Webinar: Women in STEM in Africa and the COVID-19 Pandemic, 29 September 2020

• When: 29 September 2020, 4PM-6PM, Addis Ababa time | 9AM-11AM, New York time
• To join this webinar, please click here.

Background

With lockdowns as a COVID-19 response, the internet has emerged as a major COVID-19 knowledge resource. There are a lot of COVID-19 knowledge production and dissemination activities ongoing globally. However, the flow of this knowledge is mostly North-South and when it is stemming from the South, it usually comes from Asian countries. UNESCO has previously noted that global knowledge flows are greatly imbalanced to the detriment of global South nations. Yet Africa and Africans have been producing knowledge, and African Governments, private sector and academia are working on different initiatives to help flatten the COVID-19 curve. Equally, indigenous knowledge developed by societies with long histories of interaction with their natural surroundings especially plants have informed decision-making about fundamental aspects of day-to-day life, including community health. This is emerging as an important knowledge resource. Further, countries that have experience in dealing with infectious diseases such as Ebola have fared relatively well in combating COVID-19. During the Ebola epidemic in West Africa between 2013 and 2015, it was a compass of epidemiological knowledge drawn from indigenous knowledge among ordinary people that played an important part in containing the epidemic in 2015 . The same indigenous knowledge systems are being adopted in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, in partnership with the African Union Commission, is organizing a series of webinars highlighting the contributions African women in Science, Technology, Engineering e Mathematics (STEM) have made to the response to the current COVID-19 crisis. Seeking to contribute to the body of knowledge on the response to the pandemic in Africa, the first session will bring together a group of African female medical practitioners, ICT practitioners, scientists, and other African women involved in indigenous COVID-19 knowledge production and dissemination. The discussion will focus on:

• The roles that women in STEM in Africa have played in the pandemic – innovations, new industries, contributions to research etc. – and how we can amplify these stories;
• Home-grown solutions with women at the forefront, and their experiences;
• Further support that is needed and can be offered in different partnerships;
• A communication strategy to facilitate knowledge and experience exchange among African Women in STEM during and post-COVID-19.

Agenda

Session 1: Experiences and contributions of African women in STEM during the Pandemic

Moderator: Ms. Xiaojun Grace Wang, Deputy Director for Programme and Operations, United Nations Office for South- South Cooperation

1- Opening Remarks:

• Mr. Francois Ekoko, Africa Regional Chief, UNOSSC

2- Remarks from the Webinar Co- organizers:

• Mr. Adel Abdellatif, Director (OiC), UNOSSC
• Professor Agbor, Commissioner, AUC HRST

3- Presentations by African Women in STEM

• Ms. Sibongile Mongadi
• Dr. Shikoh Gitau
• Ms. Joyce Ngoi

4- Remarks and comments by the Panelists

• Hon. Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams- Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, South Africa
• H.E. Prof. Sarah Agbor, AUC Commissioner, Department of Human Resources, Science and Technology
• Mrs. Anne Githuku-Shongwe, Representative for UN Women’s South Africa Multi-Country Office (SAMCO)
• Senior Intel Representative

5- Q&A and comments from members

6- Response and closing remarks from panel members

7- Final remarks

• Mr. Francois Ekoko- Africa Regional Chief, UNOSSC