Our
year begun with a number of exciting events and meetings from the 10th
African Union Gender Pre-Summit (AU-GPS) to African Young Women and Girls
Advocacy Training at the 31st GIMAC – AU Pre-Summit Meetings, and
the Gender Is My Agenda Campaign.
The 31st Gender is My Agenda Campaign (GIMAC) Consultative Meeting on Mainstreaming Gender Equality in the African Union and Member States took place on the 20th-21st January, 2018 at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia under the theme: “Corruption and Governance: Impact and Way out for Women, Children and Youth”. The theme was aligned with the African Union (AU) dedication of the year 2018 as the year for anti-corruption under the theme: “Winning the Fight against Corruption: A Sustainable Path to Africa’s Transformation”.
African
Young Women and Girls Advocacy Training was held under the theme: A Corrupt
Free African: Unleashing potentials and Protecting Rights of Africa’s Young
People Especially Girls and Young Women. The training aimed to build the
capacity of youth to actively engage African leaders in designing solutions to
the issue of corruption as well as prepare them to be frontiers of Africa
Development and about 35 youth were trained. Our Executive Director, Helen
Kezie-Nwoha facilitated the session on advocacy and lobbying and shared
practical experience of how Isis-WICCE conducts advocacy and lobbying at the
African Union using the GIMAC platform.
The 31st GIMAC brought together over 150 delegates from over 30 countries, including representatives of Diplomatic Missions, African Union and United Nations officials, leading Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) on Gender in Africa and other interested groups in advancing women’s rights in Africa. Drawing from the two-day discussions, participants outlined key recommendations. The meeting identified strategies and interventions that have continental implications in order to forestall the continued impact of corruption in governance, which hinder development, weaken the fabrics of sanity in the communities, promote violence and encourages avoidable negative consequences or marginalization and ethnocentrism.