The Women Indaba is a signature two day event for the Women Community. It aims to create a discussion and a platform which supports an enabling environment for women to grow as successful entrepreneurs, to be economically and socially empowered, and to learn from various experiences and challenges across the SADC borders. Historically, patterns of marginalization have greatly affected feminist spa
ces, even as they strive for equality and justice. Certain voices and experiences are heard and valued while other voices and experiences are ignored or silenced. The two day event will encourage women to not only claim the space that they have been denied, but to also do the work of moving back and making space for others. The Indaba seeks to lobby for the ratification, implementation of policy and policy frameworks that have continued to hinder the progress of women and their empowerment. More importantly the Indaba seeks to bring women together to interrogate themselves on what they are doing to spearhead their own empowerment and try to do away with the blame-game.” It is for this reason that the theme for this year’s Indaba has been announced as “We are the change we have been waiting for”. Through cutting edge presentations, well researched papers from grassroots women in stakeholder communities and experts in different thematic areas and continued dialogue WEI will launch the annual momentous symposium to focus primarily on issues that affect women in relation to health, education, law, media, spirituality and the economy. The summit is set to draw women from countries in the SADC region in a bid to bring cohesion and total understanding of the international agenda on the empowerment of women. It will bring together a cream of the crop of women who have been the winds of change in women empowerment and development advocacy, women who have taken command of the boardroom in large corporate companies, made executive decisions that increased revenues, architects for women empowerment in their own rights and have been social stars by uplifting and empowering disadvantaged women and youth in their communities. The behavior and politics which have been known to push women to the margins of the economy in the SADC region can no longer be ignored.
