Subject: Invitation to the Inaugural Policy Dialogue Series on Gender, Disaster Risk Reduction, Outbreaks & Epidemics and Food Security on the African Continent
The AUC and the ARC are jointly organizing the inaugural session of the Policy Dialogue series on Gender, Disaster Risk Reduction, Outbreaks, Epidemics and Food security. The inaugural session aims to sustainably engage policy and decision makers on the African continent on the need to strengthen policy measures for a more significant impact on matters of mainstreaming gender equality and women and youth empowerment issues in the Disaster Risk Management and Financing, Health emergencies and food security landscape.
It is our pleasure to invite you to this inaugural session, which will be held at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from Tuesday, 4 July to Wednesday, 5 July 2023.
The session is being organised under the auspices of the ARC and AUC Gender and Disaster Risk Management platform (GDRMP), which is a joint initiative of the African Risk Capacity and the AUC’s DRR Unit in the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment (ARBE), and the Women, Youth and Gender Directorate (WYGD), established in May 2021 to ensure the integration of gender equality and women empowerment issues in the disaster risk management and financing landscape.
Importantly to note, ARC is operationalising the 'Global Network Against Food Crises’, contributing to ending hunger in countries at risk of food crises through a joint programme implemented in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) with the financial support of the European Union. An essential focus of the programme includes strengthening the capacities of different actors through policy dialogue and advocacy on DRM at country, regional, and continental level.
The policy dialogue series will serve as a platform to sustainably engage policy and decision makers on the African continent on the need to strengthen policy measures for a more significant impact on matters of mainstreaming gender equality and women and youth empowerment issues in the Disaster Risk Management and Financing, Health emergencies and food security landscape. In addition, it will allow participants share experiences and lessons learned, and develop strategies for implementing the PoA of the Sendai Framework, including operationalising the Gender and DRM Platform and identifying mechanisms for increased budget allocation for gender-sensitive, multi-disciplinary and inclusive DRR, as well as prepare a policy brief to inform decision-making across the continent on gender, natural disaster risk management, health and food security.
The inaugural policy dialogue series will bring together influential policy and decision makers, experts and other key representatives, on the issues, from governments and intergovernmental organisations, civil society organisations, and other major groups, along with international development partners, the REC’s, and representatives of the international financial institution and UN system amongst other stakeholders.
