Alliance for African Women Initiative (AFAWI)

About us

The Alliance for African Women Initiative (AFAWI) is a grassroots Ghanaian non-governmental organization, whose employees have been supporting needy women and children in Ghana through numerous projects for over thirteen years. The organization was founded in 2006 by a Ghanaian Philip Kwesi Agyei, with the aim of fighting the social stigmatization of people affected by HIV/AIDS, through local involvement. Through a culturally sensitive approach and the creation of local jobs, the projects have been expanded over the years. AFAWI has its headquarters is in Accra, Ghana.
The work of the organization follows the principle of giving help to self-help, in order to contribute from the ground up to a sustainable development of the Ghanaian society.
Additionally, AFAWI has also become over the years a contact point for volunteers and students from all over the world and therefore turned into a local center for intercultural exchange.
AFAWI takes a holistic approach to sustainable development through consulting and collaborating with communities to meet their needs and goals, to ensure projects will bring the most opportunity and success, to empower the communities as a whole. We believe in sharing ideas and collaborating with people to bring about real positive change to the women who in it most timeously.

Our mission
AFAWI´s mission is to create an enabling environment for the vulnerable in society, especially women and children. We seek to ensure equitable development for both rural inhabitant and poor urban dwellers. We believe in sharing ideas and collaborating with people to bring about real positive change to empower the Ghanaian communities as a whole. The organization is part of the SDG Civil Society Platform in Ghana.

Our projects
AFAWI has been involved in several long term and short term projects over the last fourteen years, mainly focusing on empowering women and children in Ghana.
• Covid19-Fact Check Project: We further recently engaged ourselves in the fight against Covid19, focusing on working against the dangerous spread of misinformation about the disease on social media. AFAWI therefore produced a series of ten videos, to talk with a reliable fact check organization about the mainly spread fake news, reaching over 105,000 Ghanaian Facebook users so far .
• The Livelihood Project seeks to empower women by providing the necessary tools for them to start or grow their own businesses, so they may build a bright future for themselves and their families. The participants are provided with small loans with a low interest rate and further saving accounts for the future, combined with a networking platform and on-going business workshops and trainings.
• The ECCACHILD Project assists marginalized children in communities, who have slipped through the net of government and social protection. We support them with their education, by providing the necessary tools, and further ensure their healthcare needs in form of health insurance cards and further enabling of special medical care, if needed.
• The Empowering Girls Project aims to bridge the gender gap in schools by helping to create equal opportunities for all students. We are therefore working against the stigmatization of menstruation and create awareness on menstrual issues amongst girls and boys. Additionally, we provide menstrual support for girls in the form of sanitation facilities and reusable sanitary pads, to ensure their equal ability to continue and finish school.
• The Community Outreach Project holds health-screening days in communities with little access to, or knowledge of health facilities. In partnership with the Ghana Health Service, AFAWI provides free screenings for communicable diseases, counseling and information sessions on the services available to the community.
• The International Women´s Day Conference by AFAWI is planned as an annual event and took first place on March 9th, 2020 on the occasion of the worldwide celebration of the International Women´s Day. The event in general follows the concept of telling the story of a group of women, whose voices are often unheard in the Ghanaian society. The goal is to highlight the amazing work they are doing, acknowledge their efforts and give them a platform to share their achievements and struggles on their own. With famous speakers from all over the world, the event encourages cooperation, social relations, solidarity and interaction between women and also highly promotes intercultural exchange.

Karen Amissah-Ocran is the Mobilization and Partnership Officer of the Alliance for African Women Initiative (AFAWI).

For other net participants we can offer an expert guidance through trained staff, give an expert opinion, procure expert information and establish new contacts in the field of our work.