Pan-African feminists for a debt-free and just care economy 

African Women’s Development & Communication Network

This project seeks to accelerate the care economy agenda in three heavily debt-burdened African countries (Cameroon, Ghana and Zambia) by encouraging their governments to adopt, fund and implement measures to reduce and redistribute unpaid care and domestic work. These measures are a necessary response to the twin Covid and debt crises that have exacerbated the caregiving burden on women and girls. The project is based on and builds off the work of an extensive network of feminist organizations in Africa.  

Why it matters

The African debt crisis was accelerated with the onset of the COVID-19 global health pandemic. Since the pandemic broke, more than two-thirds of African countries have experienced some level of debt distress. Africa's efforts to consolidate domestic resource mobilization are severely undermined by the growing debt burden. African economies continue to rely heavily on unpaid care work. Although care work is critical to social and economic well-being, it has been largely ignored by policy makers. Underlying gender discrimination means that care work is consistently undervalued or is provided as an unpaid service, contributing to occupational segregation. With this project, FEMNET and its partners will advance strategies to address this challenge.