As one of the largest multi-sectoral convening to advance gender equality, convening 6,000 advocates onsite, and over 200,000 advocates online from diverse fields, the Women Deliver 2023 Conference has been co-created by grassroots advocates, youth, civil society, governments, multilateral organizations, and the private sector, including from and representing communities facing systemic discrimination around the world. Rwanda continues to make great effort in leading gender equality in the world. By 61.3%, it is the country in the world with first female majority in Parliament not forgetting that it has also promoted women’s health, made policies to advance equal pay and established laws criminalizing violence against women among others. This makes Kigali the perfect venue for Women Deliver 2023 because of its strong commitment to gender equality and girls and women’s health, according to Kathleen Sherwin, the outgoing CEO Women Deliver.

Women Deliver is a leading global advocate which aims at advancing gender equality, the health and rights of girls and women as well as driving political and financial input in them worldwide in all their intersecting identities. The theme of Women Deliver 2023 is spaces, solidarity and solutions. The conference will enhance collective power of diverse gender equality advocates with decision makers such as governments, international organizations and world leaders. There has been an online up surge from women all over the world joining the conference and a number of side events in comrade solidarity with the conference. The unity of diverse voices from African Feminists, European and American Feminists, Pacific and Asian feminists is the first show of commitment to gender equality. Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE) joins other advocates and stakeholders at Women Deliver 2023 to call for improved laws, systems and financing for gender equality.

In Uganda, FOWODE has consistently made strides in providing solutions to the country’s governance and women’s participation therein through spaces such as the young feminist leadership camps, where we build the capacities of girls in transformative leadership. Our young leadership camps have to date built the capacities of over 20,000 young women from across Uganda. The initiative employs a feminist-centrist approach to train, continuously mentor and facilitate spaces for sharing, learning & strategizing. Our young leaders have a vibrant alumni program where seasoned leaders from earlier cohorts can continue to impart mentorship on the other young leaders.

The theme of women deliver is a timely call to champion spaces, solidarity and solutions all over the world in the women’s movement. This theme is vividly explained by president and CEO Women deliver Maliha Khan that women and girls deserve inclusive spaces in order to investigate the heart of our challenges in solidarity because it is only in working together and taking collective action that solutions to these problems can be achieved. I believe that the gathering of so many Feminists from across the globe is already half the solution to the challenges we face. The unity of people from different ethnic, religious, and intersecting identities implies a willingness to effect the change that the world deserves today. We hope that from interactions from the theme we may be able to actualize meaningful partnerships to advocate for the power of all women worldwide.

Whereas there is still an uphill of a task and obvious backlash against women’s rights advancement in wider areas of Uganda, we hope to extend our advocacy to helpless women all over the world in solidarity for sisterhood. This Global Dialogue will act as a global mobilization platform and space for Regional Convening Partners to amplify work being done on the ground to advance gender equality, as well as to network, share new evidence, knowledge, and content, and attend events or watch recordings, a timely call that we all shouldn’t miss! #WD2023