Pictured: Recipients of The Dympna Meaney Women’s Leadership Development Fund – Aweco Mary Frances (2020); Akurut Francis & Adongo Jane Francis (2022) & Liezelle Kumalo (2023)

Support The Dympna Meaney Women’s Leadership Development Fund Now

The Dympna Meaney Women’s Leadership Development Fund was set up to connect women leaders from the Global South with skills-building opportunities to strengthen their contribution to global human rights. Please donate to support more women leaders.

DONATE NOW

The Dympna Meaney Women’s Leadership Development Fund (DMF) has had a rewarding partnership with Self Help Africa in Uganda since 2020, supporting local grassroots activists to undertake counselling training that enhances their skills and capacities to work with women living with HIV/AIDS. The DMF sees the social exclusion arising from the experience of HIV/AIDS as a key vulnerability in gender-based violence.

2020 Fund Recipients

In 2020, Mary Frances Aweco received a bursary of €737.00 to attend the three-week training course for counsellors in Kampala, to enhance her work in Northern Uganda with survivors of gender-based violence.

2022 Fund Recipients

In 2022, four women from Uganda attended the training course for counsellors in Kampala, following the interruption of the course in 2021 due to Covid.  They are:

  • Icumar Esther Sarah of the Asianut Youth Farmers Group received €706.00 to attend the course;
  • Akemo Margret of the Olilim Hygiene and Development Group received a similar €706.00 in support of the course attendance;
  • Adongo Francis of Aminanaros Women Farmers Group of Amusia Sub Country also received €706.00 to attend the course;
  • Akurut Francis of Angodingod Integrated Farmers Group also received €706.00 to attend the course.

2023 Fund Recipients

In 2023, the following women were supported:

  • Abrio Rose of Moruakuei Village, Amuria District in Uganda, received €677.00 to attend the three-week training course on HIV/AIDS counselling in Kampala;
  • Aola Stella of Kapelebyong District received €677.00 to attend the same three-week training course on HIV/AIDS counselling.

Both Rose and Stella are working closely with the Village Health Team in providing support to women living with HIV/AIDS.

In 2023, support was also provided to The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) in Johannesburg, South Africa. It received a grant of €3000 for a Gender Training Programme for its staff. The aim is to build organisational capacity to embrace and practice gender equality and strengthen engagement with stakeholders and beneficiaries.

The Changing & Challenging Global Context

The DMF Steering Committee recently reflected on the changed global context following Covid, the climate crisis, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Hamas-Israeli war as well as the ongoing conflicts in many parts of the world. We believe it is timely that we broaden our reach into other jurisdictions in light of the increased social exclusion that women are facing in this turbulent time. Thus, we are now reaching out to friends and contacts in Asia and Latin America to invite once again applications for training or other initiatives for up to €3000 each from women’s human rights activists from these regions for additional allocations in 2024.

In light of this new global context, the Committee is also looking into supporting immigrant/refugee/displaced women from the Global South, now located in Ireland, who are working in line with our mission to combat gender-based violence.

How You Can Support Women Leaders

Our ability to extend into this area is made possible by our donors’ ongoing support and generosity. We thank you again for supporting us and the women profiled above. We have also been boosted by a great fundraising initiative led by Rita McNulty, Mary Manning and Patricia Hallahan, who held a Winter Solstice Circle of Trust gathering in December 2022. This initiative raised €2,785 for the Fund.  We are most grateful to all who donated as part of this event and look forward to , to mark Human Rights Day and to remember our friend Dympna, the anniversary of whose death occurs around this time.

While the pandemic impacted our allocations for a few years, we are well and truly back to work supporting women who are deeply connected to the vision and purpose of the Dympna Meaney Fund. Recently, we felt compelled by Dympna’s memory to extend the bursary to recipients in Ireland. We believe, that if she was still with us, Dympna would be at the frontline of efforts to support immigrant, migrant and refugee women here in Ireland. We hope you agree.

Thank you to all our donors, to Comhlámh for providing the foundation for our Fund, and the ongoing support services to ensure our every euro goes further. Also, thanks to Self Help Africa, and to Eithne McNulty in particular, for administering the Fund to our activist friends on the frontline in Uganda.

Steering Committee Members: Mary Van Lieshout Chairperson, Jane Farren, Rita McNulty, Ann Fitzpatrick, Nata Duvurry, Claire O’Neill and Kate O’Donnell.

“We share the sky, all of us, the whole world:

Together, we are a tribe of eyes, that look upward,

Even as we stand on uncertain ground.”    

–  Alberto Rios