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Our History
The declaration for the African Women's Decade (2010-2020) at the June Summit of 2009 was a milestone on the African women's journey to empowerment and equality. Building on the previous commitment taken by the AU Assembly of Heads and Government including Article 4(L) of the Constitutive Ace (200) which enshrines the Parity Principle adopting the Protocol to the Charter on Human and Peoples Rights in Africa (2003).
The decade has provided African women in the continent and in the Diaspora a platform to celebrate and a framework of implementation. Launched in Nairobi, Kenya on October 15, 2010, its 10 themes remind us of the work ahead. In 2015, the global United Nations family reviewed and celebrated 20 years since the historic 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing known as "Beijing+20".
We cannot forget the journey to Beijing. It began in Mexico City in 1975, stopped in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1980 with another stop in Nairobi in 1985 where the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies gave birth to the Beijing Platform of Action. The year 2015 is, therefore a watershed year as it marks an end date for the implementation of UN Millennium Development Goals adopted in 2000 and successor year for the Post 2015 Sustainable Development Agenda.
Our Mission
The African Women of Excellence events and ceremonies are sponsored and hosted by the Diaspora Africa Forum Foundation (DAFF), a Washington, DC-based 501(C)3 non-profit organization born from the African-Union/Diaspora African Forum (AU/DAF) mission headquartered in Accra, Ghana in the W.E.B. DuBois compound. The DAF is the first African Diaspora diplomatic mission of its kind in the world.
Although it is headquartered in Accra, Ghana, the DAF mission supports activities and concerns of the Diaspora wherever they live: in the Americas, the Caribbean and on or the African continent.
The Diaspora African Forum Mission and the Diaspora African Forum Foundation share a history.
They are the culmination of a number of events including a decision in 2001 by the African Union (then called the OAU) to develop strategies for utilizing the scientific and technological skills of Africans in the Diaspora for the development of Africa. In 2003, the African Union Ministerial Committee recommended to the Heads of State that Africa "invite and encourage the full participation of Africans in the Diaspora in Africa's development.
Our Objective
Women of Africa and African Descent
take pride in their huge achievements recorded throughout time and history and their contributions to success in the struggle for freedom, development, peace and independence in political, social and economic spheres throughout the world.
The African Women of Excellence Awards
recognize these achievements during our biennial Galas worldwide.
This year, we are supporting the African Union's 2015 theme
"Year of Women Empowerment and Development toward Africa's Agenda 2063".