Why anti-racist struggles are critical for our liberation
An interview with Phumi Mtetwa, Regional Director, JASS Southern Africa To mark 21 March, The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (also observed as Human Rights Day in South Africa), JASS sat down with Phumi…
A few weeks ago, chief opposition leader, Lazarus Chakwera was appointed as the new president of Malawi, generating new expectations and renewed hope. Following the election, we asked our allies to reflect on the significance…
READ MOREObituary for Mabel Moyo & Retelling Stories of Organising in Zimbabwe
We walk in the footsteps of those who came before us. What is your theory of change? But is it value for money? These pesky questions have become the bane of many an activist’s life…
READ MOREStigma & Discrimination Kill the Soul: What we learnt from HIV & AIDS
I feel like I have been here before, like I have travelled this exact same road. It must be eerily familiar, to those of us who grew up and lived through the early days of…
READ MORENourishing our movements: Reflections from JASS’ Cross Movement Dialogue
As women, we are always vulnerable to violence but there are shades of violence directed to women who do not conform to the social expectations of what it means to be a good woman: lesbians,…
By Maureen Kademaunga The fires we light are not fires to set alight police cars, they are small cooking fires we make in our township backyards to feed the children when there’s no electricity. The fires…
Ahoy macomrades Ahoy. This was the call to action on June 13 as hundreds of Zimbabweans converged in the nation’s capital at the Harare Magistrates Court to support the release of Pastor Evans Mawarire who…
READ MOREFighting for the Right to Lands, Livelihoods and Life
The WoMin–JASS Southern Africa Feminist Movement Builders School (1-10 March) was a meeting like no other: 32 women from seven countries across Africa, representing a diversity of languages, ages, backgrounds and more. The one thing…
“I now know how to use a tablet which is not a norm in Malawi because [many believe] tablets cannot and should not be used by a local woman like me,” says woman activist leader…
“When you’re an ‘activist’ you are labelled all sorts of things, [you are seen as someone] who is ‘rebellious’,” says long-time Zimbabwean student rights activist, Evernice Munando. Students across the globe are rising up and…
By Maggie Hazvinei Mapondera I am a writer, and an avid reader. But I am always left thinking where the stories about me are? When do I ever read a story in which I can see or…
Sister ko mabva matakura masofa acho mukati rega ndifambe ndakasenga (Sister, your body looks like you carried the couch with you into town). Hure (prostitute) Eish mukoma vari kunakirwa kumba uku (Eish, your husband/boyfriend should…
JASS Southern Africa (JASS SNA) sat down with two activists who are saying “No!” to Big Coal: Nomonde Nkosi, a young feminist activist from rural Mpumalanga, South Africa and Betty Abah a poet-environmentalist from Nigeria.…
Kicking off 2015 with an odd bang, the African Union (AU) both commited to an agenda of women’s empowerment and elected 90 year-old Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as chair – despite international criticism of his…
Marita sits on a stool at her stall in an open market just outside Harare. She is counting brightly-coloured sweets and placing them carefully into a bag. Her neighbour on the right sells packets of…
Ask a roomful of people to stand up if any of them have ever experienced violence personally or know of a woman who has experienced violence. They’ll all stand. Ask this same group if they…
A Look at Positive Women’s Organising in Malawi, 2005 to 2014 It is hard to conceive the magnitude of what Malawian women activist leaders with whom JASS works and the hundreds of women they represent…
READ MOREAuthentic Movements need Authentic Efforts
In recent weeks, much global activism has focused on action towards justice for the over 200 Nigerian schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram in April this year. Under the broad banner of ‘Bring Back Our Girls’,…
READ MORESearching for the ‘A-ha!’ Moments: A Chat with Pat Made
Fungai Machirori, founder of Her Zimbabwe, sat down with fellow feminist journalist, Pat Made at the JASS Southern Africa Strategic Planning & Review to explore the ins and outs of communications for feminist movement building…
For three days in Johannesburg, JASS has been asking the big questions for feminist movement building and activism in Southern Africa: where, what, who, why and how. It couldn’t come at a more pressing time…
READ MOREOn Women’s Agency & Feminist Alternatives in Southern Africa
I read Ngugi wa Thiongo’s The Trial of Dedani Kimathi years back when I was still in lower secondary school. The character that sticks with me most since that time is the woman political activist…
READ MORESeven Striking Things about Zimbabwe’s Stop Rape Now March
Over four hundred women are waiting in front of Harare Town House, a spot that once marked the centre of the city. There are all sorts of women in the crowd—the young and the less…
The Strange Dynamics of Mixed Gender Spaces I am sitting in a room packed with excited leaders for a leadership forum organised by the Gugulethu Youth Development Forum. It’s blisteringly hot and it makes it…
READ MOREWhen reality becomes stranger than fiction, Gumbura gets going!
Rape of women and girls is proving to be a deliberate constant in Zimbabwe. On 3 February the Harare magistrate court concluded an ‘exceptional’ case in which Robert Gumbura, founder and supposed ‘pastor’ of an…
There’s an act of defiance in going onstage… We are standing in the garden of Katswe Sistahood’s office in Harare. It is 29°C, the sun beats on our foreheads until we’re shiny with sweat and…
When a woman has been living life like that of ‘[a] rat on a treadmill,’ tired and resigned; in a state of hopelessness, helplessness and despair, on the brink of giving up—it is hard to…
READ MOREFeminist Social Struggles in a Globalised World: What Malawi’s Women Have to Teach Us
Written by Dr Simukai Chigudu JASS’ work in Malawi has many lessons to teach about activating the energy women have and opening safe spaces for them to interrogate issues of power, organize collectively and demand…
“They’re already neck-and-neck, heading for a run-off!” That’s a running joke on the streets of Harare as we wait for July 31, the day of Zimbabwe’s national elections. Walking through the city’s streets, standing in…
The winter sun bathes the gently curving road, the street, the people, the commuters and the face-brick houses. In that instant, the narrow road we have been walking upon suddenly appears welcoming and prosperous. However,…
READ MOREUpcoming Zimbabwe Elections, Wiztech, and Feminist Politricks
7 am TALKCITY cyber cafe, Joina City Mall, Harare A long, winding queue has formed from the Julius Nyerere entrance, past the Edgars shop, across Jason Moyo, stopping right at the corner of the main…
READ MOREFanning the Flames of Feminist Activism in Zambia
Sometimes you just don’t know where things will end up. In 2009, JASS held a series of movement building institutes (MBIs) in Southern Africa that were attended by feminist activists in the region. These institutes…
Written by Wala Nalungwe, a young Zambian feminist activist who is also the Coordinator for the Young Women’s Leadership Academy Project at JASS partner organisation, Youth Vision Zambia. “Would you fight for the rights of…
“You know how they say it takes a village to raise a child. Well it takes many people to build a movement.” At least that’s what we re-discovered over the three days JASS Southern Africa…
READ MOREMalawi: 10 things we would write about if we had the time
After a whirlwind of activity over roughly 14 days, we leave Malawi bone-tired but also excited about the depth and breadth of JASS’ work, our partnerships with MANERELA+ and women leaders from a wide spectrum…
It’s hot. 36 degrees. We are not sure the march is going to happen. How can women take to the streets with the sun burning down on their heads? As we arrive at Kamazu Statue, there are not many…
READ MOREHighlights from the National Women’s Dialogue and More in Malawi
Over two days, more than 140 HIV positive women activists met to celebrate the campaign they built to access to better ARVs and treatment literacy. As a prelude to the Global Race to SAVE Lives…
READ MORECaution: Fearless Women Crossing the Line in Malawi
There’s energy in the air—here in Malawi. It crackles and shimmers, builds and builds, until it feels as though we are riding on a tidal wave of collective power, of women who have come from…
The dusty roads twist and turn. The setting sun signals the end of another day. The roads are chock full of mini busses ferrying weary workers home, street side sellers with tomatoes, ground nuts, sweet…
Musasa-JASS Wellbeing Circle in Zimbabwe. What makes a “bad woman”? Does she laugh too loudly or speak out of turn, drink too hard or dance all the time, have too much sex or no sex…
READ MOREYoung Zambian Women Tackle Patriarchy, Power & Sex
Patriarchy. Power. Sex. These are the concepts that young women in Zambia are grappling with at the Young Women’s Leadership Camp. Patriarchy – through institutions like the family, tradition and culture, education and the media – controls women’s sexuality as…
READ MOREThe Personal is political: Inside out with Malawian feminist Tiwonge Gondwe
Writer, feminist researcher, and market organiser, Dudziro Nhengu (Zimbabwe), interviewed Malawian activist, Tiwonge Gondwe in Istanbul, Turkey (April, 2012). Tiwonge, please tell me about your relationship with JASS? I knew JASS in 2008 in Cape…
READ MOREWomen Build their Collective Power by Pen and Paper in Buhera
By Vimbai Njovana The period from the FTX till now has been something of a whirlwind tour for me and an exhausting one too. As I reflect on the skills gained and the time…
READ MOREA Brief Virtual Discussion on “NGO-isation” and its discontents
Hope Chigudu said: NGO-isation? I am not sure that I know what this term means but what I know is that there is a way in which we do things as NGOs that makes some…
READ MOREHow and Where Does Change Happen for Women?
Malawian Activists in workshop The reunion with the women we have been working with in Malawi was emotional. Tiwonge, who has been involved since the beginning in 2007, lifted me up in the air as…
At APC Women’sNet “Connect Your Rights!” Workshop in Mombasa, Kenya. My mind is literally exploding with concepts and ideas.I’m at the APC Women’sNet “Connect Your Rights!” Workshop in Mombasa. We opened the workshop with a…
READ MOREBuilding Pathways and Movements: Feminist Tech Exchange
A statement by Feminist Tech Exchange participantsJohannesburg, South Africa – 20th July 2011 From the 18th to the 20th July 2011, the first Southern African Regional Feminist Tech Exchange (FTX) was hosted in Johannesburg, South…
8:00 a.m Zimbabwe time. At Charge Office Flea Market, where we have learnt skills to multiply the dollar for daily survival, there are stacks and stacks of second hand clothes, and unopened bales too. We…
READ MOREHeart-Mind-Body: Creating Organizations with a Soul
The Heart-Mind-Body workshop, held at Chengeta Lodge just outside Harare (April 9 – 10), brought together 26 women, each with diverse experiences, perspectives and survival strategies, all united by a common concern: sustaining the work…
READ MORETaking the Power Within and Crossing the Line: Reflections from JASS in Malawi
Hope Chigudu shares reflections about building women’s voice in Malawi and powerful stories of the ways in which grassroots women internalize the power framework and use it to challenge, resist and rebel against various forms…
READ MOREWise Advice for Activists from Ugandan Sex Workers
In time for International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, Hope Chigudu shares lessons learned from our sisters – activists, sex workers, feminists in Uganda… They hate writing. They like music, dance and…
READ MOREI am a Chameleon: Young Feminists in Zimbabwe Carve Out Space for Themselves
Every woman is a chameleon. She changes her color to suit the situation; she adjusts and adapts to face the pressing challenges. She wears a different face but the essence of who she is…
Movement building in Rumphi, Tiwonge Gondwe’s village (Tiwonge has been part of JASS movement building in Southern Africa from 2007) As Sindi and I drove to Tiwonge’s town in Rumphi, northern Malawi, the light was…
At the 11th AWID International Forum on Women’s Rights and Development (November 14, 2008, in Cape Town), Geeta Misra painted the landscape for ‘The Power of Movements’ by suggesting five common elements amongst movements: a…
The latest dispatch from Hope Chigudu, this time from the North of Malawi, with Sindi Blose It’s difficult to know people till you meet them in their environment. The workshop situation can present what Chimamanda…
READ MOREReclaiming Women Space and Voices: Crossing the Line in Zimbabwe
The gathering on the 6th March 2010 was a public one at the National Art Gallery in Harare, Zimbabwe – one of the events taking place this month to commemorate International Women’s Day. The panel…
This time we moved from the workshop rooms to the communities. We are humbly learning from the experience of the those who live on the margin, from their perspective, from their perseverance, from their assertiveness,…
Written by Miles Tanhira, Information & Communications Officer at GALZ, Zimbabwe Therefore i will not keep silent.I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, i will complain in the bitterness of my soul (JOB 7…
READ MOREGive Them Wings to Fly: Crossing the Line in Zambia
A dozen young women have converged on the Protea Hotel Cairo Road in Lusaka, as JASS (Just Associates) Southern Africa continues with the process of movement-building in Zambia. This part of the process is Leadership…
Cabinet debates homosexuality draft law http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/707661 By Barbara Among THE Cabinet has debated the controversial Anti-Homosexuality Bill now before parliament and agreed to amend it. In a heated meeting yesterday, chaired by the second deputy…
Public taxis are a nightmare, the screaming and rude conductors, the cursing drivers and the vulnerable passengers. Normally I don’t pay particular attention to other passengers in these dilapidated taxis, but what I witnessed today…
“We must involve the bosses. We can not move without them. The bosses are our partners. Many of them are just victims of the system too. Most of the employers mean well. All we need…
This morning, the women left. We had a great time but also experienced some Oh! moments. A young woman, six months pregnant, fell really sick. The truth is she came to the workshop sick. Most…
Tonight we decided to chill – candles, blankets, drinks, chips; creating the kind of accommodating and comfortable atmosphere that would allow the us to engage effectively with issues that are regarded as very personal, reflective,…
READ MOREMalawian women’s stories may surprise you!
Some of us wore expressions of a most unprofessional glee as Victoria, one of the women at the workshop, a teacher by profession, made us smile by sharing a story of how she has been…
Our lives are written on our bodies. Sisters! Women living with HIV who are leaders in the AIDS movement in their communities in Malawi came together for the start of a four-day workshop organized by…
READ MOREMobilizing against Homophobic Legislation in Uganda
Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill is generating outrage among African human rights advocates. A strong argument comes from Solome Nakaweesi-Kimbugwe, Executive Director of Akina Mama wa Afrika and author of a chapter in JASS’ collection Women…
By Millcent Tanhira (GALZ) A small stature, a giant voice, a powerful spiritHow best can I describe you, words fail me.Your wit, intelligence and determinationAmidst all the struggle and condemnationWith the stubbornness of a horse,…
Zimbabwe was hounoured with the presence of Professor Sylvia Rosila Tamale from Uganda. She gave a talk at the Zimbabwe Women’s esource Center Network (ZWRCN). The room was packed to capacity with a mixture of…
We are almost there, making shape out of the confusion, enduring the pain, but loving each other as sisters, as we build and undo and rebuild, and we start seeing the shape of our Southern…
As the 8 women in the planning meeting go to their rooms to retire for the night , I reflect on the day’s proceedings. What have we achieved, what are we going to do, where…
READ MOREJASS Strategic Planning in Nairobi – Reflections
It has been a long and intense day, emotionally draining – but in the spirit of strategizing for Southern Africa Women’s Movement Building as JMBs, it was well worth it. The honesty that is not…
READ MOREReflections from JASS Southern Africa Planning
As I end the day, I would like to share my thoughts on the process on Planning for the Southern African Region.It has been an interesting process to be involved in, its shaping and defining…
I was looking forward to a restful Easter, when on the eve of Good Friday I went into a meeting where I thought I would be in a safe space. This was a feedback meeting…
READ MOREInternational Women’s Day: Still a long way to go!
Not yet Uhuru! March 8 was International Women’s Day. This is a day marked to ‘celebrate women and recognize the great role they play in the world’. Women are not just women they are mothers,…
I have been reflecting on the circumstances of the women we have been meeting during the Malawi workshops, on how they live and how they cope with the changes in their lives in the context of HIV…
READ MOREWorld AIDS Day 2008 in Zimbabwe: Why I Will Not Join the Celebration
Why I Will Not Join the Celebration World AIDS Day (WAD) came upon us again on the 1st of December – 2008 marking the 20th such commemoration. Surprisingly we are still doing the same things…
READ MOREBack Home in Harare from AWID Forum cape Town
I got home in Harare back from AWID Forum in Cape Town to even more distressing situation with prices of basic commodities beyond skyrocketing, cholera out of control while officialdom claims everything is under control.…
By Keba, South Africa A session that was supposed to be about experiences of hate crimes, and remembering people we have lost at the hand of homophobia ended up into something else. The session started…
Written by Amanda Awethu I cannot believe I almost gave up on coming to Cape Town for the 11th AWID Forum. I was on the verge of giving up as I had hassles trying to…
From AWID, I have learnt on how to strengthen women’s organisations and to bring solidality on womens movement in our regions and our countries and documentation is important. To make sure that we are achieving…
As I look forward to the opening of the AWID forum , I am quite excited about the work that the young feminist have planned for the conference.It pleases me to know that space has…
By Wala The meeting was explosive with different ideas from diverse women across the globe. It was an enriching and eye opening experience. It also challenged me as a woman and as an activist to…
We have a bad cholera outbreak. Everywhere I look, I get worried – anyone, including me, has a high chance of contracting cholera. As if we have not had enough troubles with the political jokers…
READ MORECrossing the line at the African Feminist Forum
Commonwealth Munyonyo, Kampala was this year graced with the presence of at least 150 African women feminists who got together to continue with the feminist revolution. Throughout the 4 days women from at least 29…
Dear Stephen Lewis, Thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to attend the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. This meaningful experience provided us with the chance to get to know the…
READ MOREPolitical Crises Affect Women and Girls Most
I sit here in Harare agonising, and wishing I had the same courage our Swazi sisters have. The fear is just paralysing!! NGOs Ban, Political Crisis Stall ‘Basket Fund’ Saturday, 06 September 2008 THE political…
Mbabane More than 1 500 mostly HIV-positive women staged an unprecedented protest in Swaziland on Thursday against a foreign shopping tour by eight of the ruling monarch’s 13 wives, in a country ravaged by Aids.Dressed…
By Julian, Age 11 This AIDS conference has been full of knowledge. It wasn’t just about HIV/AIDS. It was about learning and gathering and sharing information and opinions among people with HIV and without HIV. I…
The AIDS conference ended today. It has been an eventful week. I did not get to contribute to JASS blog as I tried to cram in as much of conference program as possible. There has…
Tuesday at the IAC was an action packed day for me. I got to speak in front of a lot of people which was a new experience for me and it definitely made me feel…
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Develop Women leaders
JASS equips women activists with the skills and strategies they need to organize others and challenge violence and injustice in politics, in their communities, at work or at home. To date, we have trained more than 3,000 women to lead in social movements and bring fresh ideas and strategies back to their communities, where they mobilize many more.
Tasha Pick (SOAS): Tasha is a queer feminist researcher based in London. Their work is situated across academic, creative and community spaces. They hold a Masters in Gender Studies from SOAS, University of London, and are about to begin a PhD exploring the connections between oceans, queer time and climate crisis. Over the past year, they have been working in public engagement at Queen Mary, University of London. Their most recent collaboration brought together East London migrant support organisations with local artists, writers and performers. Their work seeks to explore the radical imagination, the capacity to imagine and enact alternative futures, as a form of resistance to unliveable worlds.
Onyeka Nwabunnia
Onyeka Nwabunnia is a African feminist Researcher and writer with 4 years of experience working in the non-profit sector focused on social policy, gender, and international development. She holds a Masters in Gender Studies and Law from SOAS University of London and a BA in Political Science and African Studies from Colgate University. Onyeka currently works as a Research Officer for the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development in Liberia. Onyeka is the founder of the Blog Griotte, hosted on the feminist knowledge sharing platform The Only Space (TOS). As a feminist, Onyeka is driven by questions concerning how we create knowledge and understand the world.
Build Cross-Movement Networks
Collective power is our greatest resource for upending inequality. Building inclusive networks across many divides not only leverages this power for social and political change, but also provides the basis for the collective safety women activists need when challenging the status quo. JASS has catalyzed 8 powerful cross-issue networks and fostered collaboration among 450+ organizations to work together from a feminist perspective.
JASS leverages international networks and allies to advocate and influence the thinking and decisions of governments, donors, institutions, NGOs, and the international human rights community. We have hosted over 100 convenings with academics, civil society organizations, and policy makers, centering the voices and specific concerns of women activists and human rights defenders, and advancing the support for gender equality and feminist movement strategies.
When women speak out and offer leadership, their voices are often dismissed or silenced. JASS turns up the volume on women’s voices by providing greater access to the tools and platforms women need to broadcast their truth and build support for their agendas. Through community radio, social media, hosted political dialogues, engagement with journalists and other communications strategies, we are making sure that women’s stories of change, innovations and feminist perspectives shape the narratives about what’s wrong, what’s needed, and what we are doing about it.
JASS is dedicated to bridging theory and practice and ensuring that the knowledge of grassroots women and activists helps to shape ideas, policies, and practice. We document insights from frontline change processes and multiply their reach and impact in the form of analyses, case studies, toolkits, and other practical resources. The knowledge we produce is widely used by activists and their allies and is influential in the field of international human rights and development.
