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About Hope for Rural Women Assembly
Our History
Hope for Rural Women Assembly (HRWA) is a self-organised movement or a network of local rural women and girls assemblies, associations, nutrition clubs and individuals who are subscribing to the vision and mission of HRWA. HRWA is not an NGO network, rather describes itself as a membership-based women’s movement with local structures that reach in the rural villages across the country. The membership consists largely with the small scale producers and farmers. HRWA was established in 2014 at Mafeteng district, but legally registered with law office in 2019.
Since Inception...
– HRWA was able to consolidate itself and increase its visibility as of now HRWA is recognised by the government and have membership country wide.
– HRWA has acted in an innovative manner, we have experimented with different ways of working and organising ourselves. Each member is expected to bring a new member every month, using different approaches including; public gatherings, house to house visits and recruiting family members.
– This has included some thinking about what it mean for a grassroots, popular rural movement that is feminist while at the same places women’s needs, women’s rights and rural women’s demands for land, food sovereignty and climate justice at the centre of our work. And how do we act differently from the male-dominated movements and formations.
Our Mission and Vision
To advocate for improved access to social and economic rights and build capacity of members to claim those rights and promote food security, nutrition and food sovereignty among rural women.
What specific goals or objectives is your organisation striving to achieve?
- Promote gender equality and empowerment of women through elimination of discriminatory laws.
- Improve access to resources of livelihoods for rural women and girls by creating employment opportunities through enterprise development.
- Reduce hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition through viable, sustainable agriculture.
- Strengthen institutional and advocacy capacity of HRWA through enhanced organisational development, strategic programming and robust resource mobilisation.
Our Vision is gender equality and equity in Lesotho where;
- Women and girls are economically empowered with access to markets and resources.
- Women and girls are safe and have access to services.
- Women and girls are food secure and living in a healthy natural environment.
- HRWA is a sustainable and a capacitated movement.
Our Partners
- Local groups and their leaderships
- Districts Leadership
- National Leadership through Executive Committee
- National Secretariat which is led by the Secretary General
- Annual General Meeting for reporting and approval of annual plans
- Tri-annual General Summit for election of new office bearers and amendment of the constitution.
- HRWA is an affiliate of Rural Women Assembly Southern Africa. They partnered in the implementing programmes like education on gender-based violence, land policies in Southern Africa, Seed policies and agriculture policies.
- HRWA is a member of Africa-Wide Climate Justice Movement: The partnership is on claiming climate justice in Africa through different activities such as advocacy, movement building, and capacity strengthening of members, wellness, safety and security.
What We Do
- HRWA builds the voice and visibility of marginalised rural women and girls through struggles in the rural areas to mobilise and advocate for alternatives that support sustainable food sovereignty, climate justice and rural livelihoods.
- Builds linkages and strengthen the self-organisation of rural women and girls involved in the defence of the commons.(land, seed, water, life, love and our ecosystems).
- Mobilise rural women and girls small scale farmers to critically engage their government as well as regional and global governance in food, agriculture, climate and land policy frameworks.
- Unlock local processes of self-organisation and learning to critique the proposals that are particularly aimed at the commodification of nature and the privatisation of our common goods.
- Develop and share concrete alternatives to dominant agricultural and extractivist models.
- Network or collaborate with any organisation in Lesotho or anywhere else with a view to exchange ideas and generally acquiring information that could be of benefit to Hope for Rural Women Assembly.
- Do any other thing that may be incidental or conducive to the attainment of its objectives.
- A bit vocal on gender-based violence advocacy and lobby.
- First women organisation to participate in the local/traditional seed audit in the country and regionally.
- Advocating for Climate justice and inclusion of Agroecology in the government policies and plans.
- Implementation of United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants.