Call for Annual Women’s Award Nominations – Hargeisa, Somaliland

Call for Annual Women’s Award Nominations

 About the ProjectWe Cannot Wait is a program implemented by a consortium of five women’s rights organizations: the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) Network, Musawah, Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA), The Association of Women Lawyers in Uganda (FIDA-Uganda) and NAGAAD Network. The consortium explicitly focuses on women’s empowerment throughout the Greater Horn of Africa (GHoA).

We believe that building a strong, autonomous, inclusive, grassroots women’s movement, led by dynamic individuals, women’s rights activists and organizations, with the advocacy and lobbying capacity to demand for women’s rights and gender justice is critical to stimulating greater political, legal and economic equity, from the family and household levels to the national, regional and global arenas and is essential to the development and implementation of progressive social policies. We also believe that only by facilitating the establishment of feminist movements in the GHoA will we realize the SDG5 goal of greater equality and empowerment for women and girls.

The We Cannot Wait Annual Women’s Award (2022)

The consortium is organizing the first edition of the Annual Women’s Awards to honor and publicly recognize the important work of women’s rights activists and their organizations. NAGAAD Network will hold national awards ceremonies where 6 (six) outstanding women will be awarded for their contribution to women’s issues – two in each of the following countries: Somaliland, Puntland and Somalia.

Objectives of the Annual Women’s Award:

The core objective of this award is to highlight the tedious work of women activists, women human rights defenders and in support of women’s leadership at the grassroots. It specifically looks at women whose work is not recognized or supported.

Objective 1- To show that women’s rights activism and women’s activism for justice and equality is not limited to the traditional perceptions of women’s rights work.

Objective 2 – To bring attention to women who are in vulnerable situations or isolated as a result of their advocacy and acknowledge the work they have done within their communities.

Objective 3 – To expand and enrich the women’s movement by engaging groups of women who are traditionally not included or seen.

The objectives of these awards are to:
1. Honor the extraordinary work of women activists in the promotion and protection of women’s rights in the Greater Horn of Africa.
2. Profile the work of women activists who have demonstrated courage, resilience and unwavering commitment towards promoting gender equality within an extremely volatile context.
3. Recognize the unsung heroes in the women’s rights arena.
4. Encourage women to stand up, be bold against all forms of violence against women and girls so as to achieve gender justice.
5. Recognize groups and women activists who have been able to break through barriers and stereotypes using unconventional and innovative approaches to promote women’s rights.
6. Profile the work of women groups and activists that have extended support to traditionally excluded and marginalized groups.