Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi is a Nigerian activist, writer and fundraiser in feminist and human rights movements.
Education
Adeleye-Fayemi received her Bachelors (Bachelor) and Masters (Master of Arts) in History from the University of Ife, now the Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. She also holds a Masters in Gender Studies from the University of Middlesex, United Kingdom. According to Adeleye-Fayemi, she became interested in women"s contributions to socio-economic development in south-western Nigeria while doing her Masters in History. This prompted her to continue on to a Masters in Gender and Society at Middlesex.
Career
She became the First Lady of Ekiti State in western Nigeria in 2011. In 2001, Adeleye-Fayemi with Hilda M Tardia and Joana Foster, founded the African Women"s Development Fund (AWDF), the first Africa-wide grantmaking organisation supporting the women"s movement in Africa. She was appointed its first Executive Director.
Between 1991 and 2001, Adeleye-Fayemi was Director of Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA), an international development organisation for African women, based in the United Kingdom and with offices in Uganda and Nigeria.
During her time at AMwA, she set up the African Women"s Leadership Institute (AWLI) which has helped train over 3,000 women leaders in Africa. Adeleye-Fayemi has been associated with a number of international women"s rights and philanthropy organisations, including as Company-Chair of the International Network of Women"s Funds, President of the Association for Women"s Rights in Development (AWID), and Chair of the International Women"s Health Coalition (IWHC).
She has also been on the Board of Trustees for Comic Relief (United Kingdom). Titled Leading the Change: The Journey of an African Woman, the lecture detailed how Adeleye-Fayemi"s support was foundational to Gbowee"s work in Liberia, eventually leading to her Nobel Prize.
Gbowee talked about how Adeleye-Fayemi, as head of AWDF, had supported the women"s peace movement in Liberia in its infancy, saying: “We crave change, but wait for someone to come and save us.
Most times, our reluctance to creating change and acting accordingly means that we don’t change perception about us. You have used your position to sew dreams and show that change is possible and helped to set our minds to lieutenant That day, you didn’t see medical
You saw a sister.
Today we say, ‘Thank you. You have helped to set our minds to lieutenant”.