WoMin is increasingly focusing on debt and reparations as part of our mission to expose the hidden costs of extractivism and hold corporations accountable. A key milestone in this effort was the creation of an ecofeminist impact assessment framework in 2019, piloted with the Khelcom women fishers in Bargny, Senegal, and officially launched later that year.
In response to the devastating cyclones that hit Madagascar and parts of Southern Africa in 2018 and 2019, WoMin strengthened our commitment to addressing the climate crisis. This led to our increased involvement in the Africa Climate Justice Convergence and a growing focus on climate debt.
Since 2020, WoMin has worked closely with the Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt (CADTM), which has a strong presence in West, Central, and North Africa. Together, we have co-authored analyses, lobbied the African Union, campaigned against the African Development Bank (AfDB), and organised civil society events at the 2023 World Bank Group meeting in Marrakech. Their collaboration aims to connect the various forms of debt owed to Africa.
Ecofeminist Cost Analysis
Building on the 2019 ecofeminist impact assessment, WoMin began developing a cost analysis framework in 2022. This led to the pilot of an ecofeminist participatory cost analysis exercise in Bomboré, Burkina Faso, in September 2022, and in Toliara, Madagascar, in January 2023. This effort spans several WoMin programs, including Women Building Power (WBP) and the AfDB campaign, providing crucial data to support campaigns and legal actions for reparations.
AfDB Reparations Campaign
The African Development Bank (AfDB), Africa’s largest development finance institution, claims to promote the economic and social development of African countries. However, its funding of harmful extractive and infrastructure projects has perpetuated a neocolonial, profit-driven development model that benefits the global North and parts of the emerging South at the expense of African communities.
Women and their communities are increasingly speaking out against the injustices they face due to AfDB-funded “development” projects. These projects often lead to forced displacement, loss of farmland, and inadequate compensation. In collaboration with CADTM Afrique and the Centre du Commerce International pour le Développement (CECIDE), WoMin is supporting the formation of a Pan African movement for reparations, led by the women most affected by these injustices.
