The United Nations (UN) official theme for International Women’s Day – For ALL women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment – highlights the ongoing global commitment to achieving gender equality and focuses on three main areas:
- Advancing women’s and girls’ rights by fighting for their human rights and combatting all forms of violence, discrimination, and exploitation
- Promoting gender equality by addressing systematic barriers, dismantling patriarchy, transforming entrenched inequities, and elevating the voices of marginalised women and children
- Fostering empowerment by ensuring inclusive access to education, employment, leadership, and decision-making spaces
As the global discourse around gender equality evolves, alarming trends such as the rise of anti-rights movements threaten progress. Afrobarometer, in collaboration with Oxfam in Africa and the International Development Research Center (IDRC), will host a webinar aimed at critically examining:
- Factors slowing the progress of gender equality and inclusive access to education, employment, leadership, and decision-making spaces
- Key human rights issues affecting women, including gender-based violence and discrimination
- The link between anti-rights movements and their negative impact on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).
Speakers
Amina Oyagbola, Afrobarometer Board Member
Amina Oyagbola is an independent director and business management consultant with more than 35 years of experience in legal practice and business management in corporate Nigeria, including as a former human resources and corporate services executive at MTN Nigeria. Her career spans human resources strategy and transformation, legal consulting, women’s empowerment, banking and finance, oil and gas, and telecommunications. She is the managing consultant of AKMS Consulting Ltd., a senior partner of Oyagbola Chambers, and a Chevening Scholar.
Among her many affiliations, she is a fellow and former chair of the Africa Leadership Initiative – West Africa, a fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, and founder and chairperson of WISCAR (Women in Successful Careers), a not-for-profit gender empowerment and strategic mentoring and leadership initiative for professional career women. In 2023, she was appointed to Nigeria’s Presidential Council on Support to Women and Girls, one of several honours recognising her contributions to gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Shannon van Wyk-Khosa, Afrobarometer Digital Portfolio Manager
Shannon is a Digital Communications Strategist specialising in socio-political communications. She started her career in the Advertising Industry before moving into the Social Impact Sector where she has worked in behaviour change communications and now occupies the role of Afrobarometer’s Digital Portfolio
Manager.
Shannon holds an undergraduate degree in Film and Media specialising in Online Media Production from the University of Cape Town and a postgraduate degree in Strategic Communications from Vega School. She’s currently completing a Master of Philosophy in Inclusive Innovation at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB). Her research focuses on the impact of Digital Democracy in governance processes and the role that digital tools play in extending democratic processes in society.
In 2020 Shannon was awarded the Bertha Scholarship by The Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the UCT Graduate School of Business. In the following year, Shannon was selected as a member of the 2021, Futurelect cohort (formerly the Apolitical Academy Southern Africa) and graduated from the programme as a Public Service Fellow.
Felister Gitonga, Gender Justice Lead, Oxfam in Africa
Felister Gitonga is an African feminist, Gender Justice expert and activist from Kenya. She has over 10 years’ experience in social justice, advocacy, policy analysis, and programmatic strategy on gender and has advocated for various women’s rights issues including, access to sexual and reproductive health rights, feminist transformative leadership ending gender-based violence including female genital mutilation and child marriage, and women economic justice.
Felister’s background is Journalism and Development Communication.
Martha Mutisi, Senior Program Specialist in Democratic and Inclusive Governance, IDRC.
Martha Mutisi is a Senior Programme Specialist with IDRC’s Democratic and Inclusive Governance (DIG) Program Area. Based in the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office- ESARO, Martha has worked with diverse stakeholders from government, regional organisations, and civil society institutions. She currently overseas a portfolio of research projects, focusing on strengthening access to justice, promoting accountability and empowerment of women and youth.
Martha is passionate about raising the profile of researchers from the global South in the current information landscape. She has supported various research institutions to integrate concrete approaches for strengthening the localization of knowledge into their research agendas.
Additionally, Martha continues to advocate for the creation of convivial knowledge sharing platforms where scholars, practitioners and policy makers can engage in open discourses on critical issues relating to the promotion of inclusive development.
During her doctoral studies at George Mason University (USA), Martha was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship (2006-2010) and a Josh Weston Fellowship (2008-2010). She also graduated with a Masters in Peace and Governance from Africa University, a Masters in Sociology and Anthropology as well as a Bachelor of Sociology Honours degree from the University of Zimbabwe.
Diana Demba Mutondo, country coordinator for the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM)
Diana’s role at APRM includes building capacity in member states for the promotion of good governance and tracking the implementation of governance practices in African Union member states, amongst other activities. In addition, she is also responsible for the development and implementation of the gender programme as well as the establishment of a communicators network to increase the participation of women and media professional in APRM. Diana has been instrumental to the APRM in securing new partnerships and strengthening collaboration with stakeholders, particularly member states, CSOs, AU organs and UN agencies.
Moderator – Maame Akua Amoah Twum
Maame Akua Amoah Twum is Afrobarometer Communications coordinator for anglophone West and North Africa, based at the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana). In this capacity, she is responsible for coordinating AB’s communication activities in Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, The Gambia and Liberia, including Tunisia, Algeria, Cabo Verde and Sao Tome and Principe.
Prior to joining CDD-Ghana, she worked as Assistant Manager, Communications for The Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Ghana Limited (TCCBCGL), a major beverage company with over 400,000 employees worldwide. She also served as Senior Corporate Affairs Executive for NDK Financial Services Limited, managing their website, social media, and handling internal and external communications.
Ms. Twum holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. She earned her master’s degree from University of Ghana, Legon in Communication Studies.