XOESE [hᴐèsé] or [hᴐԑse] is a word meaning “Believe it” or “Believe in” in Mina and Ewe – two African language spoken in Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, and Benin.
The idea of creating a funding and support mechanism for organizations promoting women’s rights was born in 2005 in Bangkok, Thailand, during the donors’ meeting on October 28th and the presentation of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) action research report on “Where is the Money for Women’s Rights?” organized during its 10th Forum on the theme “How Does Change Happen?”
The first part of the idea materialized in 2006 with the creation of ROFAF (Network of Francophone Africa Women’s Organizations) thanks to a Seed Grant from AWID, awarded as part of their funding for innovative ideas born at the Forum. But, the second part, relating to the creation of a fund for Francophone women, was incubated at ROFAF in the form of a grant program. However, this program demonstrated many limitations related to its ability to mobilize significant resources for reallocation, ROFAF’s capacity to well coordinate the entire grant-making process, and monitor funded projects.
As a result, in 2015, the initiator, Maasan d’ALMEIDA, decided to retrieve her original idea and create an independent fund for Francophone women to address the funding challenges faced by this linguistic group of activists and their organizations. Thus, was born, “XOESE Fund for Francophone Women” (Fonds XOESE pour les Femmes Francophones).XOESE is a feminist foundation of public utility founded on September 1, 2015, and based in Lomé, Togo, West Africa.
The vision of “XOESE Fund for Francophone Women” is a world where women and girls fully enjoy all their fundamental human rights in a safe and sustainable economic and social environment and have equal opportunities to access resources and decision-making
positions as men and boys.
XOESE’s goal is to :
- financially and technically support the implementation of women’s and young women’s organizations’ initiatives in French-speaking countries.
- Provide financial support for the implementation of initiatives promoting the rights of women, young women and girls;
- Strengthen the institutional capacity of women’s and young women’s organizations;
- Encourage and support innovative initiatives aiming the empowerment of women’s and young women’s organizations.
XOESE’s mission is to mobilize financial, material and human resources and reinvest them to support the implementation of women’s and young women’s activists’ and organizations’ initiatives promoting women’s, young women’s and girls’ rights, their economic
empowerment and gender equality in French-speaking countries.
XOESE works in the following six priority areas:
- Francophone women’s and young women’s rights Movement building
- Women’s and young women’s Political and public participation
- Women’s and young women’s Economic empowerment and professional leadership
- Gender, Peace and Security
- Women’s and young women’s Human Rights Defenders (WHRD) welfare, security and efficiency
- Gender, Environment and Climate Change
Our ambition is to work in all French-speaking countries and we strive to do so whenever possible. To date, most of our beneficiaries are based in Benin, Burkina-Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Haiti, New Caledonia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal and Togo. Our main objective is to reach all French-speaking countries so that none is left behind.
XOESE Fund aims to encourage lasting positive change in gender relations by promoting the full and active participation of women and young women at all levels in development processes. Our theory of change describes the logical path by which we intend to achieve this.
XOESE’s theory of change is based on the fundamental principle of feminist thinking that no society can be free, democratic, and flourishing if it does not treat all its citizens treats all its citizens equally regardless of gender. At XOESE,
- We believe that the sexual division of labor in society is more the result of economic, social, ideological and cultural factors.
- We question all the values associated with the patriarchal organization of society.
- We maintain that women, young women and girls must be treated equally with men, young men and boys and have the same rights in all areas of life and all spheres of society.
- We will work to raise the awareness of women, young women and girls about their rights in order to make them think critically about the role they are assigned within their family, community and society in general, and to denounce all forms of discrimination and oppression.
- We will aim through all our actions to bring about a lasting positive change in gender relations by promoting the full and active participation of women and young women at all levels in development processes.
- We will work to strengthen francophone women’s and young women’s leaders and organizations to be effective advocates for gender equality and the rights of women, young women and girls, and tireless agents of social change; committed advocates who wage a relentless struggle against all laws and practices that discriminate against women, young women and girls, including those belonging to minorities, indigenous peoples, refugees, internally displaced persons, migrants, those living in rural or remote communities, in areas of armed conflict or political instability, destitute women, young women and girls, interned women, detainees, women with disabilities and elderly women.
Massan d’ALMEIDA
Founding President and Executive Director
