GYA members Connie Nshemereirwe (Uganda) and Shaheen Motala-Timol (Mauritius) and alumna Amal Amin Ibrahim (Egypt) attended the “International Forum on Women and Sustainable Development in Africa” in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, organised by the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC), the Académie des sciences (France) and the Tanzania Academy of Sciences on 8-10 March 2018. The conference focused on the contribution by women to social and economic progress in African countries. The two-and-a-half day international forum also served to highlight the challenges encountered by women in their pursuits to care for families. Further topics of discussion were education, improved access to water and energy, healthy food, combating negative effects of climate change and sustaining a growing, young and under-employed population. The achievements already made in Africa on these matters were presented with an emphasis on the means required to accelerate the transition.
Around 150 delegates from 25 countries discussed the role of women in sustainable development in Africa and closed the forum by issuing the Dar-es-Salaam Declaration, which voices concerns and recommendations for the inclusion of women in all frameworks for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
