UN Women Executive Director engages AU Members States for Promotion of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Africa
Date:
UN Women Executive Director Dr. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
19 January 2017: UN Women Executive Director Dr. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka will visit Ethiopia to attend the 9th Africa Union Gender Pre-Summit and the pre-CSW61 Africa Regional Consultations jointly organized by the Africa Union Commission, UN Women and UNECA.
The 9th Africa Union Gender Pre-Summit, which will take place from 24-25 January, will draw the participation of African Ministers responsible for Gender and Women Affairs, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), AU organs, AUC Departments, UN agencies, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and development partners. The Executive Director will use this opportunity to utilize policy and advocacy spaces to ensure that AU Member States and various stakeholders remain committed to promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in the context of AU Declaration of 2017. The Executive Director will also issue a closing statement on the theme of the AU Summit, “harnessing the Demographic Dividend through investments in the youth.”
On 26 and 27 January, the Executive Director will address the Pre-CSW 61 Africa Regional Ministerial Consultation, which is jointly organized by UN Women and UNECA and attended by Ministers of Gender Genders, CSOs and development partners. Ministers will exchange views and information, strengthen coordination and align positions prior to the CSW61 Session taking place in New York in March 2017. Building on the positive experience of previous regional Pre-CSW consultations, the Executive Director will use this occasion to drive forward political and strategic commitments from the Ministers on the CSW61 theme, “Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Changing World of Work”. The Executive Director will also share plans for CSW61 and discuss challenges from previous CSW sessions. She will hold a dialogue with African Young women to share with them the vision and direction of the organization and seek their ideas on how best UN Women can address the challenges of young women in Africa. The Executive Director will also officially launch the digital platform for the regional project, African Women Changing the Narrative: Our Story! A highlight of her mission is the visit to the Ethiopia Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) where she will visit the Ethiopia Innovation Hub and have dialogue with female civil engineering students.
The Executive Director will hold various bilateral meetings with various Ministers, including with the recently appointed Ethiopia Minister of Gender – H.E Demitu Hambisa Bonsa, as well as key donor and African partners. Her visit in Ethiopia will focus on this year’s AU Summit theme and center around the following objectives:
- Bringing young women’s empowerment and their role in entrepreneurship and creating jobs for Africa at the center of all debates during the Gender Pre-Summit and the 29th Session of the African Union Heads of States’ Summit;
- Calling for greater investment in youth and young women empowerment by development partners and AU Member States;
- Ensuring that Africa speaks with one Voice at the CSW61 and that there is a strong commitment to “economic empowerment of women in the changing world of work.”