15 Jan. 2014 Benin
The country director of HFW Benin is taking an active part as a president of an NGO network.
Fatoumatou at a WANEP meeting in Accra, the capital city of Ghana, building relationships with domestic and foreign experts as a face of NGOs in Benin
Participation in an NGO network
“Advocacy” is one of the strategic pillars of HFW’s activities. It is activities that galvanise public opinions and makes recommendations to national governments and international organizations so that necessary policies are implemented in order to end global hunger. It includes building partnership with international organizations, governments, administrative organs as well as various networks to make policy recommendation more effective. Although HFW Benin branch hasn’t begun actual advocacy activities yet, but networking that serves as such activities are extending remarkably.
In September 2011, Fatoumatou, Country Director of HFW Benin was inaugurated as the President of West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) Benin. WANEP is a large network that has more than 500 member organizations in more than 15 countries in West Africa. As disputes and political turmoil in Africa have become a major cause of hunger, the contribution to peace-building is an important role of HFW. In addition, extended networks and connection with other organizations will be useful for upcoming HFW’s own advocacy for solutions of food issues.
In one instance, a mother experienced severe bleedings during delivery, but the midwives promptly made the decision to send the mother to a well-equipped hospital about seven kilometres away from the village. The mother and baby were safe.
At the end of FY2011, as the president of WANEP, Fatoumatou met the President of Benin. This meeting happened because the President requested WANEP to make a proposal for the revision of implementation structure of their election. Upon the request, Fatoumatou put together a written proposal with experts from neighbouring countries and in June 2012, she gave the proposal to the President as well as relevant organizations and bodies in Benin. As confusion has occurred in every election in Benin, the new system could become a keystone for peace-building.
Through WANEP, HFW is going to positively work advocacy for peace-building and will be starting our own advocacy for food issues in the future.
