Urgent Action Fund-Africa, is a consciously feminist and women’s human rights pan-African Fund established in 2001 in Nairobi, Kenya. As the first rapid response Fund on the continent, UAF-Africa adds value to the work of activists and civil society organisations focusing on women’s active socio-political participation and visibility by leveraging resources and opportunities for critical engagement that advance women’s human rights.
As the first rapid response Fund on the continent, UAF-Africa adds value to the work of women’s rights activists and organisations through provision of critical financial and technical resources. At UAF-Africa money is recognized as a fundamental tool in protecting and advancing women’s rights and enabling their participation in crucial processes that contribute to shifting of power relations.
UAF-Africa is the only Fund on the continent that works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year! Our high tech funding mechanisms ensure that we respond to most requests within 48 hours. We disburse funds to successful applicants within 1-5 days. UAF-Africa receives and processes requests in the 5 official African Union languages i.e English, French, Kiswahili, Portuguese and Arabic. Our office boasts of wide in house linguistic capacity allowing for greater efficiency and higher turnover of proposals.
The Fund provides financial support for strategic interventions to advance women’s human rights in situations of conflict; precedent-setting legal or legislative interventions and protection of women’s human rights defenders who are persecuted because of their work. Grant proposals must be strategic, unanticipated and time urgent, sustainable and supported by known groups.
UAF–Africa ardently believes in the power of women to activate social change. We recognize the importance of arming women with facts and figures to enable them challenge issues from an informed perspective. The Fund has positioned herself strategically to bolster women’s efforts, support them as agents of change and work with them to ensure deep and lasting transformation to an equal world for all.
Most donor organizations make grants at specific times of the year, making the process of reviewing grant proposals long and complicated. UAF-Africa is unique in this aspect: while the grants given are not large sums of money (the maximum grant is USD$10,000 for rapid response grants and USD$5000 for protection grants), they are dispersed very quickly, and there are no deadlines for grant applications.
To meet the criteria and to see as to how to apply for the funds please see the following link:
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