AFRICAN UNION UNION AFRICAINE UNIÃO AFRICANA Addis Ababa, Ethiopia P. O. Box 3243 Telephone: +251 11 551 7700 / +251 11 518 25 58/ Ext 2558 website: www.au.int Directorate of Information and Communication MEDIA ADVISORY Stakeholders’ Consultation on 2015 Theme "Year of Women Empowerment and Development towards Africa’s Agenda 2063" INVITATION TO THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE MEDIA WHAT: Stakeholders’ Consultation on the 2015 theme "Year of Women Empowerment and Development towards Africa’s Agenda 2063" WHEN: 20th - 23rd January 2015. The consultations will be held in three segments: 20 – 21 Jan: CSO Meeting 21 Jan: Closed Ministerial Consultation 22 Jan: Joint Ministerial-RECS-CSO’S-UN System Consultation 23 Jan: AUC- Regional Consultation on Women, Peace and Security WHERE: UNECA, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (20 – 21 Jan) AUC Headquarters - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (22 – 23 Jan) WHO: The African Union Commission jointly with the Gender is My Agenda Campaign (GIMAC), UNDP, UNWOMEN and UNECA Liaison Offices to the AU. OTHER MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES: Group Photo Opportunity: 22 January, 9:45 – 10.00 am, Nelson Mandela Hall Media Q&A with H.E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini- Zuma, Special Envoy for Women, Peace and Security Hon. Bienta Diop, UN Women Representative to the AU and UNECA Ms. Letty Chiwara, UNDP Director Regional Service Center Mr. Lebogang Motlana : 23 January, 13:00 – 14:00 pm, Nelson Mandela Hall SOCIAL MEDIA: Twitter: #women4agenda2063 Objectives: This consultation aims: - To create avenues for dialogue and consensus among States and non-States actors, such as national gender machineries and CSOs for a common Africa position on gender equality and women’s empowerment. - To take ownership and engender Africa’s Agenda 2063 for African women’s empowerment - To undertake a comprehensive review of Africa’s Agenda 2063 and the AU Summit 2015 Theme to strengthen ownership of these frameworks among stakeholders. - To establish the linkages between, the Addis Ababa Declaration of women’s’ Stakeholders consultation on 2013’’year of Pan Africanism and Renaissance’’ , the Beijing+20 Regional Review and its Declaration, the Agenda 2063, the African Women’s Decade, and the AU 2015 Theme with a view to set tangible actions that can be reported through the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa and the African Women’s Decade (2010-2020). - To enhance partnership between Ministers of Gender and Women’s Affairs, RECs and CSO’s in order to enable collective actions to implement and popularize the 2015 Theme, the Beijing+20 review outcomes and the Agenda 2063. - Develop a Road Map to be implemented during the year 2015 and beyond, as well as a Monitoring and Evaluation system to ensure accountability. Participants: AU Ministers of Gender and Women’s Affairs, Gender units of the RECs, Women’s Network from GIMAC, CSOs, UNDP, UNWOMEN and UNEECA, AU Partners, NEPAD, and their counterparts from the UN System. Background: In line with the outcomes of the Ministerial Consultation with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) held on 24th June 2014 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, the AU Commission will start an inclusive Consultation involving the AU Ministers of Gender and Women Affairs, Women’s Networks led by Gender is My Agenda Campaign, CSOs with the participation of RECs and AU Partners to strategize on the AU 2015 Summit theme “Women Empowerment and Development towards Agenda 2063”. - This platform will be a great opportunity for stakeholders and CSOs to reflect on and propose concrete actions on the AU theme, the Agenda 2063 and moving forward with the Addis Ababa Declaration on the Beijing+20 review. CSOs will also be able to strategize on how to influence/use these various normative frameworks for gender equality and women’s empowerment in Africa reflecting on the AU Summit theme during and beyond 2015. - The Consultations will end with the adoption of a Communiqué from this meeting that will be presented to the AU Summit of January 2015. Journalists are invited to cover the opening ceremony on January 22nd at 9:00 AM and the closing ceremony on the 23rd at 13:50 PM The press conference will be held at 14:00 Hours in briefing room 1 Media Contact: Ms. Afrah M. Thabit Directorate of Information and Communication Cell: (+251) 911-200922 E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] Website :www.au.int For further information contact Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: [email protected] I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia Follow us Face book: https://www.facebook.com/AfricanUnionCommission Twitter: https://twitter.com/_AfricanUnion YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/AUCommission Learn more at: http://www.au.int