Development Fund (Norway)

The Development Fund (Utviklingsfondet) is a Norwegian non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in 1978 by Norwegian author, Erik Dammann.

Utviklingsfondet

Published in 1972, Dammann's book The Future in Our Hands raised social and environmental questions and put them in a much larger perspective than until then had been the norm. Inspired by the interest for this book, in 1974 he initiated The Future in Our Hands (Framtiden i våre hender), today a world wide organisation with thirty partner organisations over the globe. In 1978, that organization established The Development Fund (Utviklingsfondet).

Utviklingsfondet is an independent environment and development organization. The organization’s mission is “to contribute, with emphasis on long-term measures, to promoting a fairer distribution of the world’s resources, supporting sustainable development and local participation aimed at promoting democracy and human rights, reducing poverty and safeguarding the environment.” The Development Fund addresses in particular the challenges of small scale farmers in the South in advancing food security and make for sustainable agricultural practices when facing the effects of climate change. Through local partners in Asia (Sri Lanka, Nepal), Africa (Ethiopia, Malawi) and Latin America (Honduras, Nicaragua), The Development Fund works with different development and environment projects related to such as food security, pastoralists in dry-land areas, and agricultural biodiversity.

African Women's Development Fund

The African Women's Development Fund (AWDF) is the first pan-African foundation to support the work of women's rights organisations in Africa. AWDF was founded in 2001 by Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, Joana Foster and Hilda M Tardia.

Achievements

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia and 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner, delivered AWDF's tenth anniversary lecture at the celebrations in Accra, Ghana in November 2010. On the occasion, President Johnson Sirleaf said: "Heartfelt congratulations to you, AWDF Sisters, on reaching your tenth year! You have succeeded in your goals; you have weathered the global economic crisis; you have demonstrated resilience and determination to succeed in your noble cause to promote leadership and empowerment for African women."

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Theo Sowa

Theo Sowa (born 1957) is an independent adviser working on a wide range of international issues with a focus on social development issues and has spoken publicly on a number of socio-political issues. She has worked with a number of organisations including UNICEF, Stephen Lewis Foundation, the African Union, DfID, and UNDP, among others and is currently CEO of the African Women's Development Fund. Her work has included working with Graca Machel on issues pertaining to the youth as well as contributing and editing a number of publications. She is also a trustee of Comic Relief. In June 2010, Sowa was awarded the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

Early life and education

Sowa was born in Cape Coast, Ghana in 1957, and spent her early life in the United States of America. In 1967 she enrolled into Blessed Sacrament Convent in Brighton Sussex and later she went on to become the Head girl at St Leonard's, May-Field in Sussex.

Due to her father’s occupation, she lived in various African countries, Europe, Asia as well as the USA. As a result, she experienced racism, sexism, exclusion and denigration at a very early age. However, it seems these only reinforced her leadership skills that continue to mark her life and career. On 17 April 2015, she criticized the Federal Government of Nigeria for its slow response in the release of the 219 Chibok girls that was abducted by Boko Haram on 14–15 April 2014. She called on Muhammadu Buhari, the incumbent President of Nigeria to take a proactive measure in the fight against insurgency and the release of the girls.

Woman

A woman is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent. The term woman is also sometimes used to identify a female human, regardless of age, as in phrases such as "women's rights". "Woman" may also refer to a person's gender identity. Women with typical genetic development are usually capable of giving birth from puberty until menopause. In the context of gender identity, transgender people who are biologically determined to be male and identify as women cannot give birth. Some intersex people who identify as women cannot give birth due to either sterility or inheriting one or more Y chromosomes. In extremely rare cases, people who have Swyer syndrome can give birth with medical assistance. Throughout history women have assumed or been assigned various social roles.

Etymology

The spelling of woman in English has progressed over the past millennium from wīfmann to wīmmann to wumman, and finally, the modern spelling woman. In Old English, wīfmann meant "female human", whereas wēr meant "male human". Mann or monn had a gender-neutral meaning of "human", corresponding to Modern English "person" or "someone"; however, subsequent to the Norman Conquest, man began to be used more in reference to "male human", and by the late 13th century had begun to eclipse usage of the older term wēr. The medial labial consonants f and m in wīfmann coalesced into the modern form "woman", while the initial element, which meant "female", underwent semantic narrowing to the sense of a married woman ("wife"). It is a popular misconception that the term "woman" is etymologically connected with "womb", which is from a separate Old English word, wambe meaning "stomach" (of male or female; modern German retains the colloquial term "Wampe" from Middle High German for "potbelly"). Nevertheless, such a false derivation of "woman" has appeared in print.

Women Deliver

Women Deliver is a global advocacy organization that works to generate political commitment and financial investment for fulfilling Millennium Development Goal 5—reducing maternal mortality and achieving universal access to reproductive health.

Profile and history

Women Deliver was founded by Jill Sheffield in 2007 and officially launched the same year at its groundbreaking Women Deliver conference, which convened nearly 2,000 clinicians, advocates, policymakers, and businesspeople involved in maternal and reproductive health. Since then, the nongovernmental organization has built on commitments, partnerships, and networks mobilized at the conference to keep the preventable tragedy of maternal health on the global policy agenda and to find solutions across sectors to make safe motherhood a reality for all women. At its heart, Women Deliver's message is that maternal health is both a human right and practical necessity for sustainable development. This is echoed by the group’s name and slogan: “Invest in women, it pays.”