AFRICA4HER ART PROJECT

AFRICA4HER is an initiative created by the Young African Leaders Initiative network to spur awareness and positive action around women’s issues. It involves actions taken towards empowering women and girls such as helping to increase a woman’s access to equal opportunities in the workplace, a girl’s access to equal opportunities in the classroom, and steps you take to eliminate the scourge of gender-based violence in the community, country, and continent.

The focus is on empowering women and girls because a gap exists between the opportunities and resources available to men and boys and those available to women and girls. The commitment to invest in women and girls in Africa, is not only to help achieve gender equality, but also to promote economic growth, good governance, and future innovation. Women and girls are often the foundation of a community, and it is essential that they are empowered for that nation to grow.

According to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), 1 in 3 girls around the world will experience gender-based violence in their lifetimes, 1 in 5 girls in the developing world who enroll in primary school never finish, and 1 in 7 girls in the developing world are forced into marriage before their 15th birthdays. This shows that necessary action is needed to ensure that women and girls are educated, informed and inspired to help them develop their skills.

Investing in women and girls means taking actions — big and small — to change society’s attitudes and behaviors toward women and girls. It also entails creating a world where women and girls enjoy the same human rights and have access to the same opportunities as men and boys.

TenderArts is committed to investing in women and girls by creating platforms where they can express themselves through arts. The goal is to act and, through these actions, bring about a more prosperous and secure world for everyone.

MISSION

The Tender Arts Africa4Her project aims to empower young women and girls through arts. It also aims to provide a community event where girls and young women have access to mentoring via artistic engagement with professionals in the field. Via several workshops, these women would be able to enjoy one-on-one discussions with workshop facilitators, and learn to undertake projects which include painting, drawing, recycling, mixed-media, installation arts, printmaking, spoken word poetry and writing.

OBJECTIVES:

• To create a platform and opportunities where girls and women would be empowered through creative engagements of the arts
• To promote equality and opportunity for girls and young women.
• To create a platform and forum where girls and women would be celebrated for their creative prowess.
• To provide an inspiring and educational environment for girls and young women.

TARGET PARTICIPANTS

Africa4Her is an event that targets girls and young women between the ages of 12 and 25. The event will attract youth from around Lagos state, including young artists, youth not pursuing university education, girls at rehabilitation homes and girls in private and government schools wishing to learn more about the arts.

The project expects to attract 100 female participants. This number excludes representatives from partner organizations, representatives of TenderArts organization, workshop facilitators, media and the general public that would be present at exhibitions.

Over the course of the three months, it is reasonable to estimate that as many as 1,000 people may attend Tender Arts Nigeria Africa4Her project in some capacity.

Here are the highlighted target participants:

Secondary school students:

This group will consist of girls from private and public schools and they will spend most of their time learning at the workshop which would take place on Saturdays only. This is to enable them attend school during the week thereby making out time for the Empowerment through Arts Weekend Workshops.  

Youth in rehabilitation homes:

This group will also spend most of their time learning at the workshop which would take place on Saturdays . Those living with disabilities such as Down Syndrome and Sickle Cell anemia would also be considered.

Youth in Tertiary institutions:

This group who are already into the art will have the privilege of working alongside the aforementioned groups, learning through collaboration while the facilitators supervise their works.

Mentors/Workshop Facilitators:

These participants will be involved in all areas of the project and would be accessible to the girls and young women throughout the event.

WORKSHOP DATES #Africa4Her:

April-May,2016

CONFERENCE/SEMINAR FIELD TRIP#Africa4Her

June-July, 2016

ART EXHIBITION #Africa4Her

August, 2016