The Voice and Choice Southern Africa Fund (VCSAF) and the Renewed Women’s Voice and Leadership Fund (WVL) – Multi-Year Core (MYC) are excited to host a joint Linking and Learning Summit from 5-6 March 2025. This summit brings together partners and grantees under the Renewed Women`s Voice and Leadership Fund (26) and Voice and Choice Southern Africa Fund (34). This two-day event will revolve around the theme “Linking and Learning.” Grantees will share insights, celebrate successes, and strengthen collective impact in advancing gender equality and social justice across the region. This summit is an opportunity to learn, connect, and inspire change. Adjudicators will listen to at least 60 presentations and review them. The best projects/programmes/Actions will receive awards.
The objectives of summit are to provide a unique platform for:
- VCSA grantees to showcase the impact they have achieved and their best practices.
- Recently on-boarded grantees in round two of WVL to share their planned actions.
- Partners to strengthen networks and partnerships, learning from each other as peers.
- Learn from peers on advocacy, movement building and networking.
Voice and Choice and Renewed Women’s Voice and Leadership grantees are invited to submit applications under the following categories:
- Stories of Change: Inspiring transformations led by individuals or communities
- Drivers of Change: Innovative strategies that have created real impact
- Organisational Growth: Milestones in Strengthening Internal Capacity
- Movement Building: Efforts that have mobilised collective action
- Communications and Reach: Creative approaches in amplifying voices and messages
The Learning and Sharing Summit event will foster discussions and reflections on the ongoing gender mainstreaming initiatives across Southern Africa, providing a comprehensive overview of the current landscape. The summit will also feature various awards recognising outstanding contributions in several areas. The Drivers of Change Award will honour individuals/organisations who have effectively championed the SADC Gender Protocol and its associated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the local, national or regional level with tangible results. The Organisational Growth Award will acknowledge grantees who demonstrate internal growth in their strategic positioning, governance, partnerships and target groups, programme of action and institutional effectiveness. The Movement Building Award will celebrate initiatives focused on collective action mobilised for advocacy. Finally, the Communications and Reach Award recognises the role media (Social or mainstream) plays in advocating for gender balance and neutrality across print, online, and broadcast platforms. Therefore, organisations that plan to make creative approaches to amplify their voices will be acknowledged.
GL will recognise outstanding contributions by awarding a winner and runner-up in each category. Participants may apply in multiple categories. The 2025 summit shall introduce over 60 new best practices, reflecting an increasing dedication to addressing gender disparities and fostering inclusive development. This growing body of work highlights the progress made and underscores the ongoing challenges that grantees must navigate in their pursuit of gender equality and community empowerment. We look forward to celebrating the incredible efforts of our partners in driving gender equality across the region.
Application Process
(Deadline: 21 February 2025) – Submit a presentation and a short video (max 2 minutes) showcasing your work.
Below is a high-level overview programme of the summit;
| Time | Wednesday 05 March | Thursday 06 March |
| AM | Plenary session | Plenary session |
| Presentations | Group work | |
| PM | Presentations | Group work & feedback |
| EVENING | Braai dinner & drumming by the boma | International Women’s day event and Awards and Gala dinner |
For more information regarding the summit contact Nomthandazo Mankazana-Mokoa ( Women’s Voice and Leadership Fund Manager) : Email: grants1@genderlinks.org.za
For Travel related queries contact Fikile Maviya ( Compliance Manager) : Email: grants.officer@genderlinks.org.za