First Lady attends Nairobi Summit on Population and Development

Rwanda’s First Lady Mrs. Jeannette Kagame, on Tuesday, participated in the 2019 International Conference on Population and Development running under the theme “ Accelerating the promise”. 

The Nairobi Summit brings together about 8000 participants including decision-makers, private sector, Civil society organizations and others from 100 countries from around the world to deliberate on the achievements of Programme of action which was established 25 years ago by 179 countries in Cairo, Egypt. The programme of action empowers women and ensures gender equality. This was recapitulated by Kenya’s President emphasizing the resolutions of the first Cairo meeting. 

During the opening session of the summit, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta emphasized that much has been achieved but called upon participants to contribute solutions to different places that still undermine women and their efforts towards development. He also gave an example that 1 in 5 women in the world is likely to face sexual violence and rape this year. 

Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Amina J Mohammed emphasized that gender equality principles are the spark towards economic development if governments establish policies to enact it. 

International Conference on Population and Development TAKING place in Nairobi, Kenya was organized by the Kenyan government, Denmark and UNFPA). Besides evaluating what was achieved in the last 25 years, the participants will also derive solutions to existing challenges.