“It is with great pleasure that Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS) recently became aware of the list of government ministers set out by François Hollande: A true parity with 17 out of 34 women ministers, is the first in French history, apart from the law from June 6, 2000” says Marie-Louise Baricako, FAS Executive Director, and continues: “Such news should be welcomed and loudly applauded because even though many commitments have been made and laws have been passed, the enforcement still leaves much to be desired ”. France is thus stepping up to the developments made by Rwanda, who has so far positioned itself as the role model, along with the Scandinavian countries who are not far from true parity.

Read more here - For the French version: Read here.

The World Economic Forum on Africa (2012), is being held 9-11 May in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. FAS Founder Bineta Diop is taking part in the dialogue on how the Forum can be a space to create momentum and initatives to advance the progress for and by women across the continent. Ms. Diop is also serving as a guest blogger for the 2012 Forum.

See her and other participants' blogs here.

See the Video link on “Fostering Political Stability - World Economic Forum on Africa 2012”:here

The International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict unites organizations and individuals to demand urgent political leadership to prevent rape in conflict, to protect rape survivors and civilians, and call for justice for all—including the effective prosecution of those responsible for these heinous crimes.

The initiative is led by the Peace Laureates of the Nobel Women’s Initiative and an Advisory Committee comprised of 25 organizations working at the international, regional, and community levels to stop rape in conflict. Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS) is proud to be a founding member of this collaboration, and encourages everyone to pledge their support for the campaign at: www.stoprapeinconflict.org.

During the Week of Action May 6-13, you can connect with the Campaign and members around the world through social media. In order to show your support for the Campaign, always use the hashtag #IPLEDGE and share the action you will undertake. You can also use Twitter and Facebook to encourage others to join the Campaign and change your Avatar to the Campaign logo.

Spread the word!

On 24 April 2012, the Under-Secretary-General of UN and Executive Director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet, gave a briefing on women, peace and security to the Security Council in New York. Specific issues raised by Ms Bachelet include gender issues in rule of law and transitional justice measures as well as women’s autonomous engagement in peacebuilding efforts, reconciliation and conflict resolution processes. On this occasion, the UN Women Executive Director further addressed the significance of women’s engagement in conflict resolution and transitional justice, in which she particularly mentioned the electoral monitoring carried out by the Women’s Platform for Peaceful Elections in Senegal. As such, the FAS-coordinated Platform and women’s “Situation Room” was highlighted as a best practice for women’s participation in electoral processes in post-conflict countries. To learn more about the Women's Platform for Peaceful Elections and the Women's Situation Room, please visit www.womensituationroom.org.

Statement by Ms Michelle Bachelet to UN Security Council on Women, Peace, and Security: Read more

The meeting, which was a joint event of the World Bank Institute and the African Capacity Building Foundation, brought together high-profile leaders from regional institutions in Africa, country ministers, non-state organizations, and the World Bank to share lessons, challenges, and explore critical new directions on capacity development. On this occasion, Ms Bineta Diop, Founder of Femmes Africa Solidarité, was invited as a panelist to discuss and debate various ways of how African countries may improve their implementation of capacity development practices so as to best achieve their development goals. Other panelists included Hon. John Rwangombwa, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Republic of Rwanda, H.E. Kerfalla Yansane, Minister of Economy and Finance, Republic of Guinea and Ms. Engwase Mwale, Executive Director, NGO Coordinating Council, Zambia.

Please see the link below for videos of the event: See here
See the outcomes from the discussion on "Bridging Gaps and Tradeoffs in Building Africa’s Capacity": See here - For the French version: See here