As we prepare to dissect intersection approaches to women’s rights at the Women Deliver 2023 conference in Rwanda, Chasing the Wada Dream Documentary has been selected to film during the conference. Africa is always last in the queue for not only technological advancement but also development, investment and promotion of fundamental human rights, among others. A key priority for Women Deliver and partners is to ensure that WD2023 is symbiotic and beneficial to other key policy windows that advance Gender Equality, like technology advancement in the contemporary world.

In the Documentary film, Mercy, the coordination lead at Wada says they are going to give access to people on the continent and in the Diaspora to actively be part of this revolution. What is this revolution? Chasing the Wada Dream is the story of Mercy and Josh, Afia and Daniel and many other people bringing opportunity and education to Africa with the use of modern technology. Africa is a beehive of underprivileged compared to other parts of the world, yet we harbor so much potential in the continent. It is therefore important to drive the conversation in the one of the world’s biggest platforms for corporation towards creating space to discuss Block Chain and Cardano and how they can help with everyday development and gender inequality issues on the continent, and more specifically, how these technologies can amplify women’s voices.

Discrimination against an individual basing on their gender remains one of the most unfair and inexplicable forms of oppression, yet deep rooted forms of misogyny still persist due to cultural and religious philosophies. This discrimination permeates into the technology world, keeping many girls and women from effectively accessing and utilizing modern technology. Pacific and African Feminists have not always had the opportunity they deserve on the global stage and that is why Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE) is thrilled to be part of Women Deliver 2023 to watch and participate in the unfolding of a collective global Wada Dream. Members in the conference will be contributing to conversations on what should be done to provide, improve and sustain women’s stance on gender equality in the world, sub-Saharan Africa and Uganda in particular.

In this space, there is an opportunity to identify solutions that work best for any particular group of women. This will also be a space for learning and benchmarking from sister networks and movements. We hope to discover new support structures, groupings and communities of practice to launch momentum and women friendly change on a unified international level. What does block chain mean for Africa? Would it mean bringing new opportunities and new technology? We believe it is a catalyst for us to exercise inclusive empowerment of women disadvantaged by poverty, geopolitics, disability among others. Spaces call for an inclusive future without undeserved oppression.

Chasing the Wada Dream conveys a sense of hope that whether or not hard to reach rural areas especially those within Africa understand the new wave of revolution or the direction the world is taking, these changes are already altering the land dramatically but positively. The Women Deliver 2023 Conference, and its entire audience are a clear sign that women once allowed the space to thrive derive solutions to the problems we face and point to a future where every woman who has her voice heard thrives and changes the
community.
FOWODE has intentionally been creating spaces for technological growth through its of Institutional Development, Engagement and Sustainability (IDEAS) program under which the idea of the Imara Women’s Centre (IWC) was birthed. The IWC is FOWODE’s initiative to anchor our work on the advancement of women’s rights. The IWC is a space for women’s independent organizing and a practical base from which to advance the struggle for gender equality. One of its key establishments shall be a women’s
space for creativity, innovation, learning and networking. The Women Deliver 2023 Conference provides an opportunity to brew a global conversation on the need to catalyze modern technology to empower the feminist movement and advance gender equality globally, championed by state and non-state actors.