FAWE

From Wikigender.org

The Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) is a pan-African Non Government Organization founded in 1992 by five women ministers of education to promote girls’ and women’s education in sub-Saharan Africa in line with Education For All. The organisation's members include ministers of education, university vice-chancellors, education policy-makers, researchers, gender specialists and human rights activists.

Mission and Vision

FAWE's mission is to work, together with its partners, to create positive societal attitudes, policies and practices that promote equity for girls in terms of access, retention, performance and education quality, through influencing the transformation of education systems in Africa.

FAWE's vision is that gender disparities in education will be significantly reduced and more girls will have access to schooling, complete their studies and perform well at all levels.

Members and Networks

FAWE is constituted of 35 National Chapters, which operate largely as autonomous legal entities registered as national NGOs across sub-Saharan Africa in anglophone, francophone and lusophone countries. Through its National Chapters, FAWE has been able to form a network of partners in education across the continent.

FAWE is a member of the United Nations Girls' Education Initiative's (UNGEI) Global Advisory Committee and the Global Campaign for Education.

Programmes

FAWE's programmes are organized around four areas of intervention:

influencing policy in favour of girls education;
creating awareness through advocacy on the importance of girls' education;
demonstrating what works in addressing constraints to girls' access, retention and performance; and
influencing replication and mainstreaming of best practices.

FAWE's demonstrative interventions include: bursaries for needy girls, promoting participation of girls in Science, Mathematics and Technology subjects (SMT), empowerment of girls and boys for gender equality, managing sexual maturation, transforming schools into gender-responsive environments, training teachers in gender-responsive pedagogy, guidance and counseling, empowering youth to protect themselves against HIV/AIDS, and creating a gender-responsive environment at higher education level.