Five champions share their wisdom
Across the African continent, Gender Justice remains a crucial issue. Women in many communities face systemic gender disparities, especially in land governance. These disparities impact women's access to land, preventing them from contributing fully to their local economies and securing better futures for themselves and their families. The International Land Coalition is at the forefront of this fight for Gender Justice through its Africa Gender Justice Charter, guidelines that empower organisations to drive gender justice initiatives in their communities across the continent.
The Africa Gender Justice Charter offers a comprehensive framework to guide ILC members in promoting gender equality.
It's one of the resources, support, and platform sharing efforts that we employ to achieve gender-equal systems change, and champion gender justice globally.
In honour of the upcoming Gender Justice Lab on June 20, ILC Gender Justice interns Ipek Su Durmaz an Ruby Tsao spoke with the winners of the Africa Gender Justice Charter Award. In the interviews below, they give their advice for promoting gender justice in local communities and predictions for advancing gender justice in the African Continent over the next decade.

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Advice From African Champions of Gender Justice

Click on each tab below to read tips from our gender justice champions!


Gender mainstreaming as crucial towards positive changes
Suzana from the KINNAPA Development Programme highlights the Charter’s role in promoting gender equality within her organisation and the broader community. Suzana emphasises her organisation’s commitment to gender justice affirming that, "gender mainstreaming is central to all our projects."
The KINNAPA Development Programme, based in Tanzania, focuses on integrated rural development, addressing issues like food security, health, education, and gender equality. Suzana explains that the Charter has helped them identify and address organisational weaknesses, paving the way for gender-just changes. "The Charter will help us promote justice in the organisation and the community," she adds. But how?
"Engage men as allies of change, they too can model respectful behaviours in the community,” Suzana suggested.
She also stresses the importance of education and training in empowering women and marginalised groups.


Challenging power dynamics and access to natural resources
Moses, representing the Mzimba Youth Organisation in Malawi, sees ILC Africa's Gender Justice Charter as a blueprint for sustainable gender justice initiatives and a tool to rebalance power dynamics and ensure equal access to natural resources.
The Mzimba Youth Organisation fights for youth empowerment, education, health, and sustainable development, with a strong emphasis on gender equality. His organisation uses the Charter to facilitate community dialogues and secure land rights for women. For Moses, a key component of gender justice is about rebalancing power and making sure both men and women have equal access to and control of natural resources.
“We face the same challenges as human beings. If we want to change we need to leave no one behind. We must start together,“ he says.
Moses also underscores the importance of collaborating with like-minded organisations to amplify impact.


Ensuring inclusivity
At RECONCILE (the Resource Conflict Institute) in Kenya, Laureen emphases the importance of ensuring equal participation for everyone, including women, children, youth, and people with disabilities.
In her work, she ensures that everyone is involved in planning and meetings to achieve true inclusivity. Discussing the state of gender justice in Africa, particularly in Kenya, Laureen acknowledges some progress but believes there is a long way to go. Over the next decade, she hopes to see a community where everyone participates, especially women in leadership roles across various initiatives, influencing the younger generation and establishing gender equality.
For other organisations aiming to promote gender justice, Laureen stresses that equality should encompass fairness and justice. This means working for women’s social and economic inclusion.
“We work to empower women so they can respond to their own issues,“ Laureen affirms.
At the organisational and national levels, Laureen notes that her institution maintains a gender balance, with women in senior leadership positions. This balance helps them practise gender justice in the workplace and promote social inclusivity at the community level. Lastly, Laureen highlights the success of projects like RECONCILE’s Participatory Rangeland Management Project, which ensures everyone's involvement, particularly women, leading to significant achievements in economic and food security.


Valuing different perspectives and possibilities
Ken joined RECONCILE in Kenya focused on gender justice to better understand and address the importance of gender inclusivity and representation. He explains that their work initially focused on natural resources and land issues.
Over time, they recognized the importance of inclusive strategies and began to focus on gender justice. For Ken, gender justice means ensuring representation and participation in legal processes, valuing different perspectives and possibilities.
In advancing the African Gender Justice Charter, Ken views it not just as a promotional tool but as a constant reminder and guide for proper action. He emphasises that the charte helps organisations progress in promoting gender justice, even when the ultimate goals have not yet been fully achieved.
Since dedicating himself to gender justice, Ken's daily life has become more inclusive, and he confronts issues with a multidimensional approach. He envisions significant progress in gender justice across Africa in the next decade.
"The next 10 years should be seen as the decade when gender justice in Africa will be fulfilled. We have the opportunity to review the African Union's policies on land and pastoralism, and to reflect on the Maputo declarations," he says.
He looks forward to seeing more successful female leaders in positions of power, citing Tanzania and Liberia's female leaders as models for the future.
For other organisations aiming to promote gender justice, Ken advises intersectionality.
Let's make our programmes gender-friendly,” says Ken. "Design your programmes as gender-intersectional. “It’s as simple as that.”


Challenging deeply rooted beliefs and attitudes
Joyce has been working at the Kenya Wildlife Conservancy Association ( KWCA) for the past three years, focusing on gender issues within the organisation. KWCA, an umbrella association of wildlife conservancies in Kenya, primarily deals with policy and biodiversity conservation. KWCA's collaboration with the Africa Gender Justice Charter has advanced policy advocacy at the national level, ensuring that gender justice is incorporated into legislative processes, such as the Community Land Act. KWCA has also developed gender guidelines for conservancies and collaborated with progressive organisations like CARE Kenya. These efforts help raise awareness, build capacity, and integrate gender justice into wildlife conservation activities in the country.
Joyce emphasises the importance of gender integration to ensure that both men and women have equitable access to opportunities and resources, particularly the benefits derived from wildlife conservation. For her, this means transforming systems to address historical injustices and achieve fair benefit sharing. On a personal level, too, Joyce believes that achieving gender justice means ensuring equal access to opportunities, benefits, and social value for both men and women. This requires correcting societal systems more broadly. She points out that advocating for gender justice involves challenging deeply rooted beliefs, which has altered some of her interactions and relationships in both community and professional environments. Joyce is cautiously optimistic about the future of gender equality in Africa, recognizing that achieving full equality may take over a century. She stresses the importance of gender transformative approaches to ensure sustainable change, focusing on shifting societal attitudes and mindsets.
Joyce advises other organisations promoting gender justice to understand the specific context of their interventions and to be patient, as transformative change takes time. She adds,
"I would say that it's not a one-size-fits-all that an organisation needs to understand context, and that's why we do a gender and power analysis in all the areas we work."
She emphasises the importance of engaging men, building women's capacities, promoting women's economic empowerment, and challenging harmful community norms.


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