Lived realities like having to tend to her brothers or observing the relationship between her parents awoke a feminist in young Alice D. Kanengoni, branching out into a career of driving change for women across the continent.
“Sometimes it can feel like the challenge is so big and that your efforts are a drop in the ocean, but know that every drop counts for something.”
Upon leaving OSISA, Kanengoni left not only a lasting impression through her work but also a programme that gave a voice to many women on the African continent.
Kanengoni started many firsts for the organisation. Kanengoni designed the first gender equality strategy, the first women’s rights programme, a feminist leadership ethos in the organisation, and her pride and joy, Buwa, a journal on African women’s experiences.
“Buwa has a special place in my heart. When I was a programme manager, one of the things that came from research was that there was a gap in knowledge that was home grown and Afro-centric. The research, information, tools and frameworks that a number of organisations were relying on to inform advocacy and solutions to our problems was from the so-called global North. This was a big concern for us, especially as feminists. We considered how we could contribute towards a knowledge base in the field that is informed, inspired and shaped by women in the region. So that is how Buwa Journal was born,” says Kanengoni.
“We wanted the journal to be a platform for the people in Africa, to speak, we wanted to challenge that narrative that journals need to be academic, peer-reviewed and follow a certain format in terms of content and so on. We were deliberate in the voices we allowed in Buwa, not the same that would perpetuate the voices we were trying to challenge.”
She edited 9 out of the 10 Issues with the final one in 2020.
“It was radical in terms of content and concept. The concept part got me excited as it was a message in itself. It’s one of those radical things we contributed to at OSISA in terms of challenging the knowledge narratives and how voices should be brought into that space.”
Over its ten years, Buwa was well received, with requests for copies from parliaments across the region, practitioner organisations and countries as far as India and elsewhere.
The self-proclaimed African feminist, continued in the organisation working on women’s rights, a topic that was close to her heart since she was a child.
“I am an African feminist and that speaks to the values that I hold very dear. I think of different people and their rights and I believe everyone has a right to be in this world, without anyone prescribing where and how they should live. This is part of what led me to women’s rights.”
Lived realities like having to tend to her brothers or observing the relationship between her parents awoke a feminist in young Kanengoni, something she forged into an illustrious career that has made a difference across the continent.
“There were differences where I would have to cook for them and I used to wonder why they were not cooking. I was younger. That made me realise that there was something not okay with the life of girls, generally. My career was shaped by that and I have been working in that and the broader social justice space since the start of my career.”
She started her career in the late 1990s. Before joining OSISA, she worked with the South African Research and Documentation Centre, Gender Links, in portfolio management and shaping gender equality and women’s rights research and programmes.
“I learned a lot in both these organisations. I then joined OSISA in 2004 and I joined as an assistant manager in the human rights and democracy building programme. The organisation was relatively young when I joined. So, there was a lot of space for thinking about possibilities of growing the organisation.
“My role shifted from programme manager to senior manager in gender and women’s rights and the mandate to support other teams within and outside the organisation took more prominence. I worked in that for about a year before stepping out to lead the organisation in terms of strategy, accountability and learning from 2019 to 2022.”
Kanengoni says she feels privileged to have contributed towards gender justice and women’s rights over the years.
“Women’s rights activists have made significant progress. The issue becomes how do we protect the gains we made and how do we position ourselves to protect gains and continue to demand rights and sustain the advocacy and push for gender equality. As a continent we have come a long way in building strength and resilience among movements.”
She said when you get into such a space, it’s helpful to keep it real. “Sometimes it can feel like the challenge is so big and that your efforts are a drop in the ocean, but know that every drop counts for something.
“Looking at my journey at OSISA, I realised that if I was not patient, perhaps I would have not had the privilege to contribute in the manner that I did. It was a process, it’s a journey and one that you have to be willing to be patient on. It’s part of the reason I stayed for so long at OSISA.”
