approaches in leadership and peace building. and one of the main examples that come to mind is in mali, for example, i don't know if you're familiar with west africa, but mali in 2012 had a military coup. jihadists came and took over the northern half of the country. and during that period of time, women didn't have -- well they were not even allowed to even show their hands or feet. but after the jihadists left, there was still six sigma and there was a need to reconstruct the social structure. and basically, what women did is that they came together illegally and the younger women who had exposure to facebook, twitter, to brazilian tv soap operas were the ones who were training their mothers on how to speak up or how to discuss with men and how to make sure they find a room at the table of

negotiations. these intergenerational capacity building programs have really worked in these types of situations and they've also shown that when women decide that they want a new role in society, it happens really fast. now, the main challenge that i would like to highlight, and maybe we can all answer this question together is how do we make sure that the progress that are made at the grass roots level also translate at the regional level and at the national level? because in these countries like mali, for example you have very interesting progress at the grass roots level. but you have 34 government ministers and there is not -- there is not -- no one woman. or if there is one, this woman is in charge of women's affairs or social issues or fishery. not that i have anything against fishery. but, i think that if you want women to basically take a leadership role, then you need to give them a substantive portfolio.

looking forward to discussion. >> thank you very much. [ applause ] madame ambassador. >> thank you. i think my colleagues have addressed many aspects that i'm not going to repeat. one other thing i -- you know, once again, maybe because you asked also to use examples that we know of. the first thing is the mind set. the mindset is to see women as agents not as soldiers, regardless of any kind of policy we can put in place if the women are not empowered enough to take into the hand so that women empowerment is definitely the biggest thing. the second i can maybe think of for discussion purposes once again because you've addressed some of the agenda and so on, so

forth, is that women have to be included in all the levels where you want to change anything. you can't talk about ending violence. you can't talk about ending anything without women being present. so it means that if we need to put people in peacekeeping, women have to be there and be represented. if we are talking about ending family violence, women have to be totally diverse, whether we talk about the doctors who are going to see the women, the policeman who is going to see the women and everybody else who are connected to the case. because representation is big. that's the bottom line. without representation, people speak about you, they empower you, but you are not empowered yourself. so for me that's where i can say, maybe, if i talk about where i think we've been successful because women are a part of the agenda, women are setting the course of the next

20 years, 30 years, and so on, and so forth. so i leave it there and i'm open to questions. >> that's very helpful. thank you very much. [ applause ] i've been reminded -- and i should have said at the beginning, for those who tweet, you can tweet today. and the hashtag is africa day 2015. so tweet freely. and now, jackie. >> thank you. good afternoon. i also don't want to repeat what other colleagues said but thought i could just wrap up this part of the conversation by sharing with you five things that we as an organization have learned through working with african women. i'm always sensitive, as you are, to lump all of africa, this whole continent together at the risk of oversimplifying but i'll share some examples from africa but lessons that also relate to women around the world. if i might start by thinking, members of -- ambassador levin mentioned the women waging peace network, which is a group we support, and you are a member of others. others will i hope join as well.

when i wrote to several of them and mentioned i'd be on this panel and asked for input, i got a lot of great suggestions. one of my favorite e-mails that came back said, finally said, don't worry, jackie, everything will be fine. ambassador lightman is an honorary african woman. so he'll know what to say. so very much earned your stripes to be speaking on this day. so five things we've learned from african women. first, we shouldn't be waiting until a crisis to invest in women's leadership. it's not a project and it shouldn't be projectized. it is a long-term investment strategy. we saw a great example of this come through in a report that the u.s. government released a couple weeks ago around the u.s. national action plan discussing the fact that they had been supporting through u.s. n.a.p., a group of women in sierra leone

to focus on women's leadership and development skills. the intention was not in any way to address the ebola crisis. this was much before the ebola crisis struck. they were focusing on women's leadership and women's leadership in communities. when the crisis hit, this was one of the groups best connected to do things that were absolutely essential at the time. they were connecting people from communities with health care workers, they were providing information to the national government like women's roles in burial processes and tracking family members and et cetera. so the idea of creating a women's network and building capacity and ensuring women felt empowered after a crisis like ebola hits just simply isn't realistic. but the idea of investing in women and women's leadership in times -- beyond times of crisis is essential. secondly, we need to be very clear that we need -- when we are providing funding or support from an outside organization that we need to ensure that african women's groups set their own agenda and set their priorities. and credit to the state department in this regard where credit is due. we've been working with a group of women from sudan and south

sudan for about ten years, in part through state department funding, and as you can imagine, about four years ago the situation between the two countries looked very different. and the state department provided funding for work related to the separation of the two countries. women from both countries talking about how they would separate peacefully, the terms of the agreement, et cetera. when the crisis broke out in the south, as you can imagine, everything changed significantly. and as a funder, the government was very willing and open to say, all right, women in south sudan were able to focus on what they wanted to focus on. cessation of hostilities agreement. peace negotiations themselves and women were sudan were able to focus on the national dialogue process. they were saying we've got these beautiful log frames. they don't mean anything anymore. let us adapt to the situation, reality on the ground. unfortunately in some cases funders are willing and able to do that. third point is that the ecosystem in which women's leadership exists matters very much. the idea that there is such a thing as women's issues is something that just blows my mind.

i can't understand what a women's issue that isn't also a community issue or a security issue. security sector reform is a women's issue. corruption is a women's issue. a whole range of issues, access to justice are women's issues. something i think is a success particularly in your country, ambassador, is the acknowledgement of the issue of land rights and women's access to land and access to inheriting land as core to their ability to participate in public life and participate in security conversations. my most favorite statistic around africa overall, and i think it sums up so much, is that women are responsible for 70% of agricultural production, yet own less than 1% of the land. that's a huge, huge issue. agriculture productivity is another issue. if we start to address these things, it is all part of a large ecosystem or chain of events that enables women to participate in different aspects of life.

fourtds, what -- fourth what we've seen african women lead on around the world in the last 15 to 20 years has been redefining the term "security" toward more of a notion toward human security. and in beijing we're about the 20th anniversary of the large u.n. conference in beijing. it was women from rwanda, south africa, a number are countries, women saying we played a significant role in the wars in our country and rebuilding the country. we need to think of ways as an international community to address these topics. one of the most powerful experiences that i had working with colleagues in sudan and south sudan was around the separation of the two countries. gathered a group of sudanese and south sudanese women together and talked about petroleum. this was one of the major issues being negotiated by an ambassador and his colleagues. many people were saying there's no gender dimension to petroleum. the oil agreements. there's no gender. maybe there is something around the economy or maybe something like that. and so when you break it down

withwoman is they were identifying the way that communities interacted with issues. so instead of talking only about protecting oil installations or extracting resources or setting prices, they were talking about the environmental impacts of oil installations. they were talking about the environmental impacts of transportation routes. they were saying, for example, some of these places, water is heavily polluted. women are responsible for collecting water. they have to walk further to get to clean water. they and their families are much more vulnerable to being attacked or to drinking polluted water, et cetera. it's all again part of a system that needs to be addressed. we've seen african women i think take a massive lead on redefining this term of security. then fifth, the final thing i'd say is that we have a ridiculous aversion i think in many parts of the world, including this country, to learning from africa. i think what africa has taught us is that there is a whole lot more that we need to learn. we focus a lot on my organization on national action plans. some of the best national action plans are in africa. some of the most sophisticated systems of monitoring an evaluation, the most advanced systems of indicator tracking

are in africa and they're actually being implemented. there are a whole range of other really amazing sets of work done around security sector reform. my colleagues were just in nigeria last week and met with groups of women that they said were -- needed to come and give us lectures on how to advocate to our military and police institutions. just remarkable capacity. and i think many of us -- many of us have, either through a range of biases, racism, classism, et cetera, this reluctance to learn from africa and from african community. and finally, i also think it is always entertaining this idea of with young people now we talk about the shared economy. so uber and air b and b and all these things and we act as though we've invented the idea of shared economies. but is there anything more african than the concept of collective property and share something property like that. i think there is a whole massive

set -- whole turn in our economy and the way that it's shifting that is towards the capacities and skill sets toward a number of african entrepreneurs. that we need to be clueing into. so i'll leave it at that as our five things. >> thank you. [ applause ] let me ask -- because camissa raised this whole question you have a lot of women working at the grass roots level and in social reconstruction after a conflict but it doesn't always transfer to the post conflict situation or to the higher levels. in some cases, it has, i found it very hard for them at the grassroots level to be able to crack through in the key negotiations of peace and security where the priorities were often wrong on the part of the negotiators because they

weren't really sensitive to how people were suffering. and it was difficult. now why is it that in rwanda and mozambique you've come out of a conflict -- terrible conflicts in both countries, and instituted such strong gender equality in the constitutions, et cetera. may still be challenges, but in both cases i think rwanda and mozambique stand out. how did that happen? was it because women were pushing at it and demanding it? did they play a particular role in the conflict and situation? or was it just enlightenment? either one, perhaps. >> thank you. let me add another dimension, which is the elections, the participation of women in the election processes. i feel that this is very important. when women participate in this electoral processes, they are

part, they are prepared the processes and they campaign to be voted or to elect other women to the positions. power positions. and in mozambique we have the experience which is successful, the quota system. i know that in other parts the quota system is not applied because there are people who think that that is a kind of man's marginalization. but in mozambique it works and it has worked. that's why we have reached such total of women enrolled in decision positions. yes, women participant. we have conflict.

and since women are the most affected, they are much more easily are able -- it's true that it's not always they are seated at the table the decision table to solve the conflicts or even after the conflicts. but they are there, and they are the grassroots organizations, and they help build the society. and they help to sustain the societies. so i think that we have to work much more in terms of empowering women to be able, themselves to defend themselves, to defend their rights in the society. >> thank you. madam ambassador? your thoughts? >> there are a few things, if i can say why it is happening. and you mentioned the history

also. you have a very tiny country with a million people dying in three months. and you either die or you resurrect. so what happened was that the first thing that was able to revive our country and also comprehensively include women is that we needed to harness all the efforts of everybody in the country to be alive. and women had -- are the ones who kept the fabric of the country going. given the incredible challenges when you are looking at people who -- a society that has been reduced in ashes. but so there are three things. one is leadership. you have to set a vision that this is what you want. you have to have intentionality. there's intention. and then you really have to marry policy and practices. so it means that in our

particular situation, we created what we call home grown initiatives. socioeconomic initiatives give toward empowerment of women. so for instance we say like what does it mean to give a cow to poor women so they are able to organize themselves. or community work, cooperatives, where they put people together, they are able to get microfinance and they can start business. so i'm talking about intention. intention has to be there. principles have to be translated into practices. so you really have to create that kind of pathway and that's what we did. thank you. >> i'm going to open it up now to the audience. but you know, i once asked a revolutionary leader in africa who had come to power but i was raising with him sort of a problem of gender discrimination in parts of the country.

and he said, well, then the women just have to organize and fight for what they want. now it was a little bit self-serving comment, but there's some truth to it, it seems to me, that it's not just organization, it's willingness to demand inclusion and rights. i assume that that was also part of the experience in your country. kamissa, you worked with a lot of organizations. >> i worked with a lot of organizations. and really, and i've said it during my short presentation, is that you have these grassroots women leaders who have nobody to look up to. there is nobody in the government who will actually represent them and who will make sure that their voices are heard or that their interests are served in the government, at the national level, and at the regional level. and maybe because we're talking

about the au here i wonder how we can talk about women's leadership in african when the au has never, ever sent a woman as an international mediator. in africa over the past -- i don't know, i would say over the past ten years, for example, in west africa, we've had conflicts in liberia, in mali, in sierra leone, and not even once was there a woman who was sent as a mediator. it was only this long-serving presidents. i'm sure there are qualified women out there. so when you said marrying policy and practices, i like it. it's really -- that's the issue. so it's nice to be talking about women's participation. but how do you make it happen. >> good comment. i think you've provoked a good set of questions. i think people should go to the

microphone and then we'll take them in order. please. >> good afternoon. my name is allison shapira. i teach public speaking and presentation skills with a special focus on helping women around the world find their voice and their courage to speak up. and so my question for the panel is, what specific skills do you think women need to learn in the process of being empowered in order to drive are the region forward? thank you. >> jackie, you work a lot on that. you want to start on that? >> you know, i -- confidence isn't a skill but it is confidence that's needed most. i've actually never liked the word "empowerment." to me, it's the idea of someone can give you power. i think what we see is that women have power if they choose to use it and to exercise it.

so we do a lot of work with women leaders. our premise is always you know what you need and you know what your community needs, and all we need to do is work on packaging how you say it. i think that's the biggest issue, the single biggest issue holding women back is the idea that their knowledge or their experiences are somehow less than those of their male colleagues. constantly, we're in workshops where people say, you know, we're too illiterate. we're not literate enough. we need to make sure that maybe next-generation or in ten or twenty years we can read then we'll be able to run for office or something. the most important answer is do you have a vision for your community? do you know what the issues are? do you know what you want to change? if so, then go for it and the rest -- it's not like all of your male colleagues have all of these skills. women have a perception that everyone else has the skills and they don't. we're often getting requests from women -- we need capacity building, capacity building. our answer is often, no, you don't. you actually don't. you have everything you need. we'll work with you to maybe

shorten your responses or you throw in some lingo or some jargon that will make international policymakers think you know exactly what you are talking about. but it's really confidence and the assertiveness and belief that you belong there as opposed to the skills. >> anybody tells want to comment on that question? >> i think that while women have to be -- have to have access. for instance, for technology tools. we see that in many parts of africa where women have access to cell phone. a simple cell phone. that is a very powerful tool. she can use for whatever she needs to connect. and also to improve their life, her life, and her family life. that is a skill. >> good point.

go here. gentleman there. >> my name is pierre from national endowment for democracy. i want to thank everyone for all the presentation. i really -- one thing that struck me was i didn't hear about the participation of women in the media. the media is one of the most important institution in terms of development or democracy or post-conflict building, whatever you want to call it. >> women's participation -- >> in the media. in the media. yes. what can be done or what is being done in the countries of the other panelists, what is being done to address that? and my second question -- kamissa touched a little on it when she was talking about grass roots women leaders who don't have anyone to look up to in the government. what can be done so that a lot of these women in those countries that meet the quotas, a lot of them are just the daughters of, or wife of. what can be done to make sure

that that representation is key for women or what is being done to make sure grassroots women leaders can access those positions where they can actually make a change? >> i'm going to take two or three questions because we have a lot and want to make sure people get them on. that one on the media and grassroots. then the woman right here. >> yes. thank you very much. my name is corneli weis. this is directed to madam ambassador from rwanda but would be delighted to hear from any of you. you had said a threat to anywhere affects everywhere. and i ask you to think about the situation right now in burundi. right now it is in the midst of needing conflict prevention. just recently, i understand, that the great mother has gone into hiding. and so there was a discussion

that the au's never sent a woman as an international mediator. there are talks right now about you need elders to go back in there just like years ago and so i'm asking, i'm asking the women here to stand up and be leaders and i think rwanda, if anywhere knows what can happen and i ask you to stand up and i'd like to hear what you plan to do. thank you. >> okay. let's take those two. we have one on media, and one specifically on the problems -- crisis in burundi. you want to take that one first? >> because you ask the questions specifically for me, of course what is happening in burundi is -- we are trying to see how we can do it originally, but

also on a country basis. we are being not only following the situation but also helping the situation. as you are aware of, there are many refugees. in my country, i think -- i haven't looked at the numbers but there are ten of thousands of refugees who are coming from burundi coming to rwanda. and it means that all the mechanism of treating people but also women specifically is part of what we are doing. so we are expanding even our resources to try to accommodate the people coming to us. understanding also is something that peace -- and you know, we are a part of the people who are trying to bring peace and stability in the region for this specific time. we are not -- in burundi, we are standing with the international community but also regional and local communities to try to see

how the people can come together and talk and not encourage any violence. so locally for what rwanda has done not on policy level but how they have inspired themselves to burundi, that is the situation we are taking right now. but also dealing with the immediate and very challenging issues like people's rights. you have heard, for instance, that some people are dying from cholera in large numbers among refugees who are living in burundi. it means that all of the mechanism have put together for our own people. in the last couple of years, 20 years, also to the service of the people who coming in especially in terms of health. so can maintain lives of people who have found safe asylum. but as you are saying, i agree with you that everyone should look and see how we can address or help the situation in

burundi. as it evolves. there are quite a few american organizations. i heard about an institute i know they have extended themselves in terms of relief and so on and so forth. so i don't know if i'm answering the question. the question is how do we address it beyond that? >> i think this is a perfect opportunity for women's leadership in conflict prevention, you're a woman leader. and to be there with a council of elders to help try to solve this. >> and this we use -- ourselves you know we are still on a long journey of reconciliation and building. we have achieved some mighty stones and we'll put whatever we have on the service of burundi. you know one thing -- i cannot for instance when i work for peacekeeping and we are one of

the largest for africa we don't do just peace keeping, we do peace building. if you went to south sudan, you'd find the same type of programs that we have in terms of reconciliation. central africa the public have one program. this is what we are intending also to do when it comes to burundi. >> i think madam ambassador, the suggestion is that you go as mediator in burundi. i think that's -- >> individually. yes. >> on behalf of the eu. we have a question -- we had a yes earlier on the role of media, women in media. does anybody -- >> since the question was asked by one of my colleagues, i will let other people answer. >> well, i can take that. i'm going to talk about my country. in my country women are involved in media. and we have organization, women's organizations, who voice the concerns of women. we have an organization of women

in media, in the media. so what i can say is that it's important to have much more women. because they are much more sensitive when it deals with women's issues. and i don't -- i cannot say much more than that, than it is important to have women in the media. and they are growing. they are organizing in the civil society as women in media. >> i'm going to take three questions now in a row. so we get as many people because time is running short. start with the woman there. then i'll go back and forth. >> my name is ida. i'm from africa.

and i thank you all for everything from what i have heard. when we are talking about peace and development i think the first thing that comes to my mind is food agriculture. i didn't hear that. from the two -- and the other thing i would like to know is maybe from the organizers how they came up with who represented out of all 54 regions of africa. are we talking about international african.

but i see with the money that was intended. the other thing is -- we can't have everybody have too many questions. >> well, this is maybe this is the last one. >> okay. quickly. >> yes. the participants, we heard about the conflicts going on in rwanda. and if -- i would like to read something here very brief which i think would be part of the solution about what's going on for us in africa. where i come from. and this is about to americans. i read it from a geographic book written by jack mcclinton. they say that the ship of africa the size and ship and the

composition of today's african countries have very little to do -- have very little in relation to the cultures or geography of that continent. they were created by europeans for their convenience and after a look of haggling during which no african was represented at a conference in berlin in 1894. the europeans simply chopped africa into pieces and handed it out splitting tribal -- >> okay. i apologize. i think we got -- we'll take the question but i want to open it up to more. but i understand the question. >> so we have to find solution. i think that's what we should address first. >> right. thank you. we'll come here. >> good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. my name is rosemary, i'm the president of hope for tomorrow. we focus on conflicts and violence prevention. i come from kenya. i want to say thank you so much.

many times we have never had the ambassador women speak about conflicts of women. conflicts and women, because at the u.s.-african summit, i wrote an executive summary to president obama. i was part of the event on peace security and women and agriculture. now, the women empowerment, let me tell you where it started. you know where it started? nairobi. in 1985. that was when we met empowerment, before beijing. beijing is on the top, africa is down. and the african women are the ones suffering. i focus on the rural areas. now that we are here together. i'm talking about born and raised in africa. if we don't take this ourselves from you today, help the rural area african women who you know rwanda and the ice cream ladies. they really make me proud. so we africans who are born and raised in africa, we need to be

on the forefront as the young lady say, we need to be on the table of peacekeeping. if we don't, women in the congo have been wrecked. now burundi, in rwanda. you know what came out of it now that women are leading because they knew women are coming out and we are on the table now. 50%, 61%. women in parliament. no men can say something about abusing them or say something. so i really appreciate the president of rwanda and the women of rwanda. so now that we are here this day talking about women, we can eat, sleep and talk, tomorrow and until next year. until 20 # 3 -- 2063 and women are suffering. what can you tell us from this point of level, from this place of peace and security, u.s. institute, what are we going to do to the common woman in the rural area of africa until tomorrow and today, though my organization called hope for tomorrow. we want a change in african

women. >> i apologize -- >> born and raised in african. not on television not in radio, not in newspapers. there has to be a change from today. you will be seeing me knock on your offices. and don't close your door. thank you. >> okay. i want to try and take another question here but it's -- before time runs out. i apologize if we have to move along. yes. >> you excellencies, thank you for this opportunity. i'm university of california student. i'm currently at the african women's leadership. this organization invests in women professionally and through leadership and networking and i want to ask in what other means can diaspora individuals and groups outside of africa be invested in so they can help enhance this mission of women

empowerment that was just established in 2015. >> let's try to address some of those and i'll try and get back to as many as we can. we had a question about the whole historical issues of borders and whether that is contributing to the problems. we have the question around rural women, in particular. then this last question. so i'll let any of you address any of those that you wish. >> go ahead. >> let me address about diaspora. the participation of diaspora. we have many people coming from africa either living born from africans or living here coming from africa. and what we used to do is to work with them and ask them to

organize themselves in associations. so that they can first help each other and also be able to strategize how to connect with their home countries. we have many people from mozambique who are here. they have different associations in different places where they live. and what normally they do, they connect with the country through the embassy or themselves. they collect some kind of support to the fellow mozambiquens who are in country who are in need from cloth, from different tools, from educational material, and other kinds. but also they organize themselves to rebuild their

lives in mozambique because they know, they understand that at end of the day, their families are in mozambique. they are there. their roots are there. so i think that it's very important to have diasporas. we used to say that they are how ambassadors here in the united states and elsewhere. and we immediate with them we organize them, we help them organize themselves. and they're our base. we come and we go. as embassies. they're here. they live here. they know how this country works. they are enjoying the hospitality of the united states of america and they have always to reconnect to the country. so it is important to work with the diaspora and have them grow in this country. >> i would think it's also important in a conflict

situation that the diaspora does not contribute to the conflict, because sometimes in some cases the same divisions in the country are reflected in the diaspora and i think that's something that has to be addressed. did anybody want to comment on the rural women issue and the importance? >> what i can say is that you can't really develop anything without inclusive development. i'm using your words. but the rural development, you were talking about food and agriculture. the majority of our women work in agricultural industry. in a traditional agriculture. it means that at the same time they -- like 90%. 90% live in rural areas. so you can't talk about any country development without developing the rural areas. and i think that in the agenda

2063, we set out to modernize agriculture because that's where the majority of the people are. but at the same time also you find a strong correlation between development in -- also development of the agriculture sector where most of the women are. so that's how i can answer the question. the other thing, there was a question that was asked about representation. by all means, here our voices might be weak, but all of the 50 countries can't come to this forum and start presenting. just we selected the best support who was chairing the africa group for this particular month or next month. then we selected ambassador from mozambique. but it is not -- i hope that we are -- even though we might be giving examples of one particular country, it is because we know it very well for discussion purposes, but here i am representing all the african ambassadors.

so blame it on me if we are weak enough to represent today but we can't really bring all the people to come and represent so i had to mention that. but definitely significant for all of us around the questions if you want to ask general questions on africa, you should also come to us. the last thing i want to mention. someone was talking about colonialism and the rules of what was -- our agenda was set by colonial powers. yes, they were. and also that some of the difficulties we have we would be remiss if we can't attribute it to the fact that africa is young. africa is a young nation. when you talk about a nation with 50 years of history, it is nothing. that's yesterday. so actually the milestones that africa has achieved are incredible when you look at where we came from. a country can't develop if you can't make your own diplomacy, if you can't make your own mistakes and learn from them. for africa, for almost 100

years, we couldn't do that. so it means that we are still on baby steps but we are really going in the right direction. so i have to tell you that all the major advances we've underscored are showing where africa can be. because we have all the potential. we have resources. we have the people. we have young people who can drive the economy. we have our women who are pretty much have been in many challenges that if you talk about women's liberation, they come from africa. so i have to state that particular thing because when you discuss africa, also have to look at context. africa as a continent is young. so we are still sometimes trying to find ourselves, sometimes we are doing this and that. but at the same time, understanding that the course we have set for ourselves is slowly, but surely working. not everywhere the same way, but it is coming along.

so maybe that will address the other part of your question that you didn't finish when you were talking about colonial roots and son on and so forth. thank you. >> now i think -- i don't know if our c-span friends can stay with us. we've reached the 4:30 time. but if you have a few more minutes, we could take a few more questions. is the panel okay? if c-span can stay with us, that's wonderful. if not, thank you very much. don't forget the hashtag i mentioned. hashtag africa day 2015. for all you tweeters. so let's take a few more questions. because people have been -- we'll start here. >> my name is mindy riser. i'm a vice president of an ngo called global peace services usa. implicit in a lot of what you said was the role of education. i'd like to make it explicit. for young women who have

resourceful mothers who support the families, who do amazing things with modest resources, they need to see other life possibilities. they need to think about being biologists and engineers and chemists and physicists and anthropologists. please talk a little bit about what your countries are doing particularly in the rural areas where teachers often do not want to come because of many life challenges. how you are encouraging good experienced teachers, men and women, to go there. and how you are trying to craft curricula that invite young girls to consider the broader world in africa, in larger regions as well. and how they can find a place there. >> the woman right there, please? >> thank you so much, panelists. in fact, i don't know how

coincident it was for me to be here from the first person who just spoke and we have the same question. so my question is actually in times of leadership from the grass roots in as far as young girls is concerned. my question goes to miss susan. in sudan where you're dealing with women, are you considering young women so that they can be trained in a way that when they come up they're not going to be here talking about leadership. instead, they will be leaders from the classrooms to universities so that when they come here they are now coming with solutions to problems, not here to learn how to solve problems. thank you so much. >> let's take another question there from the gentleman. >> my name is nector. i'm the ambassador from malawi.

i should indicate that i'm the new kid on the block. i'm only three weeks old in d.c. you'll excuse me if i speak out of turn. but two things i would like to relate to. first of all, the lady ambassador from mozambique and rwanda are representing africa. what you have said is something that most african countries relate to. it's an issue that most african countries are having to deal with, and therefore, we are with you and you have represented africa very well. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. [ applause ] >> the second thing i would like to say is, i would like to talk about malawi. malawi is making some headway in issues relating to women's empowerment.

i would like to cite an example of a law that was passed in february of this year on women's empowerment. you can find it on the internet if you would like to do that. but in the case, the role of law in ensuring women's empowerment in modern days. having said that, i should also say that malawi has been one of the luckiest countries on the african continent that has enjoyed peace and has not had conflict since independence. in that regard perhaps on the point -- >> i'm going to have to ask you to be fairly brief. we're going to take the last few words. >> i would like to relate the point i'm making to the point the lady made about peace time situations.

perhaps malawi could learn some lessons, malawi could be a case study for how women's empowerment has happened in peace times. sometimes i worry that we tend to throw the baby out with the bath water with african customs. is there -- can we learn something from african customs and practices on women's empowerment because sometimes we tend to think that african customs don't have systems for african empowerment. perhaps you could think along those lines. thank you. >> i'm going to just ask the remaining people to very briefly put their issues down because i know people have to leave. so we'll ask you to be very brief. just the ones who are up already. >> hello. my name is matilda banga. i'm from sierra leone. i just wanted buttress on what the

gentleman said about the media and the effect of media in that changed our names to be on radio and i know how effective that medium was to bring information and change to sierra leone. as far as today my question is to jackie, what security reform initiatives do you have as far as west africa or sierra leone in please, thank you. >> take the gentleman there, very bruf. >> good afternoon your excellencies. i'm fred from nigeria. i want to react to what my sister said she said building african elite, premier eliteist in the time of peace, what is the solution? i want to suggest some

solutions. i think the african women need to be -- >> i can't take any new people please sorry. just ones who were up before. >> in the sense they need to repackage and restrategize because in the place of power and politics and leadership, strategy's important. packaging is important. african women have to think with new mind-sets, to be able to gain the level of leverage they are looking for because so many factors already working against them. secondly african women tend to be very, very, very blunt with use of power. case study of nigeria you know.

the nigerian government was able to raise the profile of women participation to 35% currently. but we can see that the economy of nigeria nosedived within this period when women particularly running the economy. check. >> okay. you know what? i think our time has run out. i'm going to let -- i'm going to let the panelist make some final comment. everybody's been here a long time. thank you very much. i apologize for those who are up there. i'll let you comment on any one of those.

>> first experience with women in sudan one of the places transformation until my life you saw a generation of young, sudan seize women who wanted a voice in their future seeking a leif for themselves in their future, inclusive future for their country. so capacities there in the groups we work with, they experience challenges that women's groups in the united states and elsewhere face generational challenge between older women who think youjer women don't appreciate the path they trod or the younger women who think the older women are not adapting enough and quick enough. one of the areas this comes about most is technology. some of the youjernger we talk with

is whatsappomattox to mobilize campaigns where other colleagues that we work with want to do traditional diplomacy, et cetera. there's healthy generational tensions in africa and other parts of the world when it comes to women's advocacy. first, it's a wonderful dress. we'll have to get our photos taken afterwards. women's involvement in security sector reform in west africa, we've worked with the geneva initiative for the democratic force and created availen online, women's guide to security sector reform. we created this because we're involved in conversation about security sector reform and found this gap. women in communities who knew what they wanted from police knew what the security priors were, knew what they wanted and needed but didn't know how to access institutions or speak the language of the security sector. we created women's guide to security sector reform meant for women in civil society to break

apart, demystify all of the things that the border patrol does custom does military does defense oversight committee in parliament does and provide suggestions for advocacy. we've been rolling that out in west africa. it's available online to anybody who wants it. >> ambassador? final thoughts, comments? >> education we talk about women advancing without education. once again it's intentional to put women -- there was a huge gap between women and men education in the past. so initially for us to be able to put them on the table we had to create programs to almost like call affirmative action so women can be there and compete. now that we've also opened the doors or the push for women to be in all sectors of education, including science, technology, so on and so forth as we speak,

we have many women who are in the military. you have to open the doors of inclusiveness whenever we are talking about education. education is actually the foundation for whatever we are talking about. we can't separate advancement without education. the second thing i wanted to maybe say the ambassador talked about was about maybe using women from african traditions, quite frankly, i can tell you, without the homegrown initiatives who couldn't get anywhere because no matter what you bring you don't find the gap because of different environments, talking about different culture, different context. so it's very important that we don't get -- african type of programs don't reject other ones. it means we just include what is

needed to create powerful program that can empower people. i think i'll leave it for now. thank you. >> thank you. >> so there were two questions about women's empowerment in peacetimes. i think that we need to remember that it's women who have changed the history of women over time. so the grassroots initiatives that come up have to be supported by gender sensitive policies at the national level and i think that's what the countries like malawi should be doing so when you have these women's groups or women's movements that come from the bottom they are supported and they're sustainable. our nigerian friend, are you serious?

okay. [ applause ] >> your excellency. >> thank you very much. let me stress about education. what is important, too, based on the culture set -- mind-set in mozambique where the government has incentives for families who send their girls to school and maintain them until they graduate. why? because in some places it's not

a prioritier to send girls to school. and families need to have this kind of incentive. besides that it's important also to increase infrastructures network so that girls and the young women who live in the rural areas can get access, close to the places where they live. it's difficult for some of them to live the village to go to town, to have schools because of different difficulties that they can face. so it's important. that's what is being done. to increase access of education in terms also of building much more infrastructures, close to places, to villages where the population live. >> i want to thank you all for being so patient and staying with us. above all i want to thank this

wonderful panel that's given us a lot to work with. thank you so much. [ applause ] >> thank you all. tonight it's american history tv in prime time with our series "real america" featuring archival footage of events from the 20th century. next, a look at 1944 d-day invasion in europe. then 1953 film documenting a privately-funded effort to improving living conditions in urban baltimore followed by 1965