Third UfM High level Conference on Women Empowerment - 10 and 11 October 2016 in Barcelona

The UfM Secretariat organizes the Third Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) High-Level Conference on Women Empowerment on 10-11 October 2016 in Barcelona.

Following the 2014 and 2015 editions and in the perspective of the Fourth UfM Ministerial Conference on Strengthening the Role of Women in Society which will take place in 2017, the Conference will gather main stakeholders fostering women’s empowerment around the Mediterranean to share ideas, experiences, initiatives and recommendations regarding the essential role that women play in promoting peace, development and stability.

This year again, discussions will focus on current and critical issues in the Mediterranean region where women have an essential role to play including:

• Women as drivers for sustainable development and inclusive growth
• Women as key actors against extremism and radicalization
• Women, mobility and migration

Over 250 representatives from key stakeholders involved in women socio-economic empowerment issues will attend the UfM Conference, including some of the most relevant women empowerment experts from national institutions of the UfM member states, international development agencies, private sector and civil society organisations. The event will also promote B2B and networking meetings in order to set projects and innovative cooperation initiatives.

OBJECTIVES

The Conference seeks to achieve several objectives:

• • Think about women as actors of change and solutions to the regional challenges.
  • Examine how to strengthen their positive contribution to development and stability.
  • Highlight women’s role in enhancing sustainable development and inclusive growth, in promoting tolerance and mutual understanding and address the issue of women and migrations.
  • Get inspired from testimonies and concrete experiences.
  • Formulate recommendations in terms of policy decisions, exchange of experiences and good practices from the field and identify regional projects and initiatives.
  • Explore how strengthening regional cooperation contributes to improving women’s situation and living conditions.

Conference draft agenda