Episode 21 Part 1: Legacy series with Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi

About the legacy series

The legacy series is a long form conversation with senior feminists. These conversations take place over three or four episodes tracing feminist journeys and lessons over time.

About the episode

In the first episode of our three-part Legacy Series with Pan-African feminist Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, we trace the early years of her journey from her birth in Liverpool in 1963 to formative experiences in both England and Nigeria. Bisi reflects on the activism and resistance that shaped her identity and her path into feminist work, grounded in the pursuit of justice and dignity. This episode charts her movement from academia and civil service to leadership with Akina Mama wa Afrika and the African Women’s Development Fund, laying the foundation for her transnational feminist legacy

Bio

Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi is a Feminist Activist, Gender and Development Practitioner, Policy Advocate, Leadership Coach, Philanthropist, Image Management Specialist, and Writer. She has a BA (1984) and MA (1988) in History from the University of Ife, Nigeria (now Obafemi Awolowo University). She also received an MA in Gender and Society (1992) from Middlesex University, UK.

Bisi served as the Director of Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA), an international development organisation for African women based in London, UK, with an Africa regional office in Kampala, Uganda, from 1991-2001. While she was the Director of AMwA, she established the African Women's Leadership Institute (AWLI), a training, capacity building and networking forum for young African women which has produced well over 10,000 women leaders across Africa. She co-founded the African Women's Development Fund, (AWDF) and served as the first CEO from 2001-2010. Bisi was one of the founders of the African Feminist Forum and was a member of the AFF Working Group from 2005-2016.

Bisi has served as Trustee, Comic Relief (UK) (1998-2001), Co-Chair, International Network of Women's Funds (PROSPERA) (2004-2006); 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, Global Fund for Women (2012-2016). She is also one of the founders of the African Grantmakers Network which is now African Philanthropy Network in 2009.

As First Lady of Ekiti State, Nigeria (2010-2014 and 2018-2022) she used her platform to influence legal and policy frameworks, for the promotion and protection of the rights of women and girls. She is currently a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Africa Leadership Center, King’s College, London, and serves on several boards such as the African Women’s Development Fund, St Ive’s Communications (owners of Women Radio), the Women’s Leadership Board at the Women and Public Policy Program, Harvard Kennedy School, and the Amandla Institute for Policy and Leadership Advancement.

Bisi 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’, with Jessica Horn (2008) a compilation of images and stories of African Feminists.

Credits

Interviewee: Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi

Interviewer: Awino Okech

Produced by: The Feminist Centre for Racial Justice

Sound design, editing, additional scripting, production: Ellan A. Lincoln-Hyde

Music: Broken by AudioWay, freesound.org; Hard Living by John Bartman, freemusicarchive.org