Young Women's Empowerment Academy in Southern Africa (11th -13th February 2025 Lilongwe Malawi)
The Women and Youth Democratic Engagement (WYDE) Women’s Leadership Initiative convened a Southern African Young Women´s Empowerment Academy in Malawi between 11 to 13 February 2025. The Academy focused on promoting additional empowerment strategies for young women to politicians from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The Minister of Gender, Community Development, and Social Welfare, honourable Jean Muonaouza Sendeza opened the Southern Africa Academy for Young Women’s Empowerment. She emphasized that the initiative did not just represent an event but a transformative journey that will shape the future of the region. Through such interventions young women will be able to claim their rightful place in shaping policies that govern us all. By investing in its greatest asset, the potential of its young women together we can build a more inclusive society’. She further thanked the European Union, International IDEA and other WYDE partners for their support in making such an initiative possible.
Michele Crimella, Team Leader for Social Sectors, European Union and Fatma Mohamed Abdelkarim from UN Women Malawi also gave remarks, expressing their support and continued commitment for the young women politicians in their political leadership journey. The European Union Ambassador to Malawi H.E Rune Skinnebach, also attended the event and expressed support to the young women politicians urging them to take gender equality as moral duty and a matter of social justice.
This training of a diverse group engaged participants in discussing strategies to transform traditionally patriarchal political structures into gender-balanced ones. Through the Access=Participation & Representation=Transformation approach, this academy for young women’s empowerment focused on discussing key themes related to gender inclusive political participation. Through capacity development exercises, knowledge sharing and peer-to-peer learning participants were able to engage with deep-rooted narratives surrounding patriarchal social norms, build networks of building and solidarity and be active advocates for transformative social change. Participants throughout the academy were asked to develop and polish their personal development plans based on the discussions throughout the three days.
The Women and Youth Democratic Engagement (WYDE) Women’s Leadership Initiative convened a Southern African Young Women´s Empowerment Academy in Malawi between 11 to 13 February 2025. The Academy focused on promoting additional empowerment strategies for young women to politicians from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The Minister of Gender, Community Development, and Social Welfare, honourable Jean Muonaouza Sendeza opened the Southern Africa Academy for Young Women’s Empowerment. She emphasized that the initiative did not just represent an event but a transformative journey that will shape the future of the region. Through such interventions young women will be able to claim their rightful place in shaping policies that govern us all. By investing in its greatest asset, the potential of its young women together we can build a more inclusive society’. She further thanked the European Union, International IDEA and other WYDE partners for their support in making such an initiative possible.
Michele Crimella, Team Leader for Social Sectors, European Union and Fatma Mohamed Abdelkarim from UN Women Malawi also gave remarks, expressing their support and continued commitment for the young women politicians in their political leadership journey. The European Union Ambassador to Malawi H.E Rune Skinnebach, also attended the event and expressed support to the young women politicians urging them to take gender equality as moral duty and a matter of social justice.
This training of a diverse group engaged participants in discussing strategies to transform traditionally patriarchal political structures into gender-balanced ones. Through the Access=Participation & Representation=Transformation approach, this academy for young women’s empowerment focused on discussing key themes related to gender inclusive political participation. Through capacity development exercises, knowledge sharing and peer-to-peer learning participants were able to engage with deep-rooted narratives surrounding patriarchal social norms, build networks of building and solidarity and be active advocates for transformative social change. Participants throughout the academy were asked to develop and polish their personal development plans based on the discussions throughout the three days.