Partnership Week Zimbabwe – Dortmund

Oktober 2022 Three activists from Zimbabwe visited LEBEDO - the counseling center for LSBTIQ*, the youth club Sunrise for young queers, the magazine Africa Positive and the coordination center LSBTIQ* of the city of Dortmund. The exchange of experiences was also conducted in the feminist archive ausZeiten in Bochum and with the network for self-employed women Schöne Aussichten in Essen.

Program

European Lesbian* Conference in Budapest

September 2022 At the 3rd conference of the European-Central Asian Lesbian Network EL*C in Budapest I was involved in two workshops: „Building Meaningful Cooperation between Regions“ and „Older Lesbians against Ageism“. The exchange between 300 lesbian activists from all over Europe and Central Asia was inspiring and continues.

www.europeanlesbianconference.org

Masakhane: Social movement building

April 2022 Meeting in Johannesburg with Women Human Rights Defenders of Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the Coalition of African Lesbians evaluating the Masakhane-Project „Promoting Human Rights in Southern Africa by strengthening NGO activists – with the focus on women’s rights and LGBTI rights“ and discussing the partnerships between lesbian* groups.

www.autonomy.cal.org.za

Feminist Voices from Africa

Online, September 2021 Moderation of the Webtalk „Women Human Rights Defenders: How Intersectionality is put into Practice in Southern Africa” with Activists from Botswana, Eswatini and Mozambique. Documentation and links:

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Documentation of the Partnership project Africa – NRW

Essen, November 2020 Documentation of the partnership project 2018-2020, workshop in Johannesburg 2018, partnership weeks in Düsseldorf, Cologne and Essen 2019, discussions in Namibia, Zambia and Botswana 2020, Book project in Corona times. Funding: Foundation for Environment and Development North Rhine-Westphalia, Engagement Global NRW. Promoter: FLiP e.V.

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Partnership Weeks Africa – NRW

Düsseldorf, Cologne, Essen May–September 2019 Project management of the Düsseldorf – Namibia, Cologne – Zambia and Essen – Botswana partnership weeks between lesbian civil society groups. Events for the city society and visits to women’s projects. Funding: Foundation for Environment and Development of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Promoter: FLiP e.V.

Partnership Workshop NRW – Africa

Johannesburg, South Africa October 10–15 2018 Idea and concept of the opening workshop for the formation of long-term partnerships between civil society groups in NRW – Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen, Cologne – and countries in southern Africa: Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Funding: Engagement Global NRW. Promoter: FLiP e.V.

Partner for Human Rights project in southern Africa

2017–2022 Preparation and support for the project „Promoting Human Rights in Southern Africa by strengthening NGO activists – with the focus on women’s rights and LGBTI rights.“ Involved Countries: Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Funding: BMZ – Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Promoter: Coalition of African Lesbians, filia. The Women’s Foundation, LSVD.

Alexandria 8th Businesswomen Conference, Egypt

Alexandria November 2016 Consultation for the partners in Alexandria for the 8th Businesswomen conference: “Partnership & Networking: Pillars of Development – Together we are Strong“. Presentation of the MENA networking project of Women Entrepreneur Associations during the conference. Public Relation Workshop for the Associations. Client: BMZ, GPP

Workshop to plan the MENA-Project 2016 – 2018 with six Women Entrepreneur Associations

Berlin March 14-18, 2016 Facilitation of the planning workshop for the MENA-project to empower Women Business Associations through networking. The presidents of the associations from Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon and Tunesia decided about multilateral and bilateral meetings to exchange experiences and transfer good practice. Client: BMZ – Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, GPP - Global Project Partners.

Meeting the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Uganda UWEAL

January 2016 – Kampala Encounter with UWEAL, the Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association Limited. UWEAL was founded in 1987 and is active in 16 regions. Our report about the work of the German Businesswomen Association VdU was appreciated, there was special interest in the Mentoring Project and the activities bringing more women in leadership positions and on boards. There are lots of differences regarding the social and economic situation in Germany and Uganda – but our exchange made clear that we aren’t far away with our tasks and themes to empower women entrepreneurs.

MENA-Region: Preparing a Networking-Project for Women Entrepreneur Associations in Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon und Tunisia

August 3-13, 2015 As a representative of the German Women Entrepreneur Association (VdU) Cornelia Sperling was part of a mission to the MENA-Region in order to prepare a Networking-Project 2016-2018. Discussing with the Women Entrepreneur Associations in Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia and Algeria the concept for a long-term exchange of experiences in order to strengthen the associations and the businesswomen was developed, in cooperation with VdU. Client: BMZ- Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, sequa gGmbH, GPP- Global Project Partners

Peer-learning Journey for the pan-African Network New Faces New Voices – NFNV

Oktober 6-10, 2014 In the context of „Making Finance Work for Africa“ GIZ supports the pan-african network NEW FACES NEW VOICES – NFNV. „Women transforming the financial sector“ was the theme of the Peer-learning Journey, where I initiated meetings with German activists and strategic thinkers in Berlin. Client: GIZ – Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit mbH.

International Conference on Women Entrepreneurship in South Caucasus

Georgia September 2014 Women entrepreneurs from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia met in the framework of a cooperation project of BWMV (Bildungswerk der Wirtschaft Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) and employers organisations of South Caucasus (RUEA, ASK, GEA) together with ILO (International Labour Organisation). Cornelia Sperling presented the activities of the German Association of Women Entrepreneurs VdU and moderated a workshop about networking. Client: BWMV