• African Initiatives is a social justice organisation. It works to increase local communities’ control over resources, rights and services to bring about increased representation, tenure and accountability.

• The development of Land Use Plans helps communities establish their right of use over land and resources, and to increase their responsibility towards them.

• Education about women’s rights in society helps women to achieve representation, right of land and property use, and improved status. Helping girls to attend school helps develop society as a whole.

• 200 people, including 50 men, have been trained on the law concerning women’s rights. Community members have been helped by better knowledge to resist early marriage, to hold local officials accountable, and to protect their birthrights.

• Around 150,000 people a year benefit from the practical results of increased knowledge of rights.

• This has affected eco-tourism revenues, women’s access to water and livestock ownership and therefore income, the building of schools and dispensaries, and the management of water resources to reduce livestock deaths during drought.

• One target community saw a reduction in female genital mutilation (FGM) from 90% to 15% over 4 years, and a reduction in birthing complications as a result.