Evans Wadongo

Wadongo, who grew up in rural Kenya, made his mark early by designing a solar lamp made from mostly recycled materials that could be easily built. In his first year in college, he used part of his student loan to produce more of the lamps – and eventually transformed the project into Sustainable Development for …

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Jane Otai

When Jane Otai walks through the Nairobi slums, she is no stranger. No stranger to the women living in corrugated-metal shacks or worse, no stranger to the poverty, overcrowded conditions and health problems devastating families. Most of all, she is no stranger to the huge boost that family planning services can provide for the urban …

Meet the Fellow

Nafi Chinery

Chinery is passionate about promoting women's rights in African countries. In her role at AWDF, she works with women-led organizations to build their leadership and help them advocate for inclusive decision-making processes. Through this work, she has gained stories of successes and failures among grassroots organizations. Chinery began her career with Oxfam GB, where she …

Meet the Fellow

AfCFTA Depends on Informal, Women-Run Enterprises

There is renewed optimism that Africa’s small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) could be big winners with the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) — the world’s largest such trading zone with a combined current GDP of US$2.5 trillion and a market of over one billion people.  Given the challenges that have …

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Why Land Rights for Women are Critical

“Why waste land on them?’ This is what the county official told my father, when he decided to divide the land equally among his eight children-his two sons and six daughters. The new Kenya constitution had just been passed in 2010, and with it, a provision for equal rights to inherit land by men and women. The …

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