The Embassy of Sweden in Addis Ababa recently organised a Nordic film festival for the second year in a row. The theme this year was was ‘youth empowerment’, while last year it was ‘women’s empowerment’.
In the first half of 2016, the Embassy of Sweden in Harare conducted a digital campaign on the theme ‘We should all be feminists’. The campaign involved distributing books, lively digital discussions, and debates on the role of men in promoting gender equality.
A fight against shaming, censorship and antiquated traditions – just some of the factors that affect women’s role in the media in Sudan. This and much more was discussed when the Embassy of Sweden in Khartoum hosted an exhibition and seminar focusing on women and the media.
After the influential midwives4all campaign in 2015, Sweden has sustained the important work within the field of maternal and child health in Uganda. Contributing to an increased workforce of midwives has notably led to improved staffing levels, more women delivering at facilities, increased rates of antenatal care visits and reduced numbers of maternal deaths.
Meet the Global Swedes: Getnet Mengesha Asrat, Ethiopia, student at Dalarna University.
The political space for women in Somalia increased significantly during the electoral process in 2016, as a result of intense advocacy efforts by women leaders, political candidates, the Ministry of Women and Human Rights Development, the ad-hoc electoral implementation teams and international partners.
Women and young girls are the hardest hit by HIV. It is twice as common for girls and young women (15– 24 years old) to contract HIV as boys and men in the same age group. This was one of the issues raised recently during a panel discussion in Stockholm on women’s sexual and reproductive rights.
In March and April, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Palestine and Bangladesh will publish current gender statistics. This is the result of a Swedish development aid venture, in which Statistics Sweden has trained and provided support to statisticians and users of statistics during one year.
UN Security Council visits the Lake Chad region to call attention to the security and humanitarian crisis in the region. The decision for the Council to visit the region resulted from a briefing on the situation in the region held during the Swedish Presidency.
Congratulations Pedro Vemba Cidade, one of the recipients of the 2016 #FirstGeneration award for inspiring young people to achieve the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development.