PRESS RELEASE # 1

May 8th 2015

Africa Day 2015: Women Empowerment and Development towards achieving Africa Agenda 2063

The African Ambassadors Group to the United States is celebrating this Year’s Africa Day under the theme Women Empowerment and Development towards achieving Africa Agenda 2063, through holding a series of events to highlight the progress that Africa made and the challenges ahead in this regard. Africa Day celebrates the establishment of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the predecessor of the African Union (AU), which was formed on May 25th 1963. On this day, the African Countries reflect on their common goals and aspirations for a better future, as well as the challenges ahead in a global environment. It is with a view to successfully complete the post-2015 Development Agenda, to accelerate Beijing and Dakar Platforms for Action, and to implement gender equality and women’s empowerment policies as part of the African Women’s Decade (2010-2020), that the African Countries have declared 2015 as a year of “Women Empowerment and Development towards achieving Africa Agenda 2063”. Africa Agenda 2063 is a roadmap for Africa’s long-term socioeconomic transformation within the next 50 years. One of the seven pillars of this Agenda aims at achieving peopledriven development, specifically by placing gender equality and equity at the core of these efforts. The African Countries have prioritized five areas of women empowerment to achieve Agenda 2063, including health, education, economy, peace and security, and agriculture. For more information on Africa Agenda 2063 please visit: https://agenda2063.au.int/en/documents