AU CONSULTATIVE CONFERENCE OF WOMEN STAKEHOLDERS ON PAN AFRICANISM, RENAISSANCE AND AGENDA 2063 ENDS WITH A CALL FOR ACTION

Addis Ababa, 13 May 2013 – Women from African Union Member States, Civil Society, Women Pan-African movements, women’s rights organisations, academics, Diaspora organisations, private sector, UN agencies and other development partners ended a two-day consultative workshop on 13 May 2013. The conference was aimed at defining and strategizing on women’s priorities on Pan Africanism, Renaissance especially to inform Africa’s Agenda 2063.

Thanking the delegates for their determined engagement in the discussions, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC) encouraged the women to carry on consulting with other women and men to enrich the framework making people-centred. She encouraged the women to do more so that their voices should be heard in all endeavour striving at re-shaping the discourses on Africa’s role in the world and globalisation. “The Declaration of the Consultative Conference,” she said, “must be part and parcel of what the Heads of State and Governments will adopt in January 2014.”
Organised by the African Union Commission in partnership with UN Women, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in close collaboration with the Global Power Network, the GIMAC and United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the meeting recognised that African and Diaspora women played a critical role in the evolution of Pan-Africanism, through their contributions to the anti-slavery, anti-colonial and liberation struggles.
The conference underscored that, over the last fifty years, Africa recorded progress in economic and social development, women emancipation, democracy, governance among others. However, Africa has not yet realised the dream of an integrated, peaceful and prosperous continent that embodies gender equality. To that effect, the consultative workshop of women recognised the need for Africa to plan ahead for the future, by setting milestones to develop plans toward the realisation of the 2063 vision.

The women committed to transform the economy and contribute to the promotion of inclusive growth. They further committed to enhance gender parity by the end of the Decade of Women (2020), by advocating for full gender parity and participation of women in all institutions of society, public, civil and private and for the removal of all forms of discrimination based on gender. They agreed to joint efforts in promoting women’s role in leadership and governance and mobilise resources for Africa’s transformation through development among others. (See complete Declaration on the AU website: www.au.int;) and follow us on twitter @_AfricanUnion