Washington, D.C.- National Democratic Institute’s (NDI) Board Member, Stacey Abrams, will lead the delegation attending the Women Deliver 2023 Conference (WD2023) in Kigali, Rwanda from July 17-20. 

The delegation, comprising 13 representatives from seven different partner organizations in Burkina Faso, Mexico, and Zambia, will travel to Kigali to participate in WD2023. These particular partners are from NDI's program to strengthen women-led urban civil society organizations sponsored by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. During the conference, NDI will run a concurrent session introducing a new tool that offers guidance on how local governments can plan and implement the equitable delivery of their services through inclusive and consultative processes.  

“I’m incredibly honored to attend the Women Deliver 2023 Conference and learn from advocates, activists, and leaders from movements committed to advancing equality and justice to improve the lives of women and girls globally,” Ms. Abrams said. “I am particularly looking forward to spending time with the delegation members, who are representative of NDI's extraordinary network of partners doing amazing work, often in the most challenging of circumstances, to create a more equitable future for us all.” 

One of WD2023's five objectives is to "reframe who leads" which resonates with NDI's focus on "changing the face of politics'. Participating in this conference will serve as an opportunity for NDI's partners to share their work and perspectives on the global stage, and to take advantage of the opportunity to connect with others who are part of the movements for gender equality and women's political empowerment around the world.  

In collaboration with The Population Council and other organizations, NDI will co-host Girls Deliver, a one-day pre-conference event focused on supporting the empowerment of adolescent girls and young people and at an event.  NDI will also launch DISRUPTHER, its new civic and political leadership module for adolescent girls and young women at an event on education co-hosted by The Population Council. Ms. Abrams will be speaking at both of these events.   

In keeping with NDI’s commitment to accelerate the pace of change on women’s political empowerment, NDI will also co-host a WD2023 conference concurrent session titled, Embracing Feminist Leadership in Advancing Democracy which, in addition to Ms. Abrams, will bring together other senior political leaders such as former President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark, and parliamentarians and representatives from France, Kenya, Malaysia, and South Africa.   

Sandra Pepera, Director of Gender, Women and Democracy at NDI, who will co-lead the delegation, said: "Women and girls in all their diversity are at the forefront of all the movements to address local, national and global challenges, and they are powerful agents for democratic renewal. Post-COVID and with the assault on rights taking place in many countries, this is an amazing opportunity for NDI to listen to them and to re-commit to making space for their advocacy and activism." 

Women Deliver 2023 is one of the largest multi-sectoral convenings to advance gender equality. It will bring together 6,000 people in Kigali and 200,000+ people online and enable inclusive and co-created spaces that foster solidarity for sustainable solutions on gender equality. 

To learn more about NDI’s delegates click here. 

The full schedule of NDI's pre-conference and conference events can be found here.  

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