The African Women of Empowerment project profiles the stories and work of women in Africa who embody the essence of leadership, determination, and innovation in addressing social, economic and political issues at local, national, and international levels.

The African Women of Empowerment Project

The African Women of Empowerment Project, http://www.womenempowering, profiles the lives of twenty women in Africa who embody the essence of leadership, determination, and innovation in addressing social, economic and political issues at local, national, and international levels. This is the first of several editions of this project.

Neema Mgana, social entrepreneur and Amanda Koster, documentary photographer and filmmaker, sent a callout for nominations of African Women though hundreds of international list serves, inviting community members to nominate women for the project.  Mgana and Koster have also recruited volunteers throughout Africa and the world (presently numbering over 180) who will mobilize the projects energy and message in their own communities.

The African Women of Empowerment Project collects the nominations of these incredible women, selects 20 nominations and then photographs, interviews and films them for a documentary to be released in 2008. Ultimately the project will consist of a book, documentary video and radio/pod casts telling the stories through multiple mediums of these amazing women. The media content will be available for as a variety of tools i.e. exhibitions, newspapers, film screenings, tv/radio broadcast series, school curriculum, etc. These tools will inspire young people to make smart choices and realize their dreams.

Now more than ever it is vital to share the amazing stories of African Women.

                               

This project illustrates the realities of ‘real’ women, and thus dispelling popular stereotypes of women in Africa while also serving as examples of leadership to bring hope to girls and young women in Africa and people around the world.
 
In September 2006, AWOE became an official project partner to the 1000 PeaceWomen project, an initiative that identified 1000 nominations of women leaders and collectively submitted these names for the 2005 Noble Peace Prize.

There is now a blog: http://www.awod.wordpress.com  where there are bits of info and updates, and the future ‘meeting place’ for interns, partners, collaborators. The BBC has begun interviews with Neema and Amanda, and the UN Radio will interview the two as well along with a few UNIFEM representatives next week.  YWCA Tanzania has just committed to partnering with us and may also play a part in hosting a launch later this year. The YWCA TZ head, Rose Mbise, will also be included on the BBC interview later this week. Stay tuned for the interviews online.

In September 2007, twenty women in Africa received the African Woman of Empowering Award. Information about these women and the project can be found at www.womenempowering.org.