As world leaders gather to discuss “faster climate action” at COP 28, over 400 representatives of the Southern Africa Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA) from ten African countries will be gathering for its General Assembly from 4 to 6 December at the Wits Sports Conference Centre, Raikes Road, Sturrock Park. The General Assembly is a platform to amplify our voices as rural women as we develop solutions for the multiple crises confronting rural women such as the climate emergency.
The climate emergency is exacerbating other existing crises including the growing commodification of nature, the corporatization of our traditional seeds, privatising of water, growing land grabs by multinational companies and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) – all various forms of violence affecting rural women across the African Continent. While we celebrate our hard-won victories, the Assembly will also deliberate on strategies to challenge the existing global power imbalance.
The RWA pan African delegation have travelled from Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland, Malawi, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The theme for this year’s General Assembly is Reimagining the World We Want: In Defence of Land, Seeds, Food, Nature and our Bodies. During panel discussions, interactive workshops and various keynote addresses, this year’s theme will guide us as we continue to resist the looting of Africa’s natural resources.
Alongside the General Assembly, the RWA will be hosting a market displaying unique handmade arts, crafts and traditional African food showcasing the innovation of our members. The market will not just be a display of talent, it is a powerful testament underscoring a crucial truth. Rural women hold within their hands the solutions for addressing the complex challenges of our time.
Members of the media are invited to join the RWA General Assembly this week and bear witness to an extraordinary and unique pan African gathering affirming the sovereignty of rural women and our role as the Guardians of Land, Life, Seeds and Love.
For media enquiries and interview requests, please contact:
Esley Philander
061 643 4249 / media@tcoe.org.za
Namasiku Muyoba
+26 097 160 1867 / saruralwomen@gmail.com
ABOUT I In 2009, 250 women came together and established the Rural Women’s Assembly with the slogan Guardians of Land, Life, Seeds and Love. Fourteen years later, the Rural Women’s Assembly has a membership in ten African countries including Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland, Malawi, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA) is an independent and self-organised rural movement of small-scale women farmers, fisher women, farm workers, landless women and food producers.
ISSUED BY THE SOUTHERN AFRICA RURAL WOMEN’S ASSEMBLY
