<<Print>>

The first ever African Women Cultural Leaders Network (AWCLN) meeting opened in Accra on Friday to brainstorm on the creation of a continental network of women cultural leaders. The four-day meeting, which was organized by the African Union Commission in partnership with the UN Women, brought together queen mothers from 15 African countries including Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and Burundi. Lady Julia Osei Tutu, Wife of Otumfuo Osei Tutu, Asantehene, in an address, said transforming royal women leaders was critical for the development of the African woman and girl-child. She acknowledged the critical role women play in the socio-economic and cultural development not only in the African continent, but also towards the global economy. According to her, the meeting would provide royal women leaders with a unified voice to be able to advocate and articulate the needs and concerns of African women to ensure that they well recognised. She cited how women have succeeded over the centuries in skillful areas such as education, agriculture, industry and in trade apart from their biological duties as mothers and roles as wives. Lady Julia indicated that royal women have also for centuries played political and cultural roles and have remained the custodians of African heritage. However the rich African culture, values and heritage faces the threat of extinction with the advent of globalization and with the option of democracy as a system of governance. She argued that due to the blind importation of negative aspects of western cultures that was almost succeeding in polluting the rich African culture and creating several vices among the youth, it has become critical that African culture was projected and protected. She stressed that without such actions, Africa would only be counted as mere numbers. Lady Julia said by constituting a network, African Royalty would regain prominence and would be able to address challenges such as HIV and AIDS, harmful traditional practices like the female genital mutilation and the Trokosi which affects both women and girls. She indicated that although the challenges are enormous, forming strong collaboration and cross-border networking would help eliminate all barriers that hinder the promotion and sustainability of African culture. It would further strengthen the abilities of women, particularly Royal women leaders to be brave when auditing negative traditional practices and in proposing new ideas where existing ones have failed, she said. Hajia Hawawu Boya Gariba, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Women and Children 's Affairs, said government of Ghana was doing all it could to eliminate all barriers that impede the development of women as well as the girl-child and further provide them with opportunities to compete favourable at all levels of society. She expressed the hope that the outcome of the meeting would be carried to the highest levels, backed by political will, to ensure recognition of women as partners in development globally. The programme was chaired by Sylvia Nagginda, Queenmother of the Buganda Kingdom of Uganda.