Hodan Addou

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Hodan Addou is a Somalian international civil servant who has been engaged with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and its successor, UN Women in developing policies for women and women's empowerment since 1992. She has been a programme officer in Kenya; gender and conflict advisor in Burundi; the Regional Peace and Security Adviser for East, Central and Southern Africa; and Country Programme Director in Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Uganda. She is presently the Country Representative for UN Women in Tanzania.

Career[edit]

Hodan Addou, a scholar from Somalia,[1] began working with the World Bank in 1990, assisting Manuel Zymelman in preparing a report on science and technology preparedness in secondary schools in Sub-Saharan Africa.[2] She worked as a United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) programme officer for building women's capacity at the African Academy of Sciences between 1992 and 1994, evaluating women's issues in attaining access to higher education.[1][3] She continued her work the following year, evaluating links between education levels and agricultural productivity.[4][5] Working on a joint project between UNIFEM and the African Women in Crisis Programme (AFWIC) in 1996, Addou and Jacqueline Oduol, along with officials from the Organisation of African Unity and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees studied security problems and legal status issues for women who were refugees or who had been displaced within their own countries because of violence or conflict.[6] Addou then became the UNIFEM Regional Peace Project Officer for the African Women's Studies Programme, based in Nairobi.[7] In that capacity, she commissioned a book, Somalia between Peace and War: Somali Women on the Eve of the 21st Century in 1998, which looked at the roles women played in both peace building and conflict resolution during the Somali Civil War.[8] While Addou was serving as the gender and conflict advisor in Burundi, women tried to convince African leaders like South African President Nelson Mandela and Burundian President Pierre Buyoya to support the inclusion of women in the negotiations of the Arusha Accords, which ended the civil war. The African leaders refused to allow women to participate, but granted them observer status. Unsatisfied with that outcome, in 2000 Addou unsuccessfully tried to convince members within the UN system to support women's full participation.[9]

By 2005, Addou was UNIFEM's Regional Peace and Security Adviser for East, Central and Southern Africa. As part of the policy advisory group on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, she met with other leaders like Scholastica Kimaryo (Tanzania), United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative to South Africa; Nomcebo Manzini (Eswatini) of UNIFEM; Litha Musyimi-Ogana (Kenya), gender and civil society advisor to the New Partnership for Africa's Development; Valerie Nyirahabineza, Rwandan Minister of Gender and Promotion of the Family; Magdalene Madibela, head of the gender sector for the Southern African Development Community; Bernadette Lahai (Sierra Leone), member of parliament; and professor Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela (South Africa) in 2005 to discuss women's involvement in African peacemaking policies.[10] Over the next several years, Addou became the UNIFEM Country Programme Director in Sudan (2009–2010) working to train women to run as candidates and participate in politics and policy making;[11] in Zimbabwe (2011–2013) to advocate and lobby for themselves and their needs in the drafting of a new constitution;[12][13] and in Uganda (2013–2016) to educate women about implementation of the new policies against gender-based violence.[14] She also stressed the need for the legislature to enact laws that would promote women's civic participation, prevent child marriages, allow them to institute divorce proceedings, and give them an equal ability to own land and property.[15][16][17] In 2016, Addou commissioned The Gender Bench Book,[18][19] a guide to assist the judiciary in understanding the discriminatory laws and customs which make it difficult for women to access justice, and in improving their practices in dispensing equitable rulings.[19][20]

Addou became the UN Women's Country Representative in Tanzania in 2017.[21][22] She took over management of an existing programme jointly operating with UN Women and Amref Health Africa to educate women and girls about female genital mutilation, child marriage, and family violence.[22] As country representative, she is also responsible for overseeing the women's centres in various refugee camps that house families who have fled from conflicts and violence in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The women's centres in the Mtendeli, Nduta, and Nyarugusu Refugee Camps provides counselling services, networking opportunities and entrepreneurship and small business training for women. The centres also offer training for men aimed at reducing gender stereotypes for the good of the family. The 16-week programme for men teaches them the benefits of having dual incomes and how to care for children and the household, so that their wives can help with the economic needs of the family.[21] In 2021, Addou, along with the Tanzania Women Judges Association, published the Gender Bench Book On Women's Rights to strengthen the ability of the courts to manage women's rights and gender based violence cases.[23][24]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ a b Annual Report 1992, p. 23.
  2. ^ Zymelman 1990, p. iv.
  3. ^ UNIFEM & African Academy 1994, p. 45.
  4. ^ Carnoy 1995, p. 113.
  5. ^ Williams 2006, p. 378.
  6. ^ Mulei & Dirasse 1996, p. xii.
  7. ^ Bryden & Steiner 1998, pp. ii, viii.
  8. ^ Achieng' 1999, p. 134.
  9. ^ Anderson 2016, p. 68.
  10. ^ Clarke & Scanlon 2005, pp. 15–16.
  11. ^ Uma 2010.
  12. ^ States News Service 2012.
  13. ^ The Herald 2013.
  14. ^ Namirimu 2013.
  15. ^ Daily Monitor 2014.
  16. ^ AllAfrica 2015.
  17. ^ Daily Monitor 2016.
  18. ^ Batema 2016, p. v.
  19. ^ a b Wesaka 2016.
  20. ^ New Vision 2016.
  21. ^ a b States News Service 2017a.
  22. ^ a b States News Service 2017b.
  23. ^ Maichuhie 2021.
  24. ^ Munuo 2021, pp. ii, xi.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Achieng', Judith (November 1999). "Somalia: Women's Role in Conflict and Peace" (PDF). Dossier. 22 (Islamisation and Control: Identity, Law, and Tradition). Combaillaux, France: Women Living Under Muslim Laws: 134–135. ISSN 1560-9677. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 December 2022. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
  • "Affirmative Action Way to Achieve Gender Equality". The Herald. Harare, Zimbabwe. All Africa. 18 April 2013. – via Gale A326785904 (subscription required)
  • Anderson, Miriam J. (2016). Windows of Opportunity: How Women Seize Peace Negotiations for Political Change. Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-023953-4.
  • "A New Coalition Takes the Lead on Women's Constitutional Rights in Zimbabwe". New York, New York. States News Service. 23 April 2012. – via Gale A287436930 (subscription required)
  • Annual Report of the African Academy of Sciences. Nairobi, Kenya: The Academy. 1992. p. 23. OCLC 28923851. Hodan Addou, a scholar of Somali origin would represent UNIFEM
  • Batema, David (2016). The Gender Bench Book: Women's Access to Justice in Uganda (PDF) (1st ed.). Kampala, Uganda: Judiciary of Uganda. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 March 2024.
  • Bryden, Matt; Steiner, Martina I. (1998). Somalia Between Peace and War: Somali Women on the Eve of the 21st Century. Nairobi, Kenya: UNIFEM. OCLC 41532185.
  • Carnoy, Martin (1995). International Encyclopedia of Economics of Education (2nd ed.). Oxford, Oxfordshire: Pergamon Press. ISBN 978-0-08-042303-6.
  • "Chief Justice Calls for Gender Skills in Justice Dispensation". New Vision. Kampala, Uganda. 13 June 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  • Clarke, Yaliwe; Scanlon, Helen (2005). "2. Seminar Themes and Debates". Women and Peacebuilding in Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: United Nations Development Fund for Women for the Centre for Conflict Resolution. pp. 15–32. OCLC 654629079.
  • "Empower Women and Girls, UN Urges Uganda". Washington, D.C. All Africa. 7 December 2015. – via ProQuest 1744620367 (subscription required)
  • "In Tanzania, Refugee Women Find Safety and Embrace New Lives". Washington, D.C. States News Service. 16 June 2017. – via Gale A495708010 (subscription required)
  • "Liberate Rural Women, Kadaga Tells Female Lawyers". Daily Monitor. Kampala, Uganda. 30 November 2014. – via ProQuest 1628692929 (subscription required)
  • Maichuhie, Kamau (26 November 2021). "Tanzania Female Judges Launch Bench Book on Women's Rights". Daily Nation. Nairobi, Kenya. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  • Massati, Salum; Levira, Marry; Sameji, Rehema Kerefu; De-Mello, Joacquine; Makaramba, Robert; Twaib, Fauz; Masabo, Zubeda Z. T.; Mwingira, Anipha; Mrisho, Kifungu. Munuo, Eusebia (ed.). Gender Bench Book on Women's Rights (PDF). Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: Tanzania Women Judges Association, UN Women. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 March 2024.
  • Mulei, Christopher; Dirasse, Laketch (1996). Legal Status of Refugee and Internally Displaced Women in Africa. Nairobi, Kenya: UNIFEM. OCLC 56034425.
  • Namirimu, Esther (18 December 2013). "UN Commends Uganda for Fighting Gender Based Violence". New Vision. Kampala, Uganda. – via ProQuest 1469033698 (subscription required)
  • "Safe in Serengeti: Young Women and Girls Seek Refugee From Female Genital Mutilation in Mara, Tanzania". Washington, D.C. States News Service. 13 November 2017. – via Gale A514380631 (subscription required)
  • Uma, Julius N. (8 April 2010). "Women, Youth Advocate for Non-Violent Elections". Sudan Tribune. Paris, France. – via ProQuest 431518255 (subscription required)
  • United Nations Development Fund for Women; African Academy of Sciences, eds. (1994). Proceedings. Brainstorming Meeting on Building Technical Capacity and Gender Advocacy of Young Professional Women in Africa: 9–12 June 1993, Nairobi, Kenya The Academy. Nairobi, Kenya. ISBN 978-9966-831-16-3.
  • Wesaka, Anthony (10 October 2016). "Judge Writes Book on Women after Past Error". Daily Monitor. Kampala, Uganda. Archived from the original on 6 November 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  • "When Women Were Deployed to Avert Election Violence". Daily Monitor. Kampala, Uganda. 12 March 2015. – via Gale A445987158 (subscription required)
  • Williams, Eddie (2006). "Teaching Reading: Individual and Social Perspectives". In Usó-Juan, Esther; Martínez-Flor, Alicia (eds.). Current Trends in the Development and Teaching of the Four Language Skills. Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter. pp. 355–382. ISBN 978-3-11-018968-1.
  • Zymelman, Manuel (1990). Science, Education, and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Washington, D.C: World Bank. ISBN 978-0-8213-1599-6.
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