Following our first two conferences in East Africa during 2018 in Kampala, Uganda, and Eldoret, Kenya, our third event took place in the UK at the University of Nottingham. The theme of the final conference in this series was Language, Gender and Leadership: Towards a Global, Sustainable Future.
At this event we showcased the work of the network so far, including some of the most inspirational stories from our unique dataset of over 100 life history narratives collected between 2018-19 from women and girls of different ages and backgrounds in East Africa. The conference also acted as the official launch of the Language, Gender and Leadership Network’s website.
We were delighted to hear from an accomplished set of international speakers from Kenya and Uganda, including academics, NGOs and political representatives, as well as the following internationally-recognised plenary speakers:
Valentine Nyoko, Director of the Mojatu Foundation, Human Rights Activist and international FGM campaigner
Professor Laura Murphy, Director of the Modern Slavery Research Centre, Loyola University, New Orleans, USA, and Professor of Human Rights and Contemporary Slavery, the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice, Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Simon Gallow, Development Director, UN Women
Hope Nankunda, an invited speaker
Message from the Founder Members, The Language, Gender and Leadership Network
"The Nottingham event was the third international conference held by Language, Gender and Leadership Network. This summit provided us with an opportunity to discuss and decide upon future directions and commitments for members of the network, working together as a global team. Following a range of emergent topics from our first two events and from our unique collection of over 100 narratives of personal experience from women and girls in East Africa, we had identified a number of key areas that deserve future focus. This focus emerged collaboratively from academics, policy makers, NGOs, charities, political representatives and other stakeholder groups working together to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals set of by the UN for 2030.
The third event showcased the stories we have collected, celebrated those already involved in advocacy and activism for gender empowerment, and also mapped out issues that are of global concern and relevance as we move into the next step of the network. The aim of the final conference was to enable expansion to a global focus on promoting gender equality, whilst also retaining productive spaces for culturally-specific collaborations and future initiatives to emerge. We are grateful to the UKRI’s Global Challenges Research Fund and the Arts and Humanities Research Council for providing us with the opportunity to engage in this work on gender empowerment across different continents and for the opportunity to bring so many inspirational people together.”
Professor Louise Mullany, University of Nottingham, UK, Principal Investigator
Dr. Masibo Lumala, Moi University, Kenya
Dr. Roshni Mooneeram African Leadership Network
Ms Rita Atukwasa, Institute of Social Transformation, Uganda