Dr Mrs Ibifuro Ken-Giami, Executive Director CELD

Delivering Impact and Results Driven Solutions for Women Across Sectors, Social Status and Nations

In the year 2022, like other years, the Amazons Watch Magazine was given privileged access to the diverse experiences of women across different climes, which were written in form of stories, and informed some of our interventions and projects. On one end, there were women and girls who challenged status quo, refused to settle for less and became change agents in their communities while on the other end, the picture remained grim.

Different dimensions of unequal access to education for girls were revealed including restrictions to viable career routes such as engineering and economics; and a projection of up to 11 million girls around the world to be likely pushed out of school permanently because of the effects of COVID-19, according to a study by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). There is also the menace of gender-based violence (GBV), also termed the shadow pandemic, which continues to cut short the lives of these women. Also, the worrisome statistic which showed that One woman is killed every 11 minutes by intimate partners or family members is a pointer to the devastating effect of this GBV menace, considering that the figure does not account for women political leaders and human right defenders who experience such violence in increasing proportions. Others include stories indicating that some 650 million women across the globe were married before the age of 18 and about 71% of all human trafficking involves women and girls.

Consequently, in 2023, Amazons Watch Magazine, in collaboration with the Centre for Economic and Leadership Development and other key partners from our Multistakeholder Partnership for Women Development, is poised to lead a solutions-oriented and results-focused projects grounded in actionable research that will deliver maximum impact to women.

This is against the backdrop of recent projections of the likelihood of a new world full of unexpected technologies, unseen competitors, and unforeseen sustainable development challenges. It is therefore paramount now more than ever to proactively seek to engage the over 67% of women who are disengaged in their work because they feel unheard and undervalued, according to research. There is also an urgent need to consider the challenges of women in the grassroots such as women farmers, and especially the estimated 740 million women worldwide working in informal sectors such as plantations, processing plants, street vendors, domestic workers, subsistence farmers and seasonal agriculture workers.

We anticipate that in this year 2023, more collaborations will be formed to really focus on action conversations and solutions to lift these women out of the impact of the multifaceted gendered dimensions of inequality.

For us all at Amazons Watch Magazine, it is a case of ‘too far too long’ and we are determined to leave no stone unturned in our drive to deliver impact and results-driven solutions for women across sectors, social status, and nations. We look forward to a “World’ where leading with one’s heart and compassionately as a woman leader is not misconstrued as being weak but rather evidence of one who is both compassionate and strong enough to feel the pulse of the people and address their dire challenges.

Therefore, stay and work with us as we strive to redefine the true meaning of impact and solutions by women for all women.

Yours in Service,

Dr Mrs Ibifuro Ken-Giami

Executive Director

Centre for Economic and Leadership Development (CELD)