Different people from across the globe gathered in Kigali, Rwanda for the first-ever Women Deliver Conference taking place in the African continent. Some of the revealers shared their expectations and insights during the pre-conference events on Sunday, July 16.
With more than 6,000 physical participants and more than 200,000 virtual participants, prior to the official kick-off on Monday 17, some pre-conference events took place and so the revealers of Women Deliver Conference 2023 shared what they expect to get from such an international conference. Here come some exclusive incepts they shared.
On to the ‘Gender and the Climate Crisis’ as a stand-alone pre-conference event of WD2023 held at Ubumwe Grande Hotel, the focus was on what to look into the nexus between gender and climate justice.
Peter Ngure
The Kenyan-based FP2030 representative in the Eastern-Southern African Hub told RCCDN that the nexus between gender and climate justice has become an important aspect of people’s daily lives, with the increasing climate change that is happening in the world.
“There are a lot of effects for women and girls; from menstrual health issues of land and energy, where women are not able to access the right health services, the right education and no rights to use their land or even access energy that is debating the world,” said Ngure.
When asked what his expectations are, Peter Ngure shared that it all will come in through the conversations, “Through the conversation around how we can give power back to women and deep power back to the people who are at the grassroots, we are looking forward to having more conversation around localizing and decolonising, the hardcore and money putting resources, where women and girls are the grassroots.”
Grace Valentine
After learning about the Women Deliver Conference through her mother, the 16-year-old, Grace Valentine was interested to join the conference as she believed that it could be a learning experience for her. After attending the Gender and Climate Crisis pre-conference session, Grace revealed that she learnt a lot, especially about how there are problems being faced globally.
She said, “Some problems are not only where I come from, but they are also all over the world instead, and the way they are trying to fix them and them goes with a lot of situations going on.”
On what she expected, Grace said that she believes to get the solution in relation to climate justice that will ensure the best living environment for the next generation. “We as young people, we are the future leaders and we want a suitable life and a place to live in that is secure, healthy and also a good environment for our kids,” she said.
Grace urged her fellow young people to be open-minded, and never hide anything that they are not comfortable with. “Be open and don’t hide. Talk to older people about the problems you have and together work on how they can be solved.”
Mark Gachagua
Since 2016, Mark has been in different learning programs of Women Deliver Conferences, thus he still confirms that there are always new areas of interest and huge changes in every intake. Being in Kigali this time around ‘It has been a blast.’ Helping people to know how real climate change is and the way each can play a role in ensuring climate justice, access to energy, dealing with water shortage and what is happening within people’s surroundings are some of the ways to come to long-lasting solutions in terms of gender.
Mark, who was so happy to see a 16-year-old girl attending the WD2023, revealed how this is an added value. “Since the younger generation is the one that will actually face the biggest burden of climate change, having them here is a plus.”
He shared what he expects from the Women Deliver Conference which is very intentional. Mark said, “Women Deliver is not only just a cocktail of issues but also a cocktail of solutions. So I’m expecting those to come out clearly and more coherently in the different sessions that we have and even engage young people like us who are involved.”
