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Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi

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Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi
Born (1963-06-11) 11 June 1963 (age 60)
Liverpool, England
NationalityNigerian
Citizenship
Alma mater
Occupation(s)Feminist Activist, Gender Specialist, Policy Advocate, Social Change Philanthropy Practitioner, and Writer
Known forCo-founding the African Women's Development Fund[1][2]
Spouse
​
(m. 1989)​
Awards2018 Zik Leadership Prize for humanitarian Leadership by Public Policy Research and Analysis Centre (PPRAC).[3][4][5][6]

Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi (born 11 June 1963) is a Nigerian-British feminist activist, policy advocate, social change philanthropy practitioner, and writer.

She was first lady of Ekiti State, Nigeria, as wife of Ekiti State governor Kayode Fayemi from 2010 to 2014 and from 2018 to 2022.[7][8]

Bisi Adeye-Fayemi is the founder of Above Whispers Media Foundation, specializing in leadership development for women. She runs an online community called Abovewhispers.com where she writes a weekly column called Loud Whispers at the website Abovewhispers.com.[9][10][11] She set up a mentoring program called The Wrapper Network an online mentoring and support program for over 4,000 young women. She served as a UN Women Nigeria Senior advisor (2017–2018), and is currently a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Africa Leadership Center, King's College London.[12][13]

Education[edit]

She has a BA (1984) and MA (1988) in history from the University of Ife, now the Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria.[14] She received her MA in Gender and Society (1992) from Middlesex University, UK.

Career[edit]

She served as the Director of Akina Mama wa Afrika, an international development organisation for African women based in London, UK, with an Africa regional office in Kampala, Uganda, from 1991-2001. As Director of AMwA, she established the African Women's Leadership Institute, (AWLI), a training and networking forum for young African women which has produced well over 6,000 women leaders across Africa. Co-founded the African Women's Development Fund, the first Africa-wide grant-making foundation for women's organisations based in Ghana, and served as the first CEO from 2001 to 2010.[15][16] AWDF has supported thousands of women’s rights organisations in 42 African countries with millions of dollars in grants. AWDF has played a major role in the promotion and protection of women's rights in Africa through its support of grassroots initiatives, policy engagements, and movement building for social justice. It is now one of the foremost women’s funds in the world.

Adeleye-Fayemi has served as Trustee, Comic Relief (UK) (1998–2001), co-Chair, International Network of Women's Funds (2004–2006); Honorary President, Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) (2003–2005); board member, Women's Funding Network (2009–2012), board member and Programs Committee Chair, [Fund for Women] (2012–2016). She is also one of the founders of the African Grantmakers Network (now African Philanthropy Network) in 2009, one of the conveners of the African Feminist Forum which was launched in 2006 and was a member of the Regional Working Group (2006–2016) as well as the Nigeria National Working Group.

Bisi used her platform as First Lady ((2010-2014 and October 16th 2018 - October 16th 2022) to influence legal and policy frameworks and to mobilise resources from a wide range of stakeholders, for the promotion and protection of the rights of women and girls.[17]

As First Lady, she campaigned for the Gender Based Violence Prohibition Law (GBV Law November 2011, revised in October 2019) an Equal Opportunities Bill (November 2013) a HIV Anti-Stigma Bill (April 2014)[18][19], a Treatment, Care and Protection Bill for Sexually Abused Minors (June 2020), the Ekiti State Mental Health Law (October 2021) the Ekiti State Gender Composition Law (March 2022), and the Multiple Births Trust Fund (October 2022). She was Chair of the Ekiti State GBV Management Committee as well as Chair of the Ekiti State AIDS Control Agency. Adeleye-Fayemi was Chair, Nigerian Governors’ Wives Forum (2019–2022 and under her leadership, the NGWF became a visible and active platform for the protection of women and children. It was the NGWF that facilitated the State of Emergency against Gender Based Violence declared by the Nigeria Governors Forum during the COVID-19 pandemic in June 2020.

Awards and recognition[edit]

Adeleye-Fayemi has received numerous local and International awards,in April 2005, she received an award from the Sigrid Rausing Trust (UK) for outstanding leadership in promoting women’s rights. The prize money for the award went to AWDF (£100,000) and Bisi used this to launch a special HIV/AIDS Fund for African women. She leveraged this into millions of dollars which has supported hundreds of women-led HIV/AIDS initiatives across Africa.

A 2007 recipient of the 'Changing the Face of Philanthropy' award from the Women's Funding Network, USA. She is a Synergos Institute Senior Fellow, as well as the 2000/2001 holder of the Dame Nita Barrow Distinguished Visitorship at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto. In April 2009, Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi was named by New African Magazine as one of the 20 most influential African women on the continent. In March 2011, she was listed among the world’s leading 100 persons working for the interests of women and girls by Women Deliver.

Adeleye-Fayemi is also the recipient of the 2011 David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award, one of the most prestigious awards in the field of philanthropy, given by the Synergos Institute, New York. In December 2021, the National Network of NGOS in Nigeria, the umbrella body for CSOs in Nigeria, named her one of the 100 most influential leaders in civil society in Nigeria. In March 2022 she was declared Outstanding Woman Leader by the United Nations Development Program Nigeria, UN Women Nigeria, the European Union delegation to Nigeria, and the British High Commission. In November 2022, she was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the African Philanthropy Network, a regional platform for African philanthropic institutions.

In 2013, as part of her 50th birthday celebrations, Bisi asked her vast networks and contacts not to buy her expensive gifts or take out newspaper adverts, but to contribute towards the construction of a building to house the Center for Gender and Social Policy Studies which she donated to her Alma Mater, the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. The Center was launched on September 29th 2014. In November 2014, the Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED) in Ogun State, Nigeria, awarded Mrs Fayemi a PhD in Sociology (Honoris Causa).

Adeleye-Fayemi is currently a member of both the Regional and National Steering Committees of the African Women Leaders Network, a board member of the African Women’s Development Fund, Ghana, Board member of Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF) Nigeria, Board Member, St Ives Communications (owners of Women’s Radio, Nigeria), and she serves on the Governing Council of Elizade University, Nigeria. She is also a member of the Women’s Leadership Board at the Women and Public Policy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School.


Selected publications[edit]

Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi is the author of Speaking for Myself: Perspectives on Social, Political and Feminist Activism in Africa (2013), Speaking above a Whisper(2013) an autobiography, Loud Whispers (2017), Where is your Wrapper? (2020), Demand and Supply (2023), and A Tray of Locust Beans (2023). She also co-edited Voice, Power and Soul.[20]

  • 2008 Voice, Power and Soul (co-edited with Jessica Horn)[21]
  • 2013 Speaking Above A Whisper[22]
  • 2013 Speaking For Myself[23]
  • 2017 Loud Whispers[24]
  • 2020 Where Is Your Wrapper?[25]
  • 2023 Demand and Supply[26]
  • 2023 A Tray of Locust Beans

Personal life[edit]

She is married to Kayode Fayemi, who went on to become Governor of Ekiti State in 2010, and again in 2018; they met while they were students, and they have one son together, Folajimi Fayemi (born 1994).

References[edit]

  1. ^ History - The African Women's Development Fund (AWDF)
  2. ^ Olabisi Adeleye-Fayemi - Synergos
  3. ^ Erelu Fayemi, two governors, former Ghanaian President win Zik leadership prize - The Guardian
  4. ^ Erelu Fayemi, Otedola, Two Governors, Ex-Ghanaian President Win Zik LeadershipPrize
  5. ^ Erelu Fayemi, two govs, former Ghanaian President win Zik Leadership Prize
  6. ^ Mrs. Fayemi receives Zik Prize award - The Nation Online
  7. ^ "Office of the First Lady – Ekiti State Website". Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  8. ^ "Bisi Adeleye - Fayemi". www.amazon.com. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  9. ^ "Above Whispers - About". AboveWhispers. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  10. ^ "The pulse of girl child in 'Loud Whispers'". The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News. 24 December 2017. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  11. ^ "H.E. Olabisi Adeleye-Fayemi. Government of Ekiti, Nigeria – Casa Foundation". casafoundation.ca. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  12. ^ "King's College London - Ms. Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi". www.kcl.ac.uk. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  13. ^ "Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi Bisi... - Nigeria Hall of Fame Records". Facebook. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  14. ^ "Bisi Fayemi (First Lady of Ekiti State, Nigeria)". Tribune Online. 15 June 2022. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  15. ^ "African Women's Development Fund (AWDF)". Newfield Foundation. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
  16. ^ "About AWDF 10 Years of Leadership and Empowerment for African Women". www.awdf.org. Archived from the original on 2 July 2014. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
  17. ^ "Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi: Women's rights activist and community mobiliser, By Toyin Falola". 9 June 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  18. ^ "Bisi Fayemi: Our focus on Covid-19". The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News. 4 April 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  19. ^ "Erelu Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi: A quintessential amazon per excellence". Vanguard News. 19 April 2022. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  20. ^ "Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi". www.kcl.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  21. ^ Adeleye-Fayemi, Bisi; Horn, Jessica; Wilson, Shamillah; Mukasa, Sarah; Quarmyne, Nyani; African Women Development Fund; African Feminist Forum (2009). Voice, power and soul: portraits of African feminists. African Women's Development Fund. ISBN 978-9988-1-2512-7. OCLC 946579055.
  22. ^ Jimoh, Michael (27 October 2013). "First Lady with a Difference". This Day. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
  23. ^ Ajibade, Kunle (21 October 2013). "Championing the Cause of African Women". City Voice. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
  24. ^ "For Adeleye-Fayemi, time for Loud Whispers". Punch Newspapers. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  25. ^ Adeleye-Fayemi, Bisi (2020). Where Is Your Wrapper?. Kachifo Limited. ISBN 978-978-57067-9-6. OCLC 1249565868.
  26. ^ "Demand and Supply". 20 April 2024.

External links[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi.
  • [3] Fayemi's wife wins Zik leadership award
  • [4] Erelu Fayemi, two governors, former Ghanaian President win Zik leadership prize
  • [5] Mrs. Fayemi receives Zik Prize award
  • [6] In new books, aye demands opportunities, policies for women
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