Rural Women's Assembly

The Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA) is a self-organised network/alliance of national rural women’s movements, assemblies, grassroots organisations and chapters of mixed peasant unions, federations and movements across ten countries in the SADC region. Since 2009, we have gathered together poor, rural women into regional Rural Women’s Assemblies to advocate and create bottom-up change in favour of rural women. This is done locally, nationally, regionally, and internationally. For example, RWA have advocated in major multi-lateral events, such as COP 17 and Rio +20; and into regional lobbying processes that have run parallel to SADC meetings, as well. National chapters of the RWA have also organised their own lobbying events and activities to coincide with important national meetings, summits and on international days, such as International Rural Women’s Day and International Women’s Day.