GL: Strong and resolute after vibrant Women’s Month

Johannesburg, 2 September: Gender Links (GL) has emerged stronger and full of resolve after an action-packed Women’s Month that included welcoming three new country boards, and a newly invigorated regional Board.

“In November 2023, we embarked on an ambitious decentralisation plan that included registering country Boards in Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Mauritius,” noted GL Regional Board Chair Emily Brown. “We are delighted that all three Boards are now in place, and that the Chairs of these Boards now sit on our regional Board.”

The three new GL Board Members are Josephine Ncube, Chair of GL Zimbabwe; Sheila Bunwaree; Chair of GL Mauritius; and Mabela Lehloenya, Chair of GL Lesotho. Board members from all three countries also sit on GL’s Audit, Programmes, Organisational Development (OD) and GL Services Committees, that meet twice a year before the regional Board Meetings in August and March.

GL thanked Adrian Dowie for this sterling service as Chair of GL’s Audit Committee over nine years and welcomed Mathabiso Chamane as the new Chair. GL also acknowledged the contribution of Malawi gender activist Emma Kaliya who steps down from the regional Board upon the completion of her term, but has joined the new Zimbabwe Board.

“It has been an honour for me to serve on the GL regional board for three terms, during which time I also led the Southern African Gender Protocol Alliance,” noted Kaliya. “It is equally exciting to be part of GL deepening its roots by appointing local boards in each country of operation with cross membership that ensures continuity.”

At its meeting on 23 August, the GL Board revisited its vision and mission, to make these broader and more inclusive. “While we began as a Southern African organisation, guided by the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, our work now spans the globe,” noted Deputy Chair and UK Board Member Sarah Mistry.

GL leads a global consortium called Women of the South Speak Out that awards fellowships and conducts research with support from the UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

In August, celebrated in South Africa as Women’s Month, Southern African WOSSO fellows participated in the SADC Heads of State Summit in Harare. 9 August marks the anniversary of the march by women against the apartheid pass laws in South Africa in 1956. 17 August is the anniversary of the founding of SADC in 1980 by countries of the region to form a solid block against the former white minority government in Pretoria. South Africa joined SADC after the election of the first democratic government in the country in 1994.

At the 44^th SADC summit in Harare, women’s rights defenders mounted a spirited campaign on several fronts for the full realisation of Women’s Rights. These ranged from women’s under representation in political decision-making to women’s reproductive health and rights that remain highly restricted in many SADC countries.

GL provides the secretariat to the Safe Abortion Alliance of Southern Africa (SAASA), a sub-committee of the Alliance, with members from the Voice and Choice Fund that GL manages in the region on behalf of Amplify Change.

During the Board Meeting, GL inaugurated new offices next door to the GL Cottages that form part of GL’s sustainability efforts. GL dedicated the seminar room to the late Chigedze Chinyepi, former director of GL Botswana who passed away in 2023. “These are the sheroes on whose shoulders we stand,” noted GL Special Advisor Colleen Lowe Morna. “Mme Chigedze and others continue to inspire us as we strengthen our efforts to ensure that women and girls in all their diversity attain equal rights.”

GL closed Women’s Month with the announcement of the renewed Women’s Voice and Leadership Fund that the organisation manages on behalf of Global Affairs Canada for community-based women’s organisations in South Africa. “We emerge from Women’s Month full of new energy and resolve,” said Debrah Mukuku, Director of GL’s Regional Hub that supports the work of all GL’s branches. “Mobilising resources and ensuring that these get to the most remote corners of our region remains a primary goal.”

(For more information contact Debrah Mukuku on glservices@genderlinks.org.za).