2023: 60 years for justice

For many decades, fepa has celebrated its anniversaries on the basis of the 1963 statutes, which introduced independent general assemblies.

The impulse to found fepa came in 1959 when Hedwig Schneeberger, a teacher from Berne, heard about the establishment of community farms in what was then Rhodesia: Working together as equals, black and white pioneers created a future-oriented project for the development of the country in southern Africa.

Hedwig Schneeberger was fully committed to financially supporting these anti-racist projects, which challenged the Rhodesian government and the ideology of white supremacy with a genuine partnership approach. Schneeberger found support from like-minded people so that fepa could be founded in 1963, incidentally with the active support of the “refugee mother” Gertrud Kurtz of the Christian Peace Service as well as the Bernese Teachers’ Association.

In the early 1960s, when the majority of African states gained independence from the former colonial powers, too many Swiss still sympathised with the white settler societies that were resisting a change in their political domination. In this environment, fepa’s stance was progressive and courageous. Elements that still characterise fepa today were already present then:

1. The fundamental view of human rights and democracy, against racism and racial discrimination as a prerequisite for development.
2. Development policy commitment both in Africa and Switzerland.
3. The principle of equal partnership and mutual respect.
4. The support for initiatives of committed people on the ground.
5. The geographical focus on Southern Africa and in particular on Rhodesia and Zimbabwe.
6. The key role of women in fepa’s work.

Zimbabwe has remained the focal country of our projects 60 years after fepa was founded. fepa has closely accompanied its partners through the turbulence of recent years. Furthermore, fepa worked in Tanzania and is still active in South Africa and Moçambique.

Via our partner organisations in what was then Rhodesia, first contacts were made in the 1960s with the emerging farmer cooperative movement in Tanzania, which soon caused a developmental furore under the name “Ujamaa”. In Tanzania’s Ruvuma District, fepa supported this grassroots initiative, which was bureaucratised as a state doctrine at the end of the 1960s. For many years fepa then worked with the state-initiated Community Development Trust Fund (CDTF).

fepa’s involvement in South Africa began in 1966 with the support of projects by “Treeman” Mazibuko, a pioneer of organic farming. Other fepa partners in South Africa were Rommel Roberts’ Hilltop Empowerment Centre in the Eastern Cape and the Mdantsane Peace Project.

For some years fepa was also active in Moçambique. In 2004, former members of the association Solidarity with Moçambique approached fepa with a proposal for cooperation in the field of malaria prevention in the province of Cabo Delgado on the border with Tanzania.

Further Information

Brochure on our 50 year jubilee.

fepa office

We are a small, dynamic, and motivated team that is passionately committed to the goals of FEPA.

The FEPA office is managed by Marcel Dreier (60%) and Denise Staubli (50%). Iria Mudimu, Katja Majirija, and Stephanie Roffler contribute their expertise on an hourly basis as freelancers and volunteers.

On-site in Zimbabwe, Tatenda Mutema supports the team as needed.

Marcel Dreier – Co-Executive Director

Denise Staubli – Co-Executive Director

Iria Mudimu – Content Creator

Katja Majirija – Desk Officer Agroecology

Stephanie Roffler – Desk Officer Partnership South Africa

Tatenda Mutema – Consultant based in Zimbabwe

Volunteers at the office

Dingulwazi Kenneth Mudimu, Joyce Schäfer and many more that we can count on for short-term assignments. If you also want to participate: More information here. We look forward to seeing you!

ZEWO-Certification

Certification 2022 – 2026

fepa was successfully re-certified on 21 November 2022 for the next years (until the end of 2026). We have started with the implementation of small requirements and recommendations, e.g. a register of the board members’ commitment of interests, privacy policy and the calculation of the project effort at the newsletter. The certificate document is uploaded here.

What ZEWO does:

Strengthening trust

Zewo ensures clarity and honesty of fundraising organisations and promotes society’s trust in charitable activities.

Audit aid organisations

Zewo is committed to ensuring that donations are used for their intended purpose, effectively and economically. Aid organisations that allow themselves to be audited by Zewo and meet the strict requirements receive the Zewo seal of approval.

Informing the public

The information service (Tel: +41 44 366 99 55) receives enquiries, tips and complaints about organisations that collect donations. Donors receive independent and competent information on questions about donations.

Introduction

16 Zimbabwean grassroots organisations (Community Based Organisations) form a Community of Practitioners (CoP) that uses an empowerment approach in communities to advocate for women’s rights and gender justice.

The experiences in 2021 and 2022 are rich and promise that the path taken will make a substantial contribution to strengthening women’s rights and achieving SDG 5, while also achieving sustainable promotion and empowerment of young women as transformation agents and development agents.

Current reports on some of the contributors can already be found on the main page.

fepa’s approach to action

In our internal concept we describe our commitment to women’s rights and gender justice. The fepa community of practice approach is a flywheel for committed people. We consciously focus on diversity, agility and a multi-perspective approach. We are all part of an activist movement that empowers community members to achieve SDG 5. The distinct empowerment approach aims to achieve sustainable, democratic and equitable structures in communities. Individual rights (e.g. protection from early marriage) play a role in this, but we also do this in the belief that we are shaping an enabling environment for all genders through participation and citizen initiative. By working together to strengthen the capacity of grassroots activists, to seek dialogue, and to identify and implement solutions, we are building the foundation for a society that respects and advocates for the rights of all genders.

A flexible and participatory approach is a prerequisite and strength of community-based development. Navigating within societies is complex and it can never be fully anticipated. The CoP approach allows individual partners to develop autonomous objectives and context-specific solutions from the bottom up and implement them directly for the benefit of the target group. At the same time, they contribute to the improvement of the work of other activists. This is the advantage over a programme approach with guard rails set by fepa. The partners complement each other systemically and, thanks to the exchange and joint learning, increase the impact of committed people as agents of change.

The chosen approach is part of our initiative to ‘decolonise help‘ and to introduce agile methods in project management in order to not only achieve better results more effectively and faster, but also to act (even) more in partnership.

Excerpts from the fepa report on the CoP (highlights/lowlights/lessons learned) can be found here (only available in German).

Documentation on women and development

On the occasion of an exchange visit in 2020, we worked up some background information. There are still gaps. Will you help us to fill them?

Your contribution

Would you like to volunteer as part of our team that supports activists in the South? We have room for movement and give space for your commitment and talents. Contact us by email: info@fepafrika.ch

GWEN – Girls and Women Empowerment Network

GWEN’s family-centred approach to gender justice

GWEN is an innovative community-based organisation led by a young inspiring woman and mother. In the project with fepa, the family is at the centre. Unfair treatment and discrimination of girls and young women is fixed in most families. When girls and young women challenge such disadvantages and find support and allies within and outside their own families, there is powerful leverage for improvement.

Specifically, GWEN works with girls and young women and strengthens their knowledge, self-confidence, solidarity and also their economic position. At the same time, it addresses family issues in communities, highlighting the importance and opportunities when and how girls can be empowered.

Thanks to our work, primarily girls and young women as well as other members of the communities in Seke and Chitungwiza are given the opportunity to create more equitable family relationships.

GWEN uses various entry points for this purpose: 2022 these are mainly meetings with girls, where education and livelihood issues are addressed and health and menstruation education can also take place; as well as public film screenings with discussions on family structures, girls’ and women’s rights, where important dignitaries and committed men also speak out.

GWEN has an activist approach: wherever possible, participants take action. In order to make this situational and community-integrated work possible, fepa hardly sets any guidelines, for example on the number of individual activities. However, we continuously evaluate the implemented activities together with GWEN with regard to their effectiveness and efficiency. In this way, the project creates new insights and confirms methods of how people themselves can contribute to more justice in their families and communities.

Our committment, our engagement

GWEN and fepa work together to

• achieve a gender equitable society where girls and young women feel comfortable and free from sexualised violence
• facilitate a ‘home-grown’ change in family structures so that families promote, rather than hinder, access to family rights for all members
• enable all family members to realise their potential and contribute meaningfully to development and well-being

The family-centred approach in detail

Why?

• structural roots of inequality in patriarchal families
• gender myths can be deconstructed, healing can be achieved
• “home-grown” solutions to problems in the home
• communities in charge

Toolbox

• community cinema
• community and school visits on menstrual hygiene, including distribution of sanitary pads
• exchanges with community leaders and stakeholders
• financial support for girls’ school visits
• workshops on detergent production
• community dialogues on drug abuse
• mother-daughter dialogues
• GWEN TRUST FRIDAY FACTS podcast

GWEN

GWEN works primarily in Chitungwiza and the rural foothills of Harare in Seke District to promote gender equality and for girls and young women. Traditional role models are widespread in the semi-rural communities. GWEN’s activists, who themselves come from these communities, work to change the way individuals, families and communities think. GWEN specialises in protecting the rights of vulnerable girls and women and how to promote them so that they claim their rights themselves. GWEN is very committed and has developed an innovative toolbox with activities and methods that are practical for working in communities.

GWEN’s director: Kumbirai Kahiya

Kumbirai Kahiya, founder and director of GWEN, grew up in a patriarchal family together with her twin brother. To conform to prevailing expectations, she had to behave, eat, speak and dress in certain ways. As a young football fanatic (and still a big Manchester United fan), she could not understand why she was not allowed to wear shorts to play like her brother. The decision was easily made: she went to work and bought her own football shorts with the money she earned – her own possession, which she wore with self-determination.

The experience of many women in Zimbabwe of not having access to resources was also hers. Her brother owned the land. By contributing financially to the family’s income, she also demanded the right to have a say and a say. But selling tomatoes on the street day in and day out while waiting for a man to propose marriage was not an option for her. She looked for ways to transform this prefabricated path. Not only for herself, but for all women in her community. Women need a place “where girls can just be girls”, says Kumbie. For which safe spaces – like Kumbie’s house was in GWEN’s informal beginnings – are of central importance. This is how GWEN came into being. Today, not only the offices of the organisation itself, but also the activities they carry out in the communities serve as such safe spaces.

FCGEA is a concept that leaves no one behind and ensures that everyone is on board when it comes to promoting the rights of girls and young women, from the nuclear family to the larger community. – Kumbirai Kahiya, Director GWEN

fepa partner organisation	GWEN, Girls and Women Empowerment Network
Location	Seke, Chitungwiza
Target group	Girls and young women, families and communities
fepa contribution 2021	CHF 5’000
fepa contribution 2022	CHF 16’500
fepa contribution 2023-25	CHF 50’000

Currently

Check out our news page for the latest on this partnership.

With your donations for this project…

… you support an innovative grass root organisation that is campaigning for girls and young women.

60-jähriges Bestehen von Fepa: A Night to Remember!

Der 60. Jahrestag von Fepa war eine unvergessliche Feier mit vielen Höhepunkten, die uns alle in Erstaunen versetzten!

Die Jahreshauptversammlung: Geschäft und Inspiration
Unsere Jahreshauptversammlung bildete den Rahmen für eine Kombination aus Geschäft und Feier, bei der wir auf sechs unglaubliche Jahrzehnte des Erfolgs zurückblicken konnten.

Das Podium: Entfesselte Experten
Unsere Podiumsdiskussion mit Experten war ein Brainstorming-Kraftwerk, das innovative Ideen hervorgebracht und unsere Begeisterung für die Zukunft entfacht hat.

Der Apero: Kulinarische Köstlichkeiten
Der Apero verführte unsere Geschmacksnerven und bot einen Einblick in die reiche Geschichte von Fepa und unsere aufregende Zukunft.

Ndomzy: Aktivismus, Sprache und Tanz
Ndomzy, eine leidenschaftliche Aktivistin, betrat die Bühne. Ihre kraftvolle Rede bewegte uns, und ihre unglaublichen Tanzschritte begeisterten die Menge. Sie drückte die Kraft der Kommunikation durch Aktivismus und Tanz aus, hielt die Kultur lebendig und verband sich mit der Zukunft Afrikas.

Tanzchoreografie: Groove Central
Unsere choreografierten Tanzroutinen verwandelten die Tanzfläche in eine Dance-off-Extravaganz mit Musik für jeden Geschmack.

Die große Party mit DJ Qpaem
Aber die Party ging erst richtig los, als DJ Qpaem an den Decks auflegte! Die Beats brannten, und die Afrobeat-Musik versetzte uns alle in einen Rausch und wir bewegten uns zu den ansteckenden Rhythmen.

Kurz gesagt, der 60. Jahrestag von Fepa war eine Mischung aus Geschichte, Innovation, Unterhaltung und Freude. Auf weitere 60 Jahre voller Erfolg und unvergesslicher Momente, in denen wir die Kultur lebendig halten und mit Afrika in die Zukunft blicken! 🥂🎈🕺🎶 #Fepa60thAnniversary #PartyOfTheDecade #CulturalCelebration #movewithit

LIVELIHOOD-PROJECT: Financial skills and microfinance for women

The Livelihood Project trains women in entrepreneurship and financial management and accompanies them in setting up businesses. In addition, they get access to business loans and thus to capital to finance their projects – mostly in agriculture.

Empowering women – changing society sustainably

Since 2009, the local farming community has gradually lost access to land that is used by corporations for the production of bio-ethanol. This poses a financial problem for many farming families, reducing their livelihoods. This leads to increased poverty. In addition, there is a heavy burden from the current drought; 2019 will go down as one of the driest years in Zimbabwe’s history.

As a result, there is an increase in problems such as school dropouts, thefts, increased prostitution, child marriages as well as the hiring out of children, preferably girls. Family fathers often migrate to the neighbouring countries of South Africa and Botswana in order to find an income there. However, this is often difficult. The women stay behind alone with the children and start looking for a new income. Farming alone is not enough to feed the family.

Women try to set up small businesses in the village community. To do this, they use the small areas of land they have left to grow vegetables, raise pigs or poultry.

The livelihood project was initiated by our partner organisation PYCD (Platform for Youth and Community Development) and has been active in Chipinge since 2008. It has been shown that often technical skills for new projects are available, but basic entrepreneurial skills were lacking and capital was not or only with difficulty accessible. This is exactly where the project comes in.

The main goal of the project is to find solutions to deal with women’s financial challenges.

Research showed that supported women invest a large part of their earned income in projects that benefit the village community and use it to feed other family members or to finance their education. However, sometimes they invest in projects that are not very profitable. Therefore, the project aims to invest efficiently and in an economically sustainable way. When women are financially independent from their husbands, their social position also improves. The project thus makes an important contribution to gender equality and meets the targets of SDG 5 (Gender Equality). Further SDGs are thus supported.

Currently

At the moment, 15 women are receiving training tailored to their specific needs in a pilot phase. This includes a practical coaching programme that accompanies them in their various business activities.

fepa partner organisation	Platform for Youth Development
Location	Chipinge, Zimbabwe
Target group	female entrepreneurs, women in general
fepa Budget until 2024 total	CHF 20’000

PYCD – Platform for Youth Development

Gender activism

Young women and men are active against sexual exploitation, child marriage and for more equality. The Gender Office creates space for dialogue among women who critically question harmful practices in a culturally sensitive way. The Gender Office is part of our community of practitioners who use innovative methods to advocate for women’s rights and gender justice.

«FEPA’s support has helped a lot in changing womens’ lives in Chipinge through the awareness campaigns that empower women to stand their ground and challenge the harmful cultural practises that continue to hinder women’s development. Through the support, quite a number of women can now stand up and report cases of rape and sextortion freely.» – PYCD

Check out our news page for the latest on this partnership.

Advancing girls’ and women’s rights

The aim of this project is to create a more gender-equitable society in the Checheche and Chisumbanje region of Chipinge District, Zimbabwe. Young women should be able to play a central role in development efforts. To this end, the project gives them a voice, strengthens their position in the local community and supports them in removing obstacles that prevent them from taking on this role. Therefore, the project supports young women from the community who address gender-based injustices themselves and in a culturally sensitive way.

Directly, the project strengthens the right of girls and young women to dispose of their own bodies through concrete measures, because this is a basis for the empowerment process. Thanks to targeted networking and knowledge transfer in this rural region, the project makes available competencies from other organisations that were not previously active in the project region and anchors them in the local organisation with its gender activists.

The fepa project partner ‘Platform for Youth and Community Development’ (PYCD) is a committed and locally strongly rooted youth organisation. With its many members and 25 selected gender activists, PYCD is working to change attitudes and practices among members of rural communities in Chipinge, Zimbabwe. These communities are characterised by culturally based disadvantages of girls and (young) women as well as socio-economic dynamics that negatively affect the social rights of girls and young women.

fepa partner organisation	Platform for Youth Development
Location	Chipinge, Zimbabwe
Target group	Girls and young women
fepa contribution 2017-2020	CHF 140’000
fepa contribution 2021	CHF 31’000
fepa contribution 2022 (budget)	CHF 35’000

Donate Time – Voluntary Engagement

There are many ways you can get involved with fepa:

Help at the office,

at our stand campaigns,

in one of our projects.

We are a small, dynamic development organisation and look forward to hearing from you.

Contact: info@fepafrika.ch

Share Joy – Donations for special occasions

You are celebrating a milestone birthday, an anniversary or some other joyful occasion.

Celebrations are a great opportunity to share joy and give gifts to people.

Ask your friends and relatives to support a fepa project instead of presents.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Contact: info@fepafrika.ch