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Voice of the Family in Africa:
strengthening the family in Africa
Raymond Mutura, President, Voice of the Family in Africa International and the Program for Family Development
C
onfronting
F
amily
P
overty
T
heory and practice are two words that interplay
constantly in efforts to solve the world’s problems.
The philosopher Aristotle says that theory is a
knowledge of the principles and causes of things which
begins with the senses (observation) before developing
into concepts, while practical knowledge is motivated by
the need to ‘move’ to a decision amid various options or
choices. Aristotle says that wisdom is a combination of
theory and practice.
In Africa, wisdom is highly regarded, as illustrated by
the African proverbs: ‘
Ũũ
g
ĩ
nd
ũ
ambaga’ (one is not born
with knowledge) and ‘G
ũ
tir
ĩ
m
ũ
nd
ũ
ũ
ciaragwo ar
ĩ
m
ũũ
g
ĩ
’
(nobody is born wise).
While Aristotle’s views and the African proverbs are true,
this was not an obvious foundation of the first African Family
Congress, which took place in Nairobi, Kenya in 2005. The
story began in 1998, when the architects of the congress
founded a youth organization called True Love Waits, whose
aim was to cultivate an abstemious approach to decisions
regarding youth sexuality. This led to conferences where
they began to appreciate the policy side of social issues, with
policy-focused meetings in Geneva (1999) and the United
Nations conference on Beijing+5 in New York (2000). One
outcome was the formation of the African Region of the
World Youth Alliance.
The conclusion of the 2005 congress motivated the forma-
tion of Voice of the Family in Africa (VOFA), a think tank
and umbrella organization whose mission is to promote
a culture favourable to the family through policy inter-
vention based on scientific research and education. Nine
years later, the merging of theory and practice is slowly
taking place. VOFA has motivated the development of ‘the
theory around family’ through the formation of several
research initiatives. Various practical initiatives have also
been strengthened or commenced to promote the family in
Kenya, Congo, Nigeria and Uganda and Ivory Coast.
In the past, most of Africa’s initiatives have followed a
bottom-up approach (alleviating problems touching the
majority such as poverty eradication, water and health) with
little done to influence the potential decision-makers and
policy advocates. However, a lot of the initiatives connected
to the VOFA agenda have taken a top-down approach, focus-
ing on the theory generated through research, availing policy
interventions and working with major influencers of society,
government and key professionals. This approach will make
it easier for those who effect or influence policy at country
level to trickle down good practices to other people in their
circle. We are now beginning, through some of the initiatives,
to reach the masses and it is time for Africa to celebrate once
again the family as the fundamental unit of society.
Here are some stories from Africa. Our journey will take
us through Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Congo. Most of the
people who founded the initiatives in those countries were
critical to the first Family Congress in Africa, and/or their
initiatives were launched or strengthened after the congress.
In Nairobi, Kenya, the Program for Family Development
(PFD) and the Centre for Research on Organization
Work and Family at Strathmore Business School (SBS)
focus on work-family balance. SBS’s Centre for Research
on Organizations, Work and Family (CROWF) aims to
help companies become family and socially responsive
by conducting and disseminating sound research on the
management of employees, with particular emphasis on
work and family reconciliation. CROWF communicates
and promotes human resource management practices that
facilitate work and family balance through research forums,
practitioners’ seminars and specialized courses.
Image: VOFA
Delegates from Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia and Nigeria take part in a Network of
African Family Scholars colloquium