As we have fun Africa’s Girls’s Day, a pivotal second in African historical past, it’s a very good time to revisit a gathering that occurred in Tanzania in 1962 when girls from throughout the newly impartial nations of Africa converged in Dar es Salaam, united by a singular goal: to create a extra promising future for the continent. It wasn’t a social gathering, however a strategic meeting — the inaugural convention of the Pan-African Girls’s Organisation (PAWO).
The PAWO convention wasn’t only a milestone for African girls; it was the start of one thing nice for the continent. A 12 months later, in 1963, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the precursor to the African Union (AU), held its first summit in Addis Ababa. Whereas the boys deliberated on continental unity, PAWO had laid the groundwork. The brave and decided girls had set the stage for pan-Africanism, encouraging collaboration and a shared imaginative and prescient for a stronger Africa.
Pioneers with Objective: Constructing from the Floor Up
The ladies of PAWO weren’t merely spectators of change; they had been architects. I’m wondering why I had by no means heard of those girls nor learn concerning the PAWO convention in historical past books till Religion Adhiambo, the communications officer of the AU 2063 Agenda took us via the halls of the AU constructing, displaying us photographs of this necessary assembly that has formed the continent.
Rising up in Nigeria, we had been launched to every part the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) represents. It was some of the standard acronyms taught in elementary colleges and was almost not possible to overlook. However till I visited the African Union Headquarters, I by no means knew that girls like Yeshi Tadesse of Ethiopia, Barkire of Niger, Lutaya Kanza of RDC, and Kamara Da Costa of Guinea Bissau, amongst others had united as founding moms of the Pan African Girls Organisation one 12 months forward of the OAU. These girls understood that Africa’s true potential may solely be realised by empowering all its residents, particularly girls. Their focus wasn’t simply on political independence, but additionally on social and financial liberation.Â
Forty-three years after the inaugural PAWO convention, their foresight got here alive with the adoption of the groundbreaking Maputo Protocol by the AU in 2003. The Maputo protocol is a protocol to the African Constitution on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Girls in Africa. It advocates for girls’s rights in battle, peace, and growth – a direct echo of the issues raised on the PAWO convention.
Immediately, the echoes of Dar es Salaam reverberate within the halls of the African Union. Girls like Wynne Musabayana who heads communications of the African Union Fee, Leslie Richer, the AU’s Data and Communication Directorate, and Religion Adhiambo, the communications officer of Agenda 2063, are proof of the success of PAWO’s imaginative and prescient. I’ve had the privilege of assembly exceptional girls corresponding to Monique Nsanzabaganwa, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Fee, and different influential girls like Minata Samate Cessouma, Carine Maro, Oby Ezekwesili, Tuyeimo Haidula, Nobantu Modise, Leyla Benhmida, Melissa Babil, and plenty of extra. These girls are working tirelessly to steer the continent in direction of a future the place gender equality is not only a objective, however a actuality.
How The AU Media Fellowship is Retelling The African Narrative
PAWO is an inspiration, not only for Africa, however for your entire world. It reveals us the facility of collective motion, of ladies taking their rightful place on the decision-making desk, even within the face of historic disregard for his or her contributions. This crucial position of ladies within the continent’s growth is recognised within the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and has birthed initiatives such because the AU Media Fellowship (AUMF), in collaboration with the European Union, to make sure that Africa is on the forefront of defining and telling its narrative via new and rising applied sciences.
The Pan-African Girls’s Organisation might have been a spark, however the fireplace it ignited continues to burn brightly. As Africa charts its course towards a way forward for prosperity and peace, it does so with the invaluable contributions of its girls—those that got here earlier than us, and those that stroll amongst us immediately. Their legacy rings a strong reminder {that a} continent that empowers its girls empowers itself, and I’m proud to be witnessing it immediately.
