The AIR Interview: Dr. Taiwo Afuape

GENERATE & BUILD, RECONCEPTUALIZING TRAUMASLF Communications

In the AIR Interview we speak with African practitioners that are breaking ground and offering fresh insights and perspectives on violence against women and girls, HIV/AIDS and emotional well-being/mental health. In our first edition we sat down with Dr. Taiwo Afuape is a Nigerian British-born clinical psychologist and systemic therapist currently based in London, United Kingdom to discuss her training, politics and approach to psychology and clinical practice. AIR: What compelled you to Read more [...]

Building Organisations with Souls: A new guide

DEFENDING FRONTLINERS, GENERATE & BUILDSLF Communications

Today across the world, many activists are asking: ‘How can we create organisations with souls, where impassioned people go to work every day, inspired by working in an environment that increases both their well-being and productivity?’ Clearly activists are still hungry for knowledge and interested in learning from unconventional methods and organisational cultures that forge working in soulful organisations. If you are one of these people, we think you will love this guide. - Hope Read more [...]

Visualising care: The Hope Factory

GENERATE & BUILDSLF Communications

At AIR we value the cross-pollination of African ideas and technical brilliance! In a conversation, clinical psychologist and AIR Steering Commitee member Johanna Kistner described the work of providing transformative care as being like a 'hope factory'- generating will to carry on living in the midst of landscapes of suffering and distress. The image was a compelling one, and AIR commissioned South African graphic designer/illustrator Thandiwe Tshabalala to translate the idea into a visual. Check Read more [...]

(Re)conceptualizing Trauma convening report is out!

GENERATE & BUILD, NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS, RECONCEPTUALIZING TRAUMASLF Communications

The report from AIR's first convening on (Re)conceptualizing Trauma is now available! It offers an insight into the deep questions and creative ideas emerging from African practitioners working to confront the emotional distress caused by violation, marginalisation, conflict and ill-health - and to build feminist approaches. Download the report from the AIR Resource Library by clicking here. Read more [...]

(Re)conceptualizing Trauma :: A quietly historic gathering in Kigali

GENERATE & BUILD, NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS, RECONCEPTUALIZING TRAUMAHIV/AIDS, Reconceptualising trauma, VAWGSLF Communications

In our work on HIV/AIDS, on violence and violation, legal justice and physical and mental health, the ‘doing’ takes precedence- be it in the form of life saving services, advocacy to challenge and change society, or training to build new skills and organisations. However all action is guided by concepts- theories of change, principles that frame our choices, and critiques that inspire new practice. Allowing space and time to engage the thinking behind our work as practitioner-activists is therefore Read more [...]

SASA! : Programming innovations in preventing VAW and HIV/AIDS

GENERATE & BUILDAIR, HIV/AIDS, preventing violence, Raising Voices, SASA!, Violence against womenSLF Communications

Although historically much of our attention has been focused on responding to violence against women and girls, there is now growing momentum to design interventions aimed at primary prevention- preventing VAWG before it happens. Kampala-based organisation Raising Voices- an AIR Steering Committee member- is among the leaders in this field. Raising Voices continues to develop cutting-edge prevention programming while also contributing to research and analysis around how to build effective prevention Read more [...]

In the AIR Toolbox: The Polyclinic of Hope and integrated responses to women and girls survivors of the Rwandan genocide

GENERATE & BUILD, NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS, RECONCEPTUALIZING TRAUMASLF Communications

What does it take to respond to violence against women and girls in armed conflict in a holistic way that acknowledges women’s own agency to heal, and assures that rights to health, justice and are met? The Rwanda Women’s Network an AIR Steering Committee member, documents their experiences of responding to the Rwandan genocide of 1994 and the establishment of the groundbreaking Polyclinic of Hope. In A Journey of Recovery: The Experience of the Polyclinic of Hope Women, the Rwanda Women's Read more [...]

In the AIR Toolbox: Isis-WICCE’s Model of Empowerment

GENERATE & BUILD, NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS, TRANSFORMATIVE LIVELIHOODSSLF Communications

As the world’s attention increasingly focuses on the impacts of armed conflict on African women and girls, we consider what we can learn from organizations in the field. Isis-WICCE, a Kampala-based international organization and AIR Steering Committee member, has been in the midst of this work for over two decades. In Isis-WICCE’s model of empowerment, the organisation tells its own story of its pioneering model for holistic intervention that keeps the women and girls most affected at the heart Read more [...]

Building cultures of documentation: A pilot initiative

GENERATE & BUILDSLF Communications

Working on the frontlines of violence against women and girls, HIV/AIDS and mental/emotional health requires a sharp mind, quick feet, and an openness to finding creative ways to respond even when resources are constrained. Activists and service providers hold a tremendous amount of practical knowledge and technical expertise on how best to intervene to both prevent and respond to these interrelated issues in ways that are adapted to the social, economic and infrastructural realities where they Read more [...]