MEDIA ADVISORY
For Immediate Release
Graça Machel Trust announces new initiative to create a powerful movement of African women focused on advancing Africa’s future
Women Advancing Africa initiative launched at an intimate gathering of African women leaders hosted by Mrs. Graça Machel
Johannesburg, South Africa, August 15, 2016 – The Graça Machel Trust (GMT) announced today that it will launch a pan-African initiative to ‘Multiply the Faces and Amplify the Voices’ of African women as a force for economic and social transformation. The Trust will convene the first-ever Women Advancing Africa (WAA) Forum in 2017 to highlight the critical role that women play in shaping Africa’s development.
Over the past decade, Africa has experienced unprecedented economic growth but women and children have shared least in its prosperity. Today, African women constitute 70 percent of the informal economy, while one third of Africa’s formal small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are owned by women but only 47 % of these are financially served. Africa’s women are a powerful untapped force and creating more opportunities for women to participate in the economy will improve their earning potential, assist families to move out of poverty and drive inclusive and sustainable growth.
Women Advancing Africa plans to build an inter-generational movement of women whose experience and wisdom will lead to collective action to address these economic imbalances. To identify priorities and help shape the agenda for the inaugural Women Advancing Africa Forum, the Trust convened a roundtable meeting of African women leaders across sectors in Magaliesburg, South Africa from August 11-13. The intimate gathering was hosted by Mrs. Machel, who shared her vision for Women Advancing Africa and invited participants to share their stories and develop targeted goals for the initiative moving forward.
“Africa’s continued journey towards full economic and social prosperity will only be achieved when women take the lead in setting the continent’s development agenda and have equal opportunities to participate at all levels in society,” said Mrs. Machel. “Now is the time to shape a collective agenda for the economic advancement of African women.”
At the meeting, more than 40 African women leaders worked together to identify priorities and outline key focus areas for the 2017 Forum. Under the overarching theme of driving social and economic transformation, WAA will focus on three core pillars in 2017: promoting financial inclusion, increasing market access and driving social change.
“It is rare to experience a completely safe space in which we can tell our truth, own our stories and challenge each other,” reflected Renée Ngamau, participant and member of the Graça Machel Trust Women in Media Network. “The WAA roundtable created that space and challenged me to powerfully take on next steps in my journey; not just for myself, but for other women younger, or less privileged than I am.”
The Trust has selected APCO Worldwide, the largest women-owned communications firm in the world, to be the convening partner for the Women Advancing Africa initiative. Working closely with the Graça Machel Trust, APCO will leverage its global network and communications expertise to bring the initiative to life at the inaugural meeting. The Forum will take place next year in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania and will be attended by at least 250 of Africa’s most influential women leaders, the continent’s rising stars and committed global champions.
Initial support for the WAA initiative has also been provided by founding sponsor, The Intel Foundation. Through the “She Will Connect Program”, Intel will also establish a dedicated online platform to connect a pan-African community of women leaders. Additional support has been provided by the UPS Foundation, Discovery, The United Nations Foundation, The Skoll Foundation and the Bridgeway Foundation. These partners share the Trust’s belief that advancing women economically is crucial to the health and prosperity of African families, communities and nations.
A detailed communique outlining the next steps and actions to be taken by the Trust is forthcoming.
For more information about the Women Advancing Africa Initiative and the Graça Machel Trust, please visit https://gracamacheltrust.org/new/ ; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheGracaMachelTrust
Twitter: @G_MachelTrust or email waa@gracamacheltrust.org
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ABOUT:
The Graça Machel Trust is an organisation that works across the continent to drive positive change across women’s and children’s rights, as well as governance and leadership. Through our support of local initiatives and connecting key stakeholders at a regional, national and sub-national level, we help to catalyse action where it is needed. By using our convening power the Trust seeks to: amplify the voices of women and children in Africa; influence governance; promote women’s contributions and leadership in the economic social and political development of Africa.
The Trust supports and mobilises civil society networks on issues of ending child marriage, ending violence against children, ending female genital mutilation and promoting children’s rights, to carry out advocacy and action across Africa. Special focus is placed on Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia where child marriage continues to be a problem largely driven by poverty, gender inequality, harmful traditional practices, conflict, low levels of literacy, limited opportunities for girls and weak or non-existent protective and preventive legal frameworks.
Education is a fundamental right for all children, which is also a vehicle for social, economic and political transformation in communities, countries and the African continent at large. Recent studies indicate a lack of progress in some of the critical commitments aimed at improving education quality, access, retention and achievement, particularly for girls. In most African countries, girls may face barriers to learning, especially when they reach post-primary levels of education. By implementing multi-dimensional approaches to education which includes core education, personal development, life skills and economic competencies, the Trust partners with funding partners, governments, civil societies and the private sector to improve education access.
The Nutrition and Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition, (RMNCAH+N) of the Children’s Rights and Development Programme aims at promoting the Global Strategy for women, children and adolescents’ health within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. The strategy emphasises on the importance of effective country leadership as a common factor across countries making progress in improving the health of women, children and adolescents.
Through its Early Childhood Development (ECD) plan, The Trust will seek to put into action the new science and evidence Report that was presented by Lancet Series on Good and early development – the right of every child. This will be achieved by mobilising like-minded partners to contribute in the new science and evidence to reach all young children with ECD. The Trust’s goal is to be a catalyst for doing things differently, in particular, to rid fragmentation and lack of coordination across ECD sectors. In response to evidence showing the importance of political will in turning the tide against the current poor access and quality of ECD. Even before conception, starting with a mother’s health and social economic conditions, the early years of a child’s life form a fundamental foundation that determines whether a child will survive and thrive optimally.