On Thursday, July 16, 2020 from 18:30 - 19:00 South Africa time (SAST), Graça Machel and Melinda Gates will deliver a powerful call to action for public and private sector leaders to address gender equality as Africa undertakes its reconstruction efforts from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.  The webinar will take place on Africa.com, and the conversation will be moderated by Africa.com CEO, Teresa Clarke.  Free registration is available at virtualconferenceafrica.com.

COVID 19 has unearthed massive inequalities within our societies and brought to glaring light the unique burdens which women carry the world over.

Graça Machel, Founder of the Graça Machel Trust and the Foundation for Community Development and one of the world’s leading advocates for women’s and children’s rights, recently penned an open letter (https://bit.ly/30coJ9l) calling on governments, development agencies, and private sectors to take bold actions to mitigate and drive meaningful reconstruction efforts. Machel, the widow of President Nelson Mandela, says, “We have been presented the opportunity to reimagine and redesign our society into a vibrant and equitable one.”

Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is releasing a paper on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women and girls. In this paper, she puts forward a set of specific, practical policy recommendations that governments could consider in their pandemic response–to improve health systems, design more inclusive economic policies, gather better data, and prioritize women’s leadership.

This webinar is the twelfth episode of the Crisis Management for African Business Leaders series, developed in partnership between Africa.com and faculty from Harvard Business School.  The series is supported by Standard Bank.