2011 ONE Africa Award process is halfway through and when the call for applications closed on 16 September we had received over 150 applications! ONE staff have spent the last couple of weeks reviewing the amazing applications that came in and I am pleased to announce that we have identified our top 5 finalists!

I have already embarked on a tour around the continent, to visit the finalists, in no particular order, and over the coming weeks I’ll be unveiling the candidates, one at a time, immediately following my visits to them. I am really excited by the quality of the candidates this year and I am certain the selection committee will have a tough time picking a winner!

My visit with the first organization has just concluded and I can reveal that the first of our top candidates is the Togolese organization, Groupe de refelxion et d’action Femme, Democratice et Developpement (GF2D). This amazing organization was founded by a group of mostly women lawyers almost twenty years ago and uses Togolese constitutional laws to promote the rights of women and encourage their equal participation in democratic governance.

Founders and staff of GF2D outside their office

One of GF2D’s tools is the use of paralegals who are trained in Togolese laws by GF2D and empowered to communicate messages to communities about women’s rights, engage in mediations related to marriage, inheritance and children, and offer referral assistance for issues that need to be handled in court. Many of their paralegals are everyday women – traders, seamstresses, mothers, whose lives have been changed because of their paralegal training and some of them have gone on to seek local political positions. These women and men have become well-respected members of their societies because of their knowledge of Togolese laws and their ability to convey the rights of women to their peers in simple messages. GF2D has been integral to the increase in the number of female political office holders in Togo today.

Madam Toublou, a seamstress turned paralegal and women’s activist, trained by GF2D.

GF2D has also set up audience centres within popular markets where people can walk in for legal advice and I was fortunate enough to visit one in the biggest market in the Togolese capital, Lome, and see how they work. People came in for advice ranging from questions about how to get birth certificates for children to what to do in the case of a woman not being allowed to access her inheritance by male relatives. The paralegals are also frequently on radio and television programs promoting their work. Not far from the market, I sat in on a national radio program with a station GF2D works with regularly, Nana FM. The station is focused on women’s issues and got its name from a group of Togolese women who were famous in the 1950’s for their wealth acquired from their trade in wax cloth. These women were very influential in the Togolese independence movement and were called “Nana Benz” because of the Mercedes Benz cars they favoured! Radio is still the most powerful medium of communication in Africa and Nana FM, whose staff have been trained by GF2D, includes dynamic programs in their broadcasts that help ensure that that information related to women’s rights, development and democracy is conveyed effectively throughout the country.

GF2D’s amazing work has been recognized by the government of Togo and during my visit, the Minister of Women’s affairs was kind enough to meet with me to endorse the work of GF2D. She explained to me that the government has replicated GF2D’s model and has worked with GF2D to train the government paralegals. GF2D has also been critical to the increase in the number of women holding political office in Togo today.

(left to right) Two GF2D staff, the Minister of Women’s Affairs, Togo; ONE’s Edith Jibunoh; staff of GF2D.

GF2D recognizes the importance of the inclusion of both men and women in development and understand that unless men and women can equally participate in decision-making processes that determine their access to opportunities, Togo will not fully develop. To this end, GF2D also includes male paralegals in their outreach and ensures that they equally target men whose understanding of women’s rights is just as important and critical to the success of their mission.

We wish GF2D good luck in the 2011 ONE Africa Award and thank them for their hospitality in Lome!

Stay tuned for the announcement of the second finalist………