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Women You Should Know: Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi

Jeremiah Aluwong

The Eagle Online

  Overview of Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi Adeleye-Fayemi has been associated with a number of international women’s rights and philanthropy organisations, including as co-chair of the International Network of Women’s Funds, President of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), and Chair of the International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC). She has also been on the Board of Trustees for Comic Relief (UK). This is in addition to being the first lady in Ekiti State, Nigeria.
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Heroic Strides in the Development of the African Woman

In a thriving career, she has served as the Director of Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA), an international development organisation for African women, based in London, UK, from 1991-2001 as well as Executive Director of the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), the first Africa-wide grant-making fund which supports the work of organizations promoting women’s rights in Africa, from 2001-2010. This is what makes her an Everyday Hero; the role she plays in the development of the African Woman. In 2001 she co-founded the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), the first Pan-African grant-making organization, which supports the work of organizations promoting women’s rights in Africa. She served as the Executive Director from 2001-2010. During her years in the UK, Bisi Fayemi also worked in the Department of Health as an Administrative Officer. She then became the Director of Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA), an international development organisation for African women based in London, UK, with an Africa regional office in Kampala, Uganda, from 1991- 2001. While she was the Director of AMwA, she established the African Women’s Leadership Institute (AWLI), a training and networking forum for young African women. The leadership institute she developed has become such a powerful legacy that today the AWLI has trained more than 6,000 women across Africa, most of whom are now in senior decision-making positions as Ministers, Members of Parliaments, academics, civil society leaders and employees of international organisations.

Background of the Woman

Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi was born on the 11th of June 1963 in Liverpool, England. Amongst other things, she is popularly known in Nigeria as the First Lady of Ekiti State, Nigeria. ‘The first lady’ is the term used for the wife of the Ekiti State Governor 2019–2023. She was previously Ekiti State First Lady in 2011–2015. A British-Nigerian feminist activist, writer and policy advocate. She serves as a UN Women Nigeria Senior Advisor and was appointed as a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at King’s College, the University of London in 2017. She is CEO of Above Whispers Limited and runs an online community called Abovewhispers.com.

Education and Career

Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University of Ife, now the Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. She also received an MA in Gender and Society (1992) from Middlesex University, UK.  She is currently CEO, Above Whispers Limited, specializing in leadership development for women, and she runs an online community called Abovewhispers.com, where she writes a weekly column called “Loud Whispers”. She was until recently a UN Women Nigeria Senior Advisor and was recently appointed as a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at King’s College, University of London.
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Political Involvements as First Lady of Ekiti State.

When her husband Dr Kayode Fayemi took office as Governor of Ekiti State, Nigeria, she became actively involved in a range of policy advocacy, grassroots empowerment and social inclusion programs in Ekiti State. She led the campaign to enact a Gender-Based Violence Prohibition Law (2011, revised in October 2019), an Equal Opportunities Bill (2013) and an HIV Anti-Stigma Bill (2014). She continues to work on the implementation and sustainability of these initiatives as First Lady of Ekiti State for the second time. She serves on the Executive Boards of the African Women’s Development Fund. She is Chair of the Advisory Council of the Nigerian Women’s Trust Fund and also serves on the Governing Council of Elizade University in Nigeria. She is currently Chair of the Gender-Based Violence Law Management Committee, Ekiti State and Chair, Ekiti State AIDS Control Agency. She is also on the Steering Committee of the Regional African Women Leaders Network (AWLN) and a member of AWLN-Nigeria Steering Steering Committee where she serves as an Adviser.

Awards and recognition

Adeleye-Fayemi was given the Notably, Leymah Gbowee of Liberia, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner, delivered Adeleye-Fayemi’s 50th birthday lecture in 2013. Titled “Leading the Change: The Journey of an African Woman”, the lecture detailed how Adeleye-Fayemi’s support was foundational to Gbowee’s work in Liberia, eventually leading to her Nobel Prize. Gbowee talked about how Adeleye-Fayemi, as head of AWDF, had supported the women’s peace movement in Liberia in its infancy, saying: “We crave change, but wait for someone to come and save us. Most times, our reluctance to creating change and acting accordingly means that we don’t change the perception about us. But, Bisi, you have helped us to achieve change. You have used your position to sew dreams and show that change is possible and helped to set our minds to it. That I won the Nobel prize is because of people like you. That day, you didn’t see me. You saw a sister. Today we say, ‘Thank you’. You have helped to set our minds to it.”

Selected publications

2017- Loud Whispers 2013 -Speaking Above A Whisper 2013 – Speaking For Myself 2008 – Voice, Power and Soul (co-edited with Jessica Horn) Source Wikipedia Featured Image Source: The Eagle Online
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