Transcripts For CSPAN3 Politics Public Policy Today 20150526

And this event happening the day after with the United Nations calls africa day may 25th each year to celebrate the continents achievements and reflects on its challenges. It also comes on a day where the African Economic outlook was posted today. Wall street journal saying the trend indicates that african economies will return to closely tracking emerging asian ones as the worlds Fastest Growing regions progress is patchy, they write and precarious. East africa writes the wall street journal is seen growing at 5. 6 this year, still turbo charging the expansion while economies are expected to stagen an impressive recovery with a 5 growth. But wall street journal writes that Southern Africa wants the continents economic leader mainly because of south africas performance is becoming a drag on the overall growth in the economy. That reporting on the outlook for the african economy from the wall street journal. Youre watching cspan 3, were live at the u. S. Institute of peace in washington. We will hear from therwandan ambassador to the United States. Part of a broad panel also discussing peace building and development efforts. They are a few minutes late. So we will get started when they get started here on cspan 3. And i wanted to give you a look, too at our prime time programming coming up across the cspan networks tonight. Here on cspan 3 at 8 00 eastern, its more American History tv. Our focus tonight, the 150th anniversary of the confederacys surrender at appomattox. Well feature authors and historians on cspan 2. Meanwhile at 8 00. Well have former treasury secretary hank paulson at 8 00 eastern. Hosted by the National Constitution center. Speakers include a senior official from Koch Industries who talks about unlimited Political Campaign spending in the wake of the Citizens United decision. Heres a preview. My point of view people should be able to give money anonymously or on the record. It should be up to them to decide and not the government. Remember, the bill of rights. Im going to paraphrase the late great William Brennan here. But basically, the bill of rights, the framers didnt lay out what our rights were. They made sure that government couldnt infringe upon those rights because they were presumed to be preexisting. And my point of view is to the extent that people want to disclose. There were a lot of disclosures laws that were compelled and we were talking before we got on here, if charles koch and david koch get credited or blamed whatever your point of view is for every single penny spent on conservative or libertarian cause or issue or candidate. So there is no dark money with regard to the kochs in my opinion. But the reality is, theres a cost to disclosure and from a cost benefit analysis in my opinion, i dont quite see who really pays attention to this other than activists on each side that want to harass, intimidate, create lists try to out them. Weve seen it over time and see both sides do it. I know they do it on our side against us with the kochs. And a number of death threats. And im not asking for sympathy or empathy. Im saying it comes at a cost. And who really benefits from the disclosure . Just part of a tonights program on free speech issues. Its from the National Constitution center in philadelphia and the whole thing starts at 8 00 eastern. And thats over on cspan. Here on cspan 3, we are live this afternoon at the u. S. Institute for peace in the nations capital. Waiting for a start of a discussion on Women Leadership in africa. Should get underway shortly. Good afternoon, everybody we are complete. Im delighted to welcome everybody this afternoon. Im the president of the United States institute of peace. And for those who are here for the first time we were founded about 30 years ago as an independent federally funded Bipartisan Institute that is really dedicated to a World Without violent conflict. And so its in that spirit that im delighted to welcome you all here today. And as we mark todays africa days event, which is i think, commemorating a very critical moment in moving towards a peaceful africa with the 1963 founding of africa, of the africa union. We have a wonderful set of guests with us today. I like to extend a special warm welcome to our cohost this afternoon, ambassador mohammed of egypt. Thank you for joining us this afternoon. And, especially warm welcome to ambassador mutild of rwanda who are with us here today. And i know there are a number of other ambassadors who are coming in and out. So, please feel welcomed were delighted to have you with us today. And, of course, im always happy to see ambassador princeton limon who i worked with through the years. And we will also have him here. Ambassador lymon for sudan and south sudan. So two years ago on the 50th anniversary of the African Union, the 53 nations set out a plan for the next half century. And i think, incredible set of vision and foresight. And they came together for the agenda 2063 which was a road map that put together a vision of the continent as a prosperous and peaceful africa that was going to rekindle unity and selfreliance among the african nations. And i think all of us are well aware, you cannot accomplish that kind of vision without the full inclusion and participation of women. And so, quite appropriately, the African Union declared 2015 as the year of womens empowerment and development. Which is obviously the right way to kickoff the agenda 2063. And it is a time in which the African Union is calling on all africans to seize the opportunity to focus on Practical Solutions and Measurable Results for women on the continent. So in this spirit, were just delighted to host todays Panel Featuring our ambassadors from rwanda who will highlight womens roles in peace building and development along with our friends from women well i guess youll do your own introduction. So i wont do that now. But we have an incredible panel who will really focus on all the ways that women are critical agents of change. And understanding that the agenda 2063 is a very important framework to move us forward on this. And 2015 lays the foundations. And from the usip perspective, women are absolutely critical for laying the foundation for peace building and for enabling the vision of the agenda to really come to fruition. And so its with great pleasure that i welcome you all here today. And with even greater pleasure i turn it over to ambassador and were also joined here by susan markum from usaid. Delighted to have you, as well, ambassador. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Ambassadors, members of the diplomatic core. Friends of africa and distinguished guests. Happy africa day celebration. On behalf of the group accredited to the United States of america in washington, d. C. , i seized the opportunity to express our gratitude to the United States institute of peace to host this event on the sidelines of africa day 2015 celebrations. Most especially i want to thank the president of the u. S. Institute of peace. And the team for this wonderful event organizing in conjunction with our ofafrica day 2015 for organizing the committee. For his excellency the ambassador of the arab republic of egypt and the team who have worked tirelessly to ensure a successful celebration to africa day 2015. Our topic today women of africa peace building and Development Supports the overarching theme of the africa union theme of year of the Women Empowerment and the Development Towards Africa agenda 2063. That we as africans particularly women while reflecting on the common challenges we still face in the global environment. African women have made gains in political and social development over the continent. There are still widely generalized within the corridors of power. And when applying for jobs and continue to face social exclusion from education. The agenda 2063 calls on africa stake holders to Work Together to build a prosperous and united africa. Shared values and common destiny. All our people starting with women and girls into the center of africa development. In addition to empowering its people africa seeks to harness the competitive advantages such as history culture and Natural Resources in order to reposition itself in the world. In order to become a prosperous africa, strong influential and worthy partner. We need to strengthen our institutions. Promote a Good Governance, democracy, human rights justice and rule of law for daughters and sons of africa. Today, we are standing on the shoulders of the african giants. A timeless legacy we are called to preserve and expand. The legacy of selfdetermination we claim for African Women was well articulated by our forefathers. Our generation and future generations should for united, democratic and prosperous africa. A way to building inclusive and integrated africa that cherishes and nurtures the girls and women of our continent. Im honored to represent the country that has taken it to another height of spirit of selfdetermination for all its people. Have more chances of thriving make me feel compelled to share some of the measurements that supported the acceleration of women progress in rwanda. Strong political will to empower women and girls guided by the solid principle of gender rights is inalienable rights. Social, economic, and political inclusion. And empowerment of women, layers of government and Civil Society. The creation of a prominent and family promotion coupled with a systemic highlevel campaign and the changing of peoples mind set about the gender rights took us where we are. Where we can claim to have 64 women in our parliament. Intentionally invested in promoting general health. If theres one successful factor that we can build on, it has been inclusiveness. Inclusiveness of all fabrics of society. For this particular case Women Participation in all spheres of government has enabled society to heal faster develop quicker and grant sustainable development. Ladies and gentlemen, its women have been regarded as the backbone of africa and societies by and large a dream across the continent. History has taught us that Women Empowerment and the Economic Development are closely related. On the one hand, we know that the development can play immeasurable and reducing inequality between men and women. On the other hand, it translates into development. We must however acknowledge that relationships of the Women Empowerment and the development too weak to be sustaining. And that continues commitment to equality for the sake is the need to bring about the equality between men and women. Presented the great majority of democracy, its clear that africa can only reach its full potential by fully including them in the Development Agenda. In the quest between empowerment, countries must put in place and promote conducive policies that grant womens rights. Though, we must maintain our culture, we also have to be willing to remove the structural barriers imposed by traditional and oppressive practices against women. For africa gender is the annual agenda. Our discussion today will focus on role of women in peace building and development. We recognize that women and girls are the first victims of conflict and violence. And any Political Economic and social frigidity is mostly against women. Must empower and support women in the quest to curtail these predicaments predicaments. I thank my sister, amelia who is here from mosembiq and who leads us in this important discussion. Different careers professions, walks of life, races, we can hold hands and committed to further African Unions, founding fathers, legacy by fighting for womens emancipation. Let us fight discrimination against women and girls and make peace a global priority. And that all our dedicated leaders that promoted democracy liberty and justice. Had we understood injustice, anywhere is a threat to justice. And we needed to uplift all the people of our humanity. Africa 2063 is intending to have full equality for women and girls and for the whole humanity. So we hope at least 50 of elected Public Officials at all levels are coming from women. The economic and political that restricted womens progress is going to start being shattered. As i close theres a young woman from my own country, she said she was talking about Women Empowerment and what it meant for her. She said empowerment is like an engine. You start it and it converts into motion. So what i would ask the audience and for all of us is to empower the African Women and girls to be the premium fuel for our continents sustainable development. I thank you very much for your attention. So now, i pass the microphone to suzanne. Thank you so much, ambassador. And also, i would like to thank nancy and the u. S. Institute for peace and the republic of egypt for having us here today. Im glad to be here to celebrate africa day in this way. This year marks the midpoint of what the African Union has called African Womens decade. The African Union has also declared, as we have discussed, 2015 to be the year of womens empowerment and Development Towards Africa agenda 2063. Africa shares the u. S. Commitment to gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls within the post 2015 Development Agenda and the National Action plan for women, peace and security. The u. S. Strongly supports the Great Strides and commitments many african countries and the African Union have made to increase women and girls em powerment through steps to promote Good Governance and rule of law, accelerate growth, enhance Food Security advance respect for human rights, promote peace and security and improve access to services such as health care and education. But African Women and girls still face significant challenges, including high rates of gender based violence, Educational Opportunities, difficulties accessing credit and employment. Lack of influence in the Decision Making process. Hiv aids and high rates of maternal mortality. Customary laws which may disadvantage them. And many cultural norms which may perpetuate discrimination against women. The United States acknowledges these but also, the Critical Role women will have and will continue to play in accelerating africas development and advancing prosperity and security across the continent. To promote and protect womens rights we within the u. S. Government use our diplomacy and assistance programs to increase political, economic, civic and Educational Opportunities for women. We also remain committed to preventing and responding to gender based violence the economic barriers faced by women and elevating womens meaningful participation at all levels of Decision Making. Especially during peace and political transition processes and post conflict reconstruction. We know that conflict prevention efforts, efforts to end wars and bring about just and sustainable peace, efforts to protect and hold accountable those who commit war crimes and crimes against humanity. And to u. S. International and national security. Womens political participation can lay a foundation. Mediators, witnesses and signatories and peace processes. At the same time, womens meaningful peace building can help set a standard for their leadership. The u. S. Government has taken deliberate steps to support womens leadership and participation in peace negotiations. Community governance initiatives, Security Sector reform and Transitional Justice and accountability processes. For example, the u. S. Government has developed deliberate multitrack approaches to strengthen the active participation of women in conflict resolution and peace building in sudan and south sudan. In nigeria the u. S. Government has promoted women in leadership and peacemaking through a series of conferences and workshops. Training exercises encouraging tolerance across ethnic and religious lines through engagement with influential religious, traditional, and Women Leaders. There have also been interfaith media dialogues, discuss how women and other stake holders could prevent electoral violence in the run up to the 2015 elections and how women could contribute to the political and economic process. Last year at the u. S. Africa leader summit president obama encouraged nations to develop National Action plans on women peace and security. And he pledged u. S. Support for up to three african nations to develop or implement similar strategies. Today, the United States reiterates this challenge to the governments of africa. And we are working with several governments across the continent to answer the president s call to action. Usaid specifically supports Inclusive Development initiatives and Strategic Investments gender and resilience in the crisis. Peace building and political transition and protection and access to justice of survivors of crisis and conflictrelated sexual violence. In addition, the agency will place an acute focus to programming emerging intersections of women, peace and security in Global Climate change and countering violent extremism most notably. The issues of women, peace and security not only stand on their own as important issues but they affect all usaids efforts to support resilient democratic societies. As i said, countries are more peaceful and prosperous and sustainable when women are courted rights. Elected and appointed office and to strengthen the capacity and influence of Women Leaders. Agricultural growth. They also face persistent obstacles and economic restraints. We will continue to focus on these efforts across usaid programming. Gender based violence is a global epidemic that crosses social economic class religious and education level and transcends international borders. Usaid is working in several countries. Gender based violence and prevention and the Response Program for gender based violence initiative. Weaver also looking to end child early and forced marriage. We are working in ethiopia specifically to do a Combination Program community outreach. Trying to address the barriers that the cost of education has. And also, help families understand the issue and the importance of keeping adolescent girls in school. Through the Economic Growth programs were doing in africa its a priority for the United States. And well continue to work because women are the backbone of opportunities. Target this years summit will convene 150 up and coming women in Youth Entrepreneurs from around the world for official presummer event in nairobi. This will connect emerging youth, Women Entrepreneurs and Global Change makers, thought leaders, policy leaders investors and experts. Africa is a very diverse and large continent. And the work that the u. S. Government does tries to span all the Different Countries cultures, and different sectors in which we need to have work. I look forward to this robust panel today, discussing both women, peace and security as a specific issue but how the process of engaging women in women, peace and Security Issues affects other sectors as outlined below with Global Climate change, early marriage, education and Economic Growth. Im turning it over now for this panel and i look forward to it. Thank you. Thank you very much, and for those remarks thank you to the organizers and sponsors of africa day, and this panel in particular were really very, very pleased to have an exceptional group. The groundwork has been set, were going to delve even more deeply in this panel. Into both the specifics of where women have been involved and made a difference or where the obstacles have arisen to them doing so. Im not going to be able to do justice to this panel because if i did in introducing them, it would take the whole time we have. But let me introduce them briefly to you. From 1994 to 2009. She has a long experience in government, shes worked in agriculture, shes worked in health, shes worked in international cooperation. And she was a member is a member of the committee on international relations, she has a masters degree in Population Development development. Next to her is kamissa a Senior Program officer at the National Endowment for democracy. The Senior Program officer for western central africa. She oversees a multimillion dollar portfolio of grants to Civil Society organizations. She works tirelessly, works extensively. Shes in touch on a very personal basis. She also is a founder and cochair of a Strategy Forum which brings together stake holders around the issues in that area. Prior to, she was with the International Foundation for electoral system. She trained people in electoral management in countries throughout africa. She holds a masters degree in International Economics and development from the university. And has a b. A. From a university. Shes been published a great deal. Next to her, as weve heard is ambassador matilda from rwanda whose remarks we heard. She was, prior to that professor of history in my home state of california. Where she received an award for best teacher there. She has been a Passionate Community organizer for many many years. Shes formed Many Organizations to bring together the communities of rwanda and others together including the friends of rwanda association. Her awards include the 2012 peace and justice award from the center for American Peace and conflict resolution, the global peace award from global majority, and as i mentioned an award for outstanding teacher. And finally, on the corner there is jacqueline oneill, director from the institute of inclusive security. If you dont know that organization, you should know that organization. Its an exceptional organization. Used to be called women waging peace. Jacqueline is responsible for overall policy advocacies and programs. She overseas all the regional initiatives as well as the support from the institute for governments and Civil Society. She advises and trains the military police, civilians serving nato, u. N. And others. She was previously because shes from canada, policy adviser to canada to secretary of state. And along with former lieutenant general, she helps found an initiative to address the issue of child soldiers. Prior to the inclusive security she was at the u. N. Mission this is an exceptional panel. And im going to turn to you, madame ambassador. Were going to try to make this as much conversational as we can. But each of you have asked to make a few remarks to start us off. Thank you, please. Thank you very much. Good afternoon to everyone. Ambassadors, dear colleagues. Let me, first of all, thank you for being here to celebrate with us as africa holiday. Especially women africans day. Thank you for being here. Let me also thank the United States institute for peace for having us here to share our experiences and to both with host the United States people to share with you some of how experiences as africans. Im very delighted to be here and very grateful for having been invited to be here. As you know this is the year of African Women. I come from Southern Africa. Defends gender imbalance and opportunity for all without any kind of discrimination. Gender equality and promotion of women, to consider the location of at least 30 of the Decision Making positions. In mozambique, my country, which attained its independence through a struggle against women were always present and active in the National Policy and agenda for their emancipation. After 40 years which were going to celebrate next june, im proud to be able to say that mozambique and parliament where i once set for 15 years is a good example of Women Empowerment. With almost it has almost 39 of women in parliament out of 250 members. The Parliament Speaker is a female as well as mozambiquen general attorney. Just to give an example. In the executive, we have reached the percentage of 23 of female ministers. And deputy ministers. We have a long way to go yet because wed like to reach at least 50 . But we are struggling to go there. Women play a decisive role in the countrys development. They are growing from small to medium. Some of them and sometimes risking their own life and comfort to provide better conditions for their families and sustained market change. I believe that any kind of economic investments should be gender sensitive and include women in associations, cooperatives or individually. Because they have proven to have management skills and commitment reimburse, puts their disposal by credit institutions. Of course, we have challenges. Mainly related to access to education for women and girls who are frequently the most illit illiterate. We have heard from susan that usaid is working on that. And we are partnering with usaid to target this. This is a phenomenon embedded in local tradition. Empowering girls and women to decide about their own life. Women rights as human rights cannot continue being ignored. They must be addressed. Women deserve to be part of the Education Systems and technology revolution. To be able to render their contribution to a peaceful stable and sustainable world. The agenda 2063 is a road map for africa. And women can play a Parliament Role in preventing the diplomacy thats guaranteeing peace building. I believe that this road map will enhance womens participation. And gender is one of the eight priorities of the au commission. It has been mainstreamed across other priorities. Very often, after any conflict, women gather around organizations not only social issues and displaced people and their care through their participation in health, education and other economic activities. Mainly, agriculture. Let me stop here and ill be able and very glad to receive any questions coming from the audience. I thank you. Thank you. The reason theres focus on womens participation in peace building and development is because women are the most heavily affected by conflict and poverty. And there are, there is an overwhelming number of practical case studies supporting this. And there are plenty of analysis and research that have been done on the subject. In africa most specifically, its really in post conflict situations that weve seen womens Political Leadership Gain Momentum. In liberia, for example. Post war liberia elected africas first female president , south africa has one of the most gender sensitive constitutions of the world. In another example, maybe kenya, after the election violence of 2007. In 2008, women were able to make sure that in the constitutions, there were provisions safeguarding the rights. So in all of these post conflict reconstruction environments womens movements and womens Civil Society organizations have grabbed the opportunities that these conflicts presented. And they have used them to their advantage. Now, also, thats one reason for that is because during conflicts conflicts women assume more nontraditional roles outside of the household as gender norms change and the war basically now, one of the main questions i would like to ask is do we need need how do we make sure that womens movements Gain Momentum in times of peace . Or maybe another way to ask the question is do we need a conflict in order for womens leadership to Gain Momentum . So in my opinion, the structural barriers that affect women, elsewhere also mostly tradition, religion are barriers that can only be addressed through a change in mentality and can only be addressed on the very longterm period, and takes a long time for that to happen. It doesnt happen through systems, through different laws. Also, the these can help offset the barriers on a very shortterm. But really, it happens through a change in mentality. I dont have, i would say, any specific strategy on how to tackle these barriers. So dont ask me. But, there are groups of women out there. And some of them has supported over the years that have taken very original approaches on in leadership and peace building. And one of the main examples that come to mind is in mali for example, i dont know if youre familiar with west africa, but mali in 2012 had a military coupe. Took over the northern half of the country, and during that period of time, women didnt have well, they were not allowed to even show their hands or feet. But after the jihadists left, there was still stigma 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 Capacity Building programs have really worked in these types of situations and have 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, 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 Womens 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. Madame ambassador. I think our colleague has addressed many aspects im 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. Regardless of any kind of policy we can put in place if the women are not in power Women Empowerment. Hand. So that Women Empowerment is definitely the biggest thing. The second i can maybe think of for discussion purposes once again because youve addressed some of the agenda and so on so forth, is that women have to be included in all endeavors if you want to about changing anything. You cant talk about ending virus, you cant 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 doctors who went to see the women, the policemen who went to see the women and everybody else who are connected to the case. Because reputation is big. Thats the bottom line. Without representation, people speak about you, they empower you, but you are not empowered yourself. So thats where i can say maybe if i talk about where i think weve been successful because women are part of the agenda. Women are setting the course of the next 20 years, 30 years, so on, so forth. So i leave it there and im open to questions. Thats very helpful. Thank you very much. Ive 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. Tweet freely. And now, jackie. Thank you. Good afternoon. I also dont 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. Im always sensitive, as you are, to lump all of africa this whole continent together at the risk of oversimplifying but ill share some examples from africa but also lessons that 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 id be on this panel and asked for input, i got a lot of great suggestions. One of my favorite emails that came back said, finally said, dont worry, jackie, everything will be fine. Ambassador lightman is an honorary african woman. So you very much earned your stripes to speak on this day. So five things weve learned from african mentioned. First, we shouldnt be waiting until a crisis to invest in womens leadership. Its not a project and it shouldnt be projectized. It is a longterm investment strategy. We saw a great example of this come through in a report that the u. S. Government released a couple of weeks ago around the u. S. National action plan discussing the fact that theyve been supporting, through the u. S. Nap, a group of women in sierra leone to focus on womens 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 womens leadership and womens 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. Connecting people communities with health care workers. Providing information for womens roles in burial processes in tracking family members, et cetera. So the idea of creating a Womens Network and building capacity and ensuring women felt empowered after a crisis like ebola hits just simply isnt realistic. The idea of investing in women and womens 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 Womens groups set their own agenda and set their priorities. And credit to the state department in this regard where credit is due. Weve 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. 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 weve got these beautiful log frames. They dont mean anything anymore. Let us adapt to the situation reality on the ground. In some cases funders are ready and willing to do that. Third point is that the ecosystem in which womens leadership exists matters very much. The idea that there is such a thing as womens issues is something that just blows my mind. I cant understand what a womens issue that isnt also a Community Issue or a security issue. Security sector reform is a womens issue. Corruption is a womens issue. A whole range of issues, access to justice are womens issues. Something i think is a success particularly in your country, ambassador, is the acknowledgement of the issue of land rights and womens 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. Thats 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. Weve 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 were 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 theres no gender dimension to petroleum. The oil agreements. Theres no gender. Maybe there is something around the economy or maybe Something Like that 37 so when you break it down with women, what they were doing was identifying the way the 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. Its all again part of a system that needs to be addressed. Weve seen African Women i think take a massive lead on redefining this term of security. Then fifth, the final thing id 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 theyre 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 of these things. We act as though weve 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 its shifting that is towards the capacities and skill sets toward a number of african entrepreneurs. Thank you. Let me ask because carissas raised this whole question, have you a lot of women workingality the Grassroots Level and social reconstruction after a conflict but couldnt always transfer to the post conflict situation or to the higher levels. In some cases it has. 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 ensurety were all wrong on the part of the negotiators because they werent really sensitive to how people were suffering. And it was difficult. Now why is it that in rwanda and mozambique youve 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 . Is 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 . Thank you. Let me add another dimension which is the elections, participation of the 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 mans marginization. But in mow zach beak it works and it has worked. Thats why we have reached such talk of women enrolled in deit significance positions. Since people are affected, it is true they are not always seated is at 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 to themselves to defend themselves, to defend their rights in society. Thank you. Madam ambassador . Tlm are ahere are a few things, if i can say why it is happening. You mentioned the history, also. You have a very tiny country with a Million People dead in three months. You either die or you resurrect. So what happened was that the first thing that was able to revive our country and also comprehensive, we include women, was 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. Theres 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 im talking about intention. Intention has to be there. Principles have to be transferred into practices. This what we did. Im 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 selfserving comment, but theres some truth to it it seems to me, that its not just organization, its willingness to demand inclusion and rights. I assume that that was also part of the experience in your country. Carissa, you worked with a lot of organizations. I worked with a lot of organizations. And really, and ive 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 were talking about the eu here, i wonder how we can talk about womens leadership in africa when the eu has never, ever sent a woman as an international mediator. In africa over the past i dont know i would say over the past ten years, for example, in west africa, weve 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 longserving president s. Im sure there are qualified women out there. So when you said marrying policy and practices, i like it. Its really thats the issue. So its nice to be talking about womens participation. But how do you make it happen. Good comment. I think youve provoked a good set of questions. I think people should go to the microphone and then well take them in order. Please. Good afternoon. My name is allison shapira. I teach public speak something 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 isnt a skill but it is confidence thats needed most. Ive actually never liked the word empowerment. To me, its 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 thats 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 were in workshops where people say were too illiterate, were not literal enough, we need to make sure that maybe next generation or in 10 or 20 years we can read then well 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 its not like all of your male colleagues have all of these skills. Women have a perception that everyone else has the skills and they dont. Were often getting requests from women we need Capacity Building, Capacity Building. Our answer is often no you dont. You actually dont. You have everything you need. Well 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 its 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. My name is pierre from National Endowment for democracy. I want to thank everyone for all the presentation. But really one thing that struck me was i didnt hear about the participation of women in 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. Womens 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 carissa touched on it a little bit when she was talking about grassroots woman leaders who dont 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 conditions where they can actually make a change. Im 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 badandi. 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 eus 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 im ask something im asking the women here to stand up and to be leaders and i think rwanda, if anywhere knows what can happen and i ask you to stand up and id like to hear what you plan to do. Thank you. Okay. Lets take those two. We have one on media, and one specifically on the problems crisis in barundi. Because you ask the questions specifically for me of course what is happening in barundi is we are trying to see how we can do it originally but also on country basis. We are being not only following the situation but also helping the situation. As you are aware of there are rm many refugees. In my country i havent looked at the numbers, but there are tens of thousands of refugees who are coming from barundi, 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. We are part of the people who are trying to bring peace and stability into the region for this specific time. We are not in barundi, they 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 violence. So locally for what rue wandy has done not on policy level but how they have inspired themselves to barundi this is the direction you are taking right now. But also dealing with the immediate and very challenging issues like peoples rights. You have heard, for instance that some people are dying from cholera in large numbers among refugees who are living in barundi. It means that all of the mechanism have put together for our own people. In the last couple of years, 20 years, it improved also to the service of people who are coming 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 barundi. There are quite a few american organizations. I heard about an institute thats extended themselves in terms of release, so on and so forth. So i dont know if im answering the question. Question is how do we address it beyond that . I think this is a perfect opportunity for womens leadership in conflict prevention, youre 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 well put whatever we have on the service of barundi. One thing i can add for instance, whenever i work for peacekeeping and we are one of the largest in africa for peacekeeping, we just dont do peacekeeping. We also do peace building. If you went to south sudan youd 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 whether it comes to barundi. I think madam ambassador the suggestion is that you go as mediator in barundi. I think thats 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. Im going to talk about my country. In my country women are involved in media. And we have organization, womens 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 its important to have much more women. Because they are much more sensitive when it deals with womens issues. And i dont i cannot say much more than that than it is important to have women in the media. And they are growing. They are organize inging in the Civil Society as women in media. Im going to take threess ess questions now in a row. Start with the woman there. Then ill go back and forth. My name is ida. Im from africa. And i thank you all for everything from what i have heard. When we are talking about peace and building it i think the first think that comes to my mind is food agriculture. I didnt hear that. The conversation from the two. And the other thing i would like to know is maybe from the organizers, how they came up with who the representative 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 zblrwe cant 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 whats going on for us in africa. Where i come from. And this is about to americans. I read it from a geographic book by jack maclinton. They say that the ship of africa besides the ship and the composition of todays 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 well take the question but i want to open it up to more. But i understand the question. So i think thats what we should address first. Right. Thank you. Well come here. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is rosemary im the president of hope for tomorrow. We forecast 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 empowerments that 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. Im talking pass a woman born and raises in africa. If we dont 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 dont women in the congo have been wrecked. Now barundi. In rwanda. You know what came out of it now that women are coming out and say 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 happy to see 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. 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 clang in African Women. We want to do it as African Women born and raised in africa not on television. Not in radio. Not in newspapers. There has to be more from today. You will be seeing me and dont close your door. Thank you. Okay. I want to try and take another question here but its before time runs out. I apologize if we have to move along. Yes. You are excellencies, thank you for this opportunity. Im vtszuniversity of california student. Im currently at the dedeAfrican Womens leadership. I want to ask in what other means can dieaspra help to empower women in 2015. Ill address those and try to 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 ill let any of you address any of those that you wish. Let me address about dieaspra. We have many people coming from africa either living born from africans or living here and what we used to do is 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 mow mozambique who are here. They have different associations in different places where they leave. And what normally they do they connect with the country through the embassy or themselves. There collect some kind of support to the fellow mozambique mozambiqueans 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 its very important to have diasporas. We used to say that how their ambassadors here in the United States or elsewhere. And we are we meet with them, organize them. We help them organize themselves and they have a base. We come and we go. As embassies. Theyre here. They leave 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 its 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 thats 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 cant really develop anything without Inclusive Development. Im 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 cant 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 thats 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 thats 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 cant 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 cant really bring all the people to come and represent so i hated 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. Other thing i want to mention somebody was talking about colonialism and the rules of what that 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 cant 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. Thats yesterday. So actually the milestones that africa has achieved are incredible when you look at where we came from. A country cant develop if you cant make your own diplomacy if you cant make your own mistakes and learn from them. For africa, for almost 100 years, we couldnt 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 weve 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 womens 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 isas 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 work oging. Not everywhere the same way but it is coming along. Maybe that answers the other part of your question that you didnt finish when you were talking about colonial roots and so on so forth. Thank you. Now i think i dont know if our cspan friends can stay with us. Weve 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 cspan can stay with us, thats wonderful. If not, thank you very much. Dont forget the hashtag i mentioned. Hashtag africa day 2015. For all of tweeters. So lets take a few more questions. Because people have been well start here. Im Vice President of an ngo called Global Peace Services usa. Implicit in a lot of what you said was the role of education. Id 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 . Zblr thank you so much, panelists. I dont 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 grassroots grassroots, and as far as young girls is concerned. My question goes to miss susan. In sudan where youre dealing with women are you considering young women so that they can be trained in a way that when they come up theyre 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. Lets take another question there from the gentleman. My name is nector. Im the ambassador from malawi. I should indicate that im the new kid on the block. Im only three weeks old in d. C. Youll 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. Its an issue that most african countries are happy to deal with, and therefore you 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, i would like to talk about malawi. Malawi is making some headway in issues relating to womens empowerment. I would like to cite an example over a law that was passed in february this year on womens empowerment. You can find it on the internet if you would like to do that. But in the but in the case of role of law ensuring womens 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 im going to have to ask you to be fairly brief. Were going to take the last few words. I would like to relate the point im 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 womens 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 womens empowerment because sometimes we tend to think that african customs dont have systems for african empowerment. Perhaps you could think along those lines. Thank you. Im going to just ask the remaining people to very briefly put their issues down because i know people have to leave. So well ask you to be very brief. Just the ones who are up already. Hello. My name is matilda banga. Im from sierra leone. I want to comment on what the gentleman said about media and the effect of media in politics and how it empowers people because i walked with the late president and we were some of the women that changed our names to be on radio and i know how effective that medium was to bring information and change to sierra leone. But as far as today, my question is to jackie. What securities of reform initiatives do you have as far as west africa or sierra leone, please . Thank you. Take the gentleman there. Very brief, please. Good afternoon you are excellencies. My name is fred. Im from nigeria. I want to react to what my sister in the middle, the panelist said when she said building african elite in a time of peace. What is the solution. I want to suggest some sftof the solutions. I think the African Women need to be i cant take any new people. Please, im sorry. Just the ones who were up before. And the sense that they need to repackage and restrategize because in the place of power and politics and Leadership Strategy is important. Packaging is important. African women have to think with new mindsets. To be able to gain the level of leverage they are looking for. Because so many factors are already working against them. Secondly African Women tend to be very, very blunt with views 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 we men particularly run the economy check. Oh man okay. Yes. You know what . I think our time has run out. Im going to let the panelists make some final comments. Everybodys been here for a long time. Thank you all very much. I apologize for those who were up there. Ill let you comment on any one of those. Jackie, im going to go here. Let you start. We have a number of questions about leadership and education. But any other final comments you want to make. All right. So one of the questions to me related to young women and its especially i think relevant. My First Experience in africa was working at the university for women in sudan. It was one of the places that was most transformational in my life because in part you saw a generation of young sudanese women who wanted to have a voice in their future who were studying, who were serious and who were really seeking a live for themselves in the future, an inclusive future for their country. So capacity is there. Again, in the groups of women that we work with, they experience many of the challenges that womens groups in the United States and elsewhere face, this generational challenge between some of the older women who think the younger women dont appreciate the path that they trod and the older or younger women who think the older women are not adapting enough and they arent quick enough. One of the areas i think this comes about most is actually technology. Some of the younger women that we work with talk often about using whats app is one of the most its like a diplomatic tool in africa. I think whats app. Using whats app and twitter around facebook to mobilize campaigns whereas number of the other colleagues that we work with want to do more traditional diplomacy, etsz. So et cetera. Theres very healthy generational differences when it comes to womens advocacy. First of all it is a wonderful dress that youre wearing. Well have to get our photos taken afterwards. Womens involvement in Security Sector reform in west africa. Weve worked with the Geneva Initiative for democratic control of the armed forces it called decaf. Developed the womens guide to Security Sector reform online. We created this guide because we were often involved in conversation about Security Sector reform and again found this gap. There were women in communities who knew what they wanted from their police. They knew what their Security Priorities were, they knew a whole range of things that they wanted and needed but didnt know how to access institutions or how to speak the language of the Security Sector. So we created a womens guide to Security Sector reform. Meant for women in Civil Society to break apart and demystify all the things that the Border Patrol does, customs does that the military does, that your defense Oversight Committee in parliament does and to provide some suggestions for advocacy. Weve been rolling that out through a series of workshops in west africa. Its Available Online to anyone who wants it. Plaid dam madam ambassador, comments thoughts . Maybe i give brief comments on education. Definitely we tendcant talk about women advancing without education. Once again it has to be 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 affirmative action so those women can be there and compete. So now that weve also opened the doors or the push for women to be in all sectors of education, including science, technology, so on so forth. As we speak we have now many pim who women who are pilots. Women in the military. So you have to open the doors of inclusiveness. Whenever we are talking about education. So education is actually the foundation for whatever we are talking about. So you cant separate advancement without education. Second thing i wanted to say the ambassador talked about maybe using can women from african traditions. Quite frankly, i can tell you without what we call the home grown initiatives, we couldnt get anywhere. Because no matter what you bring, you find in different environments, you are talking about different culture, you talk about different context. So its very important that we look at in africa best type of problems dont necessarily reject the other ones. It means that just we include what is needed so we can create very Popular Program that can empower people. So i think im going to leave it there for now. Thank you. Zblm to there were two questions about womens empowerment in peace times. I think that we need to remember that its 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 thats what the countries like malawi should be doing so that when you have these womens groups or womens movements that come from the bottom, they are supported and they are sustainable. Our nigerian friend. Are you serious . Okay. [ applause ] your explenscellenceyexcellency. Yes. Thank you. Thank you very much, again. Let me also stress about education. And what is important, too, based on the culture and mindset. In mozambique, we the government, has instituted incentives for families who send their girls to school. And maintain them until they graduate. Why . Because in some places its not a priority to send girls to school school. And families need to have this kind of incentive. Besides of that its important also to increase the Infrastructures Network so that girls an young women who live in the rural areas can get access close to the places where they live. Its difficult for some of them to live in the village, to go to town, to have schools, because of different difficulties they can face. So its important. Thats what is being done to increase the access of education in terms also of building much more infrastructures close to the places, to the villages where the population live. Thank you. Well, i want to thank you all for being so patient and staying with us. But, above all i want to thank this wonderful panel thats given us a lot to work with. Thank you so much. Thank you all. Heres a look at whats ahead on cspans coverage on the road to the white house. Later today we feature an event with Bernie Sanders from vermont. Tomorrow the gop field grows by one. When former pennsylvania senator and 2012 president ial candidate Rick Santorum joins the race. Hell announce his intentions tomorrow in butler pennsylvania. You can watch that live at 5 00 eastern. Also on cspan. And more on thursday when former new york republican governor George Pataki makes his announcement from exeter new hampshire. Live thursday, 11 00 a. M. Eastern, also on cspan. And saturday, expect another entry for the democratic bid. Former Maryland Governor and Baltimore Mayor Martin Omalley will officially declare his candidacy. Watch that Live Saturday 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Senate judiciary subcommittee on crime and terrorism held a hearing on the benefits and costs of police body cameras. Witnesses included wade henderson, the South Carolina Sheriffs Association director and senator tim scott of South Carolina. The april 4th 2015 Fatal Police Shooting of walter scott occurred in North Charleston, South Carolina. The hometown of senator tim scott. Lindsey graham of South Carolina chairs the subcommittee. This is just over an hour and a half. Thank you for joining us today at this houring, the subcommittee will come order and well have a hearing entitled body cameras increase protection for Law Enforcement and the public. Well have two panels the first will be senator scott. My colleague from South Carolina. Ill make a brief Opening Statement and turn it over to senator whis whitehouse. Senators may want to Say Something. Anybody can if theyd like. We have this hearing at the request of senator scott. As most of you know, theres been a lot of discussion this country about how to protect the public and Law Enforcement officers when forces involved in the idea of body cameras for all of our Police Officers, not only to protect them but to protect the public is a hot topic and senator scott has been one of the leaders in this area. The incident in North Charleston which i think most of us have seen videos of is a good indication of how video is plis priceless in situations like this. So, there are a lot of proposals up here on capitol hill to have grants and pilot programs about outfitting our Law Enforcement community with body cameras and thats the purpose of this hearing today. To see which would be the best way forward. So, senator whitehouse. Thank you very much mr. Chairman and welcome and congratulations to your first subcommittee hearing as chairman. Absolutely. Dont get used to it, but were im delighted were doing this and i appreciate very much that our xhirm is providing this forum for his junior senator, always a good tradition in the senate. With begin to address the question of how well body cameras work. Id ask unanimous consent that my statement in that regard be entered into the record. I hope we have more hearings in the weeks and months ahead. Ive been particularly grateful to work with the chairman on the gray and white house bill, improving the criminal enforcement in the cyber arena. And i hope well be able to pin down a hearing date to begin to get that bill through a hearing, ready in time so that when we address cyber on the floor, weve alleviated criticism our bill didnt get a hearing. I also look forward to what i hope will be a lively hearing on what i consider to be a pretty egregious separation of powers violation by the administration. And so, were looking to schedule at least those two other hearings. Theyre good topics, and i hope we can make this an active subcommittee. May be the most important subcommittee of the judiciary committee. Thank you very much, and well do both hearings. Would you like to make a comment . Yeah, thank you very much. I want to thank you for holding this hearing. I appreciate senator scott, his strong interest in the subject. And i fully support senator scotts request for a committee to look into this matter. Recent interactions between police and the public have increased the consideration of body cameras to record an officers work. So its a good idea to explore the experience of state and local governments that they have, that have employed body cameras. Certainly the potential exists for body cameras to enhance public trust of police. And they may provide evidence to show the public how well Law Enforcement handles very trying situations. They must also show whether Police Training is working well. And its possible their existence might cause Police Officers to change how they perform certain aspects of their job. Body cameras themselves are relatively inexpensive. But costs associated with their use seem to be considerable. Many practical questions regarding their use need to be thought through. These include determining when cameras would and would not be operating how privacy of peoples homes and crime victims would be maintained. How footage is to be retained and a chain of custody preserved. The Justice Department has also funded some pilot programs and research to determine the best practices of police body cameras. Mandate actions that would cost local and state governments large sums of money and not reflect the accumulated wisdom that derides from existing state and local practice thank you once again for holding this hearing and i look forward to the testimony witnesses which im going to have to read because i have another assignment i have to go to. I appreciate that having the courtesy of what ive just said. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Would you like to say anything . Thank you, mr. Chairman. Id like to express my gratitude to senator grassley as chairman of the full committee. But to you as chairman of the subcommittee for starting the conversation here. On a topic that i know is very near and dear to senator scotts heart. We all recognize theyre not a panacea and wont solve all the problems but may be a piece of the answer. And one Building Block where we can begin to rebuild the publics confidence in Law Enforcement, which is absolutely critical to maintaining security and safety in our communities. But its also important. I know you agree because youre a cosponsor of this bill that would create a commission to study our criminal Justice System writ large. Once we get through doing the things we can do, things like passing the corrections act that senator whitehouse and i are the chief cosponsors of to help act on the lessons of Prison Reform played out in our states. I hope we can continue this conversation in a way that lets us revisit what works and correct and eliminate what doesnt work. With a goal toward maintaining and rebuilding the publics trust. Which is absolutely critical in our communities. I want to commend senator scott for his leadership in this effort and thank him for being here today. Senator . Very quickly, i just have a classified briefing at 4 00. Im going to stay here until maybe ill get to my questions, maybe i wont. Discuss this very briefly with senator scott. So many questions here i assume that we will get to. And thank you for calling this hearing about what activities, what practices should be on camera and which ones shouldnt. How we develop the best protocols, how we use the experience of communities and states and studies. To figure out when is the camera on and when is it off. And so im looking forward to hearing from senator scott, and i thank you for calling this hearing. Thanks, senator frank. Senator scott, i do appreciate your leadership on this. Youve been very hands on when it comes to trying to deal with this issue. Thank you, sir. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and ranking member. Thank you all for participating in the hearing today. I want to thank senator grassley for agreeing to hold this hearing today. Very important issue. Very timely response of you, mr. Chairman, as well as senator grassley. Id say if a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a thousand pictures and unfold lives. Certainly time for a National Conversation about body cameras and policies affecting communities in distress. Whether we are talking about ferguson, baltimore, ohio, new york city, oklahoma, or my hometown North Charleston, South Carolina, one thing is certain, longterm solutions are very important. Theyre critical. In addition to body cameras, ill continue to work on things like my opportunity agenda that i believe will breathe new hope, new opportunities into distressed communities. Things that have impacted my life having grown up in a singleparent household in poverty in North Charleston. Ill tell you the foundation for changing some of the outcomes starts with education, longterm education will provide a path, an avenue out. Think about work skills for those adult learners. Apprenticeship programs where you can earn and learn at the same time as well as apprentice entrepreneurship programs. Im here today b