FEMNET: The African Women’s Development and Communication Network
Memory Zonde-Kachambwa, Executive Director and Chair of SheDecides Guiding Group
Memory Zonde-Kachambwa, Executive Director of the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), is a prominent advocate for women’s rights with over 20 years of experience at national, regional, and global levels. As a pan-African intersectional feminist, Memory champions gender equality, social justice, and human rights. She holds an MPhil in Water Resources Management from the University of Western Cape and is pursuing a second Master’s in Peace, Human Rights, Gender, and Development.
Under her leadership, FEMNET has evolved into a pivotal pan-African feminist movement addressing climate justice, economic justice, and sexual reproductive rights. Memory has co-conceived initiatives like the Economic Justice and Rights Programme and the African Feminist Macro-Economic Academy. She is recognised globally, co-leading the Generation Equality Action Coalition on Economic Justice and Rights, and serving on several influential boards, including the SheDecides Guiding Group and the Feminist Foreign Policy Coordinating Group.
A sought-after keynote speaker and adviser, Memory is dedicated to dismantling patriarchy and neoliberal systems that oppress women. Her work in mobilising African feminists for COP processes and advocating for feminist policies has made her a beacon of hope for the advancement of women and girls worldwide.
What does being a SheDecides Champion mean to you?
It gives the space, solidarity, voice and power to push for SRHR and Justice and CSE. I am passionate about the domestication and implementation of the Maputo Protocol and other human rights instruments for SRHR and bodily autonomy. As a Champion I am able to be part of a global movement for calling for more resources for this important issue and get my message for action where it matters given that Champions include high level policymakers from Ministers to feminist movement shakers making the work of a Champion such an honourable endeavour to protect, influence and demand accountability on fundamental rights of women and girls in all their diversity, to a life of dignity through honouring their SRHR and giving them justice for their expression and bodily autonomy.
Why is bodily autonomy important to FEMNET?
Bodily autonomy is crucial because it ensures personal freedom and dignity, supports health and well-being, and promotes gender equality. It is a fundamental human right that helps prevent violence and abuse. Respecting bodily autonomy aligns with ethical principles and offers social and economic benefits by enabling individuals, especially women and marginalised groups, to participate fully in society and reach their full potential.
How are we working so SheDecides?
FEMNET’s goal is to ensure African women and girls fully enjoy their rights to bodily integrity by enhancing advocacy for sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR), focusing on safe abortion, child marriages, and female genital mutilation (FGM) in the continent. Additionally, we aim to strengthen the accountability of African States on SRHR commitments and raise awareness among key stakeholders and media, specifically addressing campaigns against abortion criminalisation, child marriages, and FGM on important convenings across Africa.
About FEMNET: The African Women's Development and Communication Network
The African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) is a pan-African, feminist, and membership-based network based in Nairobi with over 800 members across 49 African countries. FEMNET exists to facilitate and coordinate the sharing of experiences, ideas, information, and strategies for human rights promotion among African women’s organisations through networking, communication, capacity-building, and advocacy at the regional and international levels. Since inception in 1988, FEMNET has strategically positioned herself as a convenor, organiser, and facilitator on dialogues around critical issues including women’s involvement in governance and leadership, promoting women’s economic justice, advocating for women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights, ending gender-based violence and harmful practices (such as female genital mutilation and child marriage) and strengthening the women’s movement in Africa.
FEMNET continues to be intentional in influencing decisions made at national, regional, and global levels, constantly ensuring African women's voices are amplified and their needs, priorities, and aspirations are prioritised in key policy dialogues and outcomes that have direct and indirect impact on their lives. FEMNET has established her niche as a nucleus serving to mobilise African women and girls to lobby and advocate for the domestication and implementation of commitments made by African governments to the advancement of gender equality and realisation of women’s rights. Such commitments include the global and continental declarations on gender equality and women’s rights that African governments are signatories to such as the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women and Girls (CEDAW), Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA), ICPD Programme of Action, and the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development (SDGs) at the global level and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) at the regional level.
Read More