International Projects

The African and Canadian Women's Human Rights Project (ACWHRP)

The African and Canadian Women's Human Rights Project (ACWHRP) is an innovative initiative designed to advance women's equality through strategic research and activities. The ACWHRP is a collaborative partnership of African women’s human rights NGO’s and academics from Ghana, Kenya and Malawi working with Canadian human rights experts. It is an innovative applied research and education initiative designed to support strategic equality activities that will result in meaningful reform, and address some of the most appalling human rights abuses in the world today. Of particular concern is the feminization of HIV/AIDS resulting from women’s legal inequality.

The ACWHRP offers law students, academics, and human rights advocates from across Canada and Africa the valuable opportunity to contribute to the development of international human rights law in an innovative and practical way. The project’s main goal is to advance the human rights of African women and girls. A corollary goal of the project is to infuse the Canadian equality initiative with new, creative thinking through collaboration with African colleagues. This infusion of fresh thinking will be especially useful with respect to issues such as Aboriginal women’s property rights on reserves, the reconciliation of women’s rights and religious rights, and the feminization of HIV/AIDS amongst Aboriginal women.

For further details or more information, please contact Fiona Sampson, Human Rights Director, at fsampson@cla-ace.ca.

CLA-ACE and the ACWHRP are working in conjunction with the following partners:

The Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) - Kenya
FIDA is a non-profit organization that aims to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women in Kenya. FIDA-Kenya was established in 1985 and has 360 registered members (all lawyers and law students). FIDA-Kenya has a long history of monitoring and documenting human rights abuses, and developing reports on the status of women’s (in)equality.

Women and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA) - Malawi
WLSA is a non-profit organization whose main objective is to improve the legal status of women in Malawi. WLSA was established in 1988 and has offices in seven countries in southern Africa, including Malawi. WLSA-Malawi has a long history of researching and networking with respect to gender based human rights violations. Women's property rights are the priority focus for WLSA Malawi.

For a detailed outline of the projects WLSA-Malawi is engaged in, click here. To read about WLSA-Malawi National Coordinator Seodi White, click here.

Women Integrated Development Organization - Ghana
WIDO is an independent non-profit, local non-governmental organization located in the rural Upper West Region of Ghana. WIDO was founded in 2004 to address the prevailing social and economic inequalities experienced by women in the rural Upper West Region of Ghana, with a focus on livelihood, health and education. WIDO is a capacity building organisation, and seeks to integrate field work with advocacy on women's rights issues and livelihood security. WIDO’s objective is to promote the realization of the human rights of women and children.

Past Projects

CLA-ACE Interns & friends in Kosovo

Kosovo Law Center