Lemlem - African Women’s Rights and 
Feminist Movements in Bloom - 2023 to 2033 Strategic Framework

I was honored to embark on a transformative year-long journey that embodied the essence of African feminism through research, consultation, co-creation, and inclusivity.

Together with a dynamic team of consultants, including philanthropy advisory firm IG Advisors and esteemed African feminist facilitators and researchers, Stephanie Yawa de Wolfe and myself, we embarked on a collective listening effort. Supported by an Advisory Committee of eight feminist experts from across the continent and guided by AWDF’s Board of Directors, we engaged in candid, introspective dialogues.

Our mission was clear: to listen and learn. With the backing of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, we surveyed over 600 movement partners, activists, organizations, and donors. What we heard was a resounding call for funding practices rooted in trust, holistic support, shared decision-making, radical inclusion, accountability, and flexibility.

We accepted this challenge with open arms, and our response is Lemlem, AWDF's strategic framework for 2023-2033. Within its pages, we unveil the path these conversations have illuminated for the next decade. Lemlem is a blueprint for AWDF's commitment to nurturing and empowering women's rights and feminist movements across Africa and beyond.

Devaluation Of Black Women’s Lives And Labor Almost Disappeared Brittney Griner

In my op-ed for Essence Magazine, I shed light on the plight of Brittney Griner, a Black lesbian athlete who was wrongfully detained in Russia from February to December of 2022. Throughout the article, I highlight human rights violations against Black migrants during conflicts and crises, and discuss how Griner's situation is emblematic of the challenges faced by athletes who migrate for better opportunities and the failure of international agreements to protect them. The op-ed called for recognition of Griner's unique identity and demanded action from the U.S. government to bring her home, citing broader issues of exploitation and insecurity faced by Black migrants worldwide.

Read more on Essence's Website

Black Feminist Theorizing Toward Futurity: A Standpoints Volume
Dr. Nana Brantuo and Dr. Andrea N. Baldwin (eds.)

Black Feminist Theorizing Toward Futurity: A Standpoints Volume contains essays that apply Black feminist theory to multiple contexts, critiquing the oppression of the present while imagining Black feminist futures. The essays are divided into sections on critiquing social and institutional relations, decentering whiteness, and authoring Black feminist counternarratives of resistance. The first section of the book critiques institutional structures of health, higher education, and therapy that harm Black women and proposes methods of change. Then, reflecting the volume’s emphasis on a plurality of Black feminisms, students analyze how sociology, white feminisms, and theatrical intimacy direction center white, male, and heteronormative experiences, emphasizing the value Black feminisms bring to these contexts. Finally, the essays consider how counternarratives of resistance can destabilize inequitable power relations to promote Black liberation, concluding with a poem by Marva Cossy and a reflection on the cover art by Tykeisha Swan Patrick.