Founded in 2010, Wezesha, Swahili for ‘empower or enable,’ is an African Diaspora led development organisation. Wezesha's work is focused on the empowerment of African women, youth, and children who are affected by conflict, violence, and poverty. Working with local partners and stakeholders, Wezesha seeks to raise awareness and end sexual and gender-based violence and poverty. Since its establishment, Wezesha has chosen to pilot work in two countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya. Wezesha Kenya and Wezesha Congo are two separate registered entities with their own legal and governance structures in their respective countries. A lot has been achieved by the organisation in the last 10 years. Advancing further through the implementation of this strategy, Wezesha will extend its work into two other countries: Nigeria and South Africa. Previous work has been delivered through making links and providing technical support with partners in these countries.
Wezesha operates from its strategic vision with actions based on empowerment, solidarity, and capacity building models. Through a sustainable development approach, the organisation works to support the economic independence of African women. Wezesha does so by helping them to invest in small businesses and income generating activities, providing them with the necessary training, assisting in accessing medical and legal information, economic resources, and support in the development of skills-based programmes. Women are interested doing agriculture mainly through horticultural business. In Kenya, for example, Wezesha women living in slum settlement (Majengo) have bought land in a rural setting where they are farming for agriculture products.
Since the slum is overpopulated, the ultimate goal is for the women to overcome the cyclical generational poverty trap by relocating to rural areas where they have bought land. However, they face many challenges, including environmental and health challenges posed by Nairobi river which is often a discharge for industrial and domestic waste.
In 2011, the adventure started with the mobilisation of women in Kenya and was soon followed in 2013 by women in The Democratic Republic of Congo. Wezesha then expanded significantly in these two piloting countries. In Kinshasa, the organisation consists of over a thousand committed members. They own land purchased with financial support from the African Diaspora in Ireland, and the plan is to build a Multipurpose Center for Women’s Advancement. Likewise, the Kenyan group became a consolidated group from the initial different autonomous sections. They are registered as a community-based organisation and have more than 800 members. They have demonstrated strong ability in the management of small income generating activities supported financially by the diaspora. Since 2016, the two co-founders of Wezesha have been striving for its implementation and expansion, with organisations and groups of women in South Africa and Goma, Eastern DR Congo. Discussions have also been held with organisations supporting women in Nigeria, specifically in Edo State. These groups have showed great interest in joining the organisation. It is envisaged that during the cycle period of this strategic plan, all these groups from the Nigeria, Goma, and South Africa will become full members of Wezesha. Wezesha’s work is focuses on three main areas: sexual and gender-based violence, alleviation of poverty, and migration and development. Since these three issues are# the most important challenges faced by African women, Wezesha identifies them as key areas of intervention in its strategic approach which calls for an increase in awareness, working with grassroot women at the community level, and supporting the organisation's effectiveness and efficiency.