GL@25: How Gender Links restored my purpose and my motherhood

On 17 March 2026, as Gender Links celebrates 25 years of advancing gender equality across Southern Africa, I reflect not only on its regional impact but on the deeply personal transformation it brought to my life.

My name is Thenjiwe Ngcobo, founder of Incema Non-Profit Organisation in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, employed as the Grants and Networking Coordinator by Gender Links.

My journey with Gender Links began in 2020 when Incema received grant support under the Women’s Voice and Leadership Fund cycle 1. That grant financially supported Incema, strengthened child protection services in my community, but it also gave me something more: mentorship, learning, and a network of women leaders who believed in grassroots organisations.

I did not know then that this partnership would change my life.

In January 2025, I joined Gender Links as Grants and Networking Coordinator under the Renewed Women’s Voice and Leadership Fund. Today, I walk alongside more than 24 women-led grassroots organisations across South Africa, supporting them as they build movements, strengthen governance, and expand their impact.

And I can say with certainty that I do what I love. I do what I was destined for.

For over a decade, I poured myself into Incema. I left stable employment to create access to child protection services in communities that desperately need them. But while I was fixing the world, I sometimes felt I was neglecting my own home.

When my youngest son entered matric, I faced a painful truth that he had never seen his mother formally employed or financially secure. My husband carried the financial load while my eldest son was still searching for work. University costs loomed, and I asked myself if I was being a good activist or failing parent?

Applying for a job while leading my own organisation was not easy. But Gender Links knew me. They knew my work, my passion, my community. And they saw me not only as a leader, but as a mother. I did not have to abandon Incema. I did not have to choose between activism and motherhood. Instead, I was embraced as a whole woman.

Gender Links allowed me to expand my impact nationally while maintaining my identity as a mother and wife. My organisation grew under new leadership, and I stepped into a broader networking and movement-building role.

For the first time in years, I felt balanced. I felt trusted. I felt seen. Most importantly, I felt restored.

Gender Links gave me something I had quietly lost and the ability to dream again. They gave me stability to support my children, confidence to stand beside my husband, and freedom to be present for my family without guilt.

That, to me, is women’s empowerment in its truest form. Not just policies and programmes. Not just grants and reports but lived transformation.

As Gender Links turns 25, I celebrate more than an institution. I celebrate a home for women who dare to lead, dream, and rebuild. I celebrate an organisation that understands empowerment must include our families, our realities, and our humanity.

When I became linked to Gender Links, I did not come alone. I brought my family, my community and my dreams. In return, I was given restoration.

Thank you, Gender Links for linking me to purpose, provision, and possibility.

(Thenjiwe Ngcobo is the Women, Voice and Leadership grants and networking coordinator at Gender Links)