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EDS celebrates the completion of its inaugural fellows program, culminating a year’s work on networking, mentoring, research, and scholarship. Launched in June 2025, the program—an initiative of EDS Distinguished Scholar, Dr. Kwok Pui Lan—was designed to nurture the leadership of Anglican women leaders from the Global South.

The EDS Fellows and their mentors represent over a dozen countries in the Global South across Africa, Asia, West Asia and North Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Oceania.

The fellows program addressed the need for an increase in the visibility, recognition, and leadership of emerging women in the Global South, a region where the majority of Anglicans currently reside. . This program is situated within a larger movement inside the Anglican Communion to develop polycentric leadership and practices that reflect the global diversity and local distinctiveness of Anglican identity.

During monthly Zoom meetings, the cohort met virtually to foster a supportive environment for collaborative research, scholarship, and ministry. Members received mentoring on leadership, writing, and research from three distinguished theologians:

• Dr. Kwok Pui Lan, a renowned scholar in Asian and Asian American feminist theology and postcolonial criticism
• Dr. Esther Mombo from Kenya, a leading voice in African women's theology
• Dr. Jenny Te Paa Daniel (Te Rarawa) from Aotearoa New Zealand, globally recognized for her critiques of systemic injustices within the church and her advocacy for women's leadership

The inaugural cohort was composed of ten women leaders from ten different countries, representing a diverse range of ministries and experiences, including lay and ordained leaders, theological educators, and activists. All have been active in the work of the Anglican Church, bringing valuable practical and scholarly perspectives.

Opportunities for in-person gatherings were provided to hear each other present their research and receive feedback. Several members of the cohort met in Atlanta, Georgia, in November for EDS’s “Living Postcolonial Anglicanism: Prospects for a Polycentric Anglican Communion” symposium. The group also met in person in Nairobi, Kenya, to further collaborate on their research.

As a next step, the fellows and mentors have submitted a book proposal for a volume tentatively entitled Anglican Women’s Voices from the Global South, edited by Dr. Kwok Pui Lan.

The demographics of the Anglican church have shifted to the Global South, with more than half of Anglicans now living in Africa. Anglican women play important roles in the life of the congregation, mission, and social transformation. This book will be one of the first to document the theological visions and leadership of Anglican women in the Global South, their struggles for gender equity in the church and society, and their efforts to bring about a more just and sustainable society.

The resulting book features 14 authors and is divided into four parts:

Part 1: Theological Perspectives and Visions

• Black Theology and Gender Justice in South Africa: Lessons for the Anglican Church and Beyond – Thandi Gamedze (South Africa) Explores the emergence of Black feminist theology in South Africa from the 1970s to 1994, focusing on the lived realities of Black women under apartheid and how this tradition interacted with the Anglican church's structures, liturgies, and practices.
• A Body Not Belonging: Indigenous Theology and Layered Identities in The Episcopal Church in the Philippines – Sunshine Dulnuan (the Philippines) Employs autoethnography to navigate the complex, layered identities forged at the intersections of indigeneity, Christianity, and Anglican tradition, centering the experiences of Indigenous women.
• Decolonial Missiology and Combating Human Trafficking in India – Sanjana Das (India) Examines the intersection of decolonial theology and feminist liberation theories, using a case study from the Church of North India to show how Indigenous communities combat human trafficking and reclaim dignity.

Part 2: Anglican Women’s Identities and Social Engagements

• Anglicanism after Empire: Reimagining Identity, Mission, and Female Leadership in Taiwan – Claire Chia-lin Wang (Taiwan) Examines the postcolonial identity of Anglicanism in Taiwan, investigating power dynamics shaped by language, culture, and transnational networks through the experiences of female clergy.
• A Call for a Palestinian Anglican Women’s Missionary Initiative – Nuha El Far Shaheen (Palestine) Issues an urgent call for a Palestinian Anglican women’s missionary initiative to counter Zionist thought, demonstrating how women act as agents of mission to the world under a colonial settler regime.
• Anglican Women and the Fishing Industry in Kenya – Nancy Auma Omino (Kenya) Assesses the effectiveness of the Anglican Church of Kenya’s sustainable fishing initiatives aimed at countering patriarchy and the exploitative Jaboya system in the Lake Victoria region.

Part 3: Women’s Ordination in the Church

• The Experiences of Women in Ordained Ministry in the Diocese of Jamaica & the Cayman Islands – Natalie Blake (Jamaica) Explores what happened to women after the diocese allowed female ordination in 1994, drawing on interviews and questionnaires to share their experiences and wisdom.
• How Can “Herstory” Shape Our Future? Stories from Clergywomen in the Anglican Diocese of Accra – Akua Buabema Ofori-Boateng (Ghana) Analyzes the lived experiences of the pioneering clergywomen ordained since 2009 to inform and improve diocesan policies regarding mentorship, harassment, and gender-inclusive titles.
• Barriers to Women’s Ordination in Brazil – Paula de Mello Alves (Brazil) Explores the history of female ordination in Brazil since the 1980s, analyzing the difficulties women face beyond formal Canon Law and recommending how the church can proactively support women’s vocations.

Part 4: Nurturing Women’s Leadership

• Anglican Indigenous Women’s Prophetic Leadership in the Pacific – Alaimaluloa Toetu’u-Tamihere (Tonga/Aotearoa New Zealand) Collects and records stories of successful Indigenous Anglican women leaders from the Diocese of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia to serve as a repository of knowledge for the next generation.
• The Impact of the Li Tim-Oi Grants on Recipients in Kenya – Tabitha Njeri Kanja (Kenya) Examines how Li Tim-Oi Foundation grants empower Anglican women in Kenya to pursue theological education, enhance ministerial confidence, and deal with postcolonial church structures.

EDS congratulates the fellows and mentors for this successful inaugural program and looks forward to continuing to support and nurture their leadership across the Anglican Communion.