Concept note 

Women have been at the forefront of social progress on the African continent for decades – but their contributions are not often recognized. Throughout Africa’s history, women have been leaders and critical problem solvers, commanding militaries during the precolonial period, as freedom fighters during independence movements, as transitional leaders during post- conflict periods, and as leaders during some of the worst economic, political, and health crises of the 21st century. Despite their charismatic leadership and 25 years after the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which set the international target for reaching gender balance in political decision-making, African women remain underrepresented across all levels of power.

Globally, women still occupy only 1 in 4 of the available parliamentary positions. For every 100 people serving in cabinets around the world, only seven are women. In Africa, one in every five parliamentary seats is held by a woman. Unfortunately, only two sub regions - Southern Africa and East Africa - largely account for Africa’s high rates of women’s representation (about 1 in three parliamentarians is a woman). The other three sub regions (West Africa, North Africa and Central Africa) have only about 20% women’s representation in elective positions.

Evidently, women’s representation in political institutions, policy-making and decision-making processes has remained limited. Notwithstanding the disproportionate impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on women’s social and economic lives, women leaders have continued to prioritize lives and livelihoods.

Whilst, women’s equal participation and leadership in political and public life are essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, the puzzle remains; how are African countries utilizing real-time data to address the gender gap in leadership?

To reflect and discuss in depth the progress made towards addressing the underrepresentation of  women in leadership, challenges experienced, lessons learnt and future opportunities,   the Network of Impact Evaluation  Researchers in Africa (NIERA)  and  IDinsight have  organized  a webinar on   23^rd March 2022 at 3:30pm to 5:00pm (Nairobi time).

Featuring the following speakers, the webinar will bring together leaders across different industries, development practitioners, researchers, policy makers and media practitioners across East Africa and beyond.

Speakers.

●        Prof Amos Njuguna: Chair, Network of Impact Evaluation  Researchers in Africa (NIERA) and Dean, School of Graduate Studies, Research and Extension at United States International University-Africa

●        Betty Sungura-Nyabuto: CEO, National Gender Equality Commission

●        Faith Gitonga: Country Manager, Cellulant

●        Dr Fiona Wanjiku Moejes, Acting CEO and Director of Programmes, Mawazo Institute

●        Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi: Executive Director of the African Population and Health Research Centre

Moderator.

1.                   Frida Njogu-Ndongwe, East and South Africa Regional Director, IDinsight

Registration

To participate, please register your interest through this registration link.

About IDinsight

IDinsight is a global advisory, data analytics, and research organization that helps development leaders maximize their social impact. We tailor a wide range of data and evidence tools, including randomized evaluations and machine learning, to help decision-makers design effective programs and rigorously test what works to support communities. We work with governments, multilaterals, foundations, and innovative non-profit organizations in Asia and Africa. We work across a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, education, health, governance, sanitation, and financial inclusion. We have offices in Dakar, Rabat, Lusaka, Manila, Nairobi, New Delhi, and Remote.

About NIERA

Established in 2018, we are a network of African scholars seeking to advance decision-focused impact evaluation of development programs through capacity building, evidence generation and policy outreach. NIERA is hosted under The United States International University-Africa’s (USIU-Africa) in Nairobi, Kenya.

NIERA is an association currently comprising of alumni of the East Africa Social Science Translation (EASST) Collaborative and has membership across five member countries – Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Rwanda equipped with multi-sectoral expertise (high level academic degrees and experience in conducting rigorous evaluations) in various thematic areas.