History

Sister Namibia was initially established in 1989 as a collective of women volunteers who wanted to raise awareness and lobby for women’s rights through the publication of a magazine. At this stage the organisation functioned as a Voluntary Association Not for Gain. In 2005, Sister Namibia registered as a Trust. Our growth on the one hand was a sign of the great need for the existence of an organisation of its kind; on the other hand, registering as a Trust increased Sisters Namibia’s challenge to translate feminist ideals into organisational practice while also building our capacity to expand and deepen our work

Sister Namibia has evolved and developed over the years to become a feminist organisation that utilises a number of media and approaches to achieve her current vision of ‘a society that recognizes, protects and celebrates the full personhood of all women and girls including respect for our dignity, diversity, sexual choices and bodily integrity.’

Sister Namibia’s core activities include: the publication of the quarterly Sister Namibia magazine; the Sister Namibia Resource Centre; research and materials development for specific campaigns; training and outreach programmes; lobbying and advocacy; networking and collective action.

In the course of her existence, Sister Namibia has collaborated with a great number of organisations to carry out a variety of activities and campaigns such as the 50/50 campaign conducted from 1999 to 2004, which was mounted to achieve gender balance in political representation and full participation of women in politics and decision-making. The new campaign focus for Sister Namibia’s activities is the Sexual Right’s Campaign.