By Jemila Abdulai Source: Devex
Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi helped set up the first Africa-wide grant-making agency. What advice would the self-proclaimed feminist give those interested in pursuing a career in gender and development?
Passion for the cause is key, says the executive director of the African Women’s Development Forum. Devex spoke with the Nigerian and British national, who holds a master’s in gender and society, set up the African Women’s Leadership Institute, directed Akina Mama wa Afrika, a U.K.-based development organization, from 1991 to 2001, and led the Association for Women’s Rights in Development from 2003 to 2005. Adeleye-Fayemi co-founded AWDF in 2000 with Joanna Foster of Ghana and Hilda Tardia of Uganda six years after meeting at a forum in Dakar, Senegal.
What advice do you have for those interested in pursuing a career in gender and development?
Well, I think it’s important for people to figure out what they love doing. I know when you’re starting out in your career it’s hard to think like that because what you want is a job. You’re just out of college and you need to pay bills, and you’re not particularly concerned about the love of your life when it comes to work. But I think, you know, people can give it some thought. What do you really like doing? Do you like writing? Do you like communicating? Do you like to travel? Do you like to connect with people? And so those things that you like doing should be what guides you into deciding what kind of, you know, career path you will choose. It’s the things you like doing that will give you the passion for the work. That’s what gets you up in the morning. So you’re not getting up in the morning just to go and get a paycheck. You’re getting up in the morning because you enjoy what you’re doing.
When it comes to gender-related work, it’s important – I always say you can’t work with or for women if you don’t love women. You have to love women. You have to love the things that women stand for. You have to believe, deep within yourself, that it’s important to fight for women’s rights and that it’s a struggle. It’s not, some of the issues are not things that will be handed to you on a silver platter.
Some people argue that you can do gender-related work without being a feminist. And I say, “Okay, yeah, you can do that. But then tell me how you can take a shower without being wet?”
So, you need to be committed to being part of the struggle, connected with other sisters in other parts of the world, within your community and beyond your community, about what it means to be a girl, or about what it means to be a woman. And it’s from that, you know, passion and commitment, that you get the sustenance that you need to succeed in your career.
Sometimes we have moments where we feel deflated and disappointed. We feel that we’re marching on nonstop because issues that we’ve worked on for years and years don’t seem to be moving or changing. But then, every now and then, we do record significant successes, and then it just means that the process of social change is a slow one, it’s a steady one, but it’s achievable. And so, the attitude should be – entering into these jobs or developing these careers – being committed to staying with it throughout your lifetime as opposed to, you know, I’m going to get this done on this job. It doesn’t work that way.
Can you give us some resume, cover letter or networking tips?
I think it’s important for people to state on their resumes what their passions are. If I’m reading through people’s CVs I want to know what moves them, what’s behind all the really nice credentials from all the great schools that they’ve gone to? What passion do you have? Is your passion reading or writing or car racing?
So, maybe people should just put in that section, in the section where you have your academic background and all that, you should have a section upfront, “My passions.” State it up there: What are your passions? It could be children? It could be women. It could be soccer, anything.
What is your vision for women’s leadership and development in Africa and across the developing world?
My visions are that women will be able to prove that we can do things differently and that we can do business unusual.
Read more of Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi’s thoughts on grant-making trends in Africa and fundraising strategies for small and medium-sized groups.
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