Women Leaders Forum for Africa’s Transformation

The African Union Commission, UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, and the Government of Germany are organizing a high-level “Women Leaders Forum for Africa’s Transformation.” The forum is scheduled to take place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, from Wednesday 31st May to Friday 2nd June 2017. The high-level meeting will bring together approximately 80 participants from across Africa, including women in leadership in politics and the public sector, in business, civil society and the media. The three-day forum will serve as a platform to launch the African Women Leaders Network, a new initiative that seeks to enhance the leadership of women in the transformation of Africa with a focus on governance, peace and stability.

The high-level forum will be organized around three main events: an evening dinner-debate that will serve as formal opening of the conference; a one-day forum of parallel working groups; and a high-level panel discussion that will involve Member States of the United Nations more broadly.

- Dinner-debate: on Wednesday 31st May 2017, this first part of the forum will bring together all forum participants for a formal dinner-debate that will set the scene of the meeting and engage the audience on the linkages between global trends and the evolving peace, security and governance context in Africa.

- One-day forum of parallel working groups: on Thursday 1st June 2017, the one-day forum will examine the various themes of the conference to outline a roadmap to establish the Network of African Women Leaders.

- High-level panel discussion: on Friday 2nd June 2017, the high-level panel discussion will share the leadership experiences of the speakers, make links between Africa’s political, security and economic context and women’s effective leadership and participation for the continent’s transformation; and launch the African Women Leaders Network.