IDRC is gathering with thousands of gender equality leaders and advocates from all over the world in Kigali, Rwanda, for the Women Deliver 2023 conference, from July 17–20, 2023.
IDRC’s innovative research programming promotes solutions at the intersection of some of the greatest challenges and opportunities facing women in the Global South: the use of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly in health; climate change; and inequality in the care economy.
At Women Deliver, IDRC is raising awareness about the promise of responsible AI to improve health outcomes for women. AI solutions are increasingly used to address unmet sexual, reproductive and maternal health needs and to strengthen health systems more broadly, but biases and exclusions in health-related applications must be addressed.
Through several Women Deliver events, IDRC is also championing the development of solutions that can address gender inequality in the care economy. A disproportionate amount of unpaid care work falls on women everywhere in the world, including the care of children and the elderly, cleaning, cooking, and fetching water and fuel. IDRC co-hosted panels explore the unpaid care responsibilities of women healthcare workers and the green technologies that can relieve women’s household care work, while also empowering them to lead low-carbon transitions. A day-long pre-conference event organized and hosted by 17 organizations will strategize on how to scale policies to redress inequalities in paid and unpaid care, promote investment in solutions and further strengthen movements for care justice.
IDRC is committed to supporting transformational change that addresses deeply rooted and structural power relations to move the needle on women’s equality. A co-hosted panel discusses gender transformative approaches that have helped position women livestock farmers to participate in, and benefit from, livestock vaccine value chains.
IDRC is proud to be a Women Deliver conference sponsor. We believe that innovative research from the Global South will help achieve the goal of gender equality, if it is grounded in women’s local realities and respects their agency.
IDRC events at Women Deliver
July 16, 2023, 8:30 am – 5:30 pm, Central Africa Time (CAT)
This pre-conference event will explore the role of governments, the private sector, the care work force and civil society in promoting decent care work. It will do so by looking at the wide range of policies and actions needed to promote investments in the care economy, while ensuring sustainable and gender transformative care systems.
Co-organized by Women Deliver, Asia Foundation, Center for Global Development, International Labour Organization and WeProsper and co-hosted by IDRC and other organizations.
IDRC also supported two regional events on care work leading up to this conference.
July 18, 5:30 – 7 pm (CAT)
For the 450 million women smallholder livestock farmers around the world who rely on livestock for their livelihood, a lack of access to livestock vaccines is devastating. This side event highlights research supported by the Livestock Vaccine Innovation Fund using gender transformative approaches to identify and address barriers preventing women livestock farmers from participating effectively in livestock vaccines systems.
Speakers:
- Immaculate Omondi, gender research economist, International Livestock Research Institute
- Nargiza Ludgate, principal investigator, University of Florida
- Hellen Amuguni, principal investigator and veterinary and gender expert, Tufts University
- Salome Bukachi, University of Nairobi
- Catherine Kaluwa, country research coordinator for Kenya, University of Nairobi
- Agnes Loriba, co-principal investigator, CARE Ghana
- Judith Chemuliti, co-principal investigator, Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO)
- Gordon Obin, Uganda country coordinator, University of Florida
Moderated by Taaka Awori, Busara Africa
Organized by the Livestock Vaccine Innovation Fund, a partnership with Global Affairs Canada, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and IDRC.
July 19, 11:30 am – 1 pm (CAT)
This side event will explore how research can catalyze the responsible development and deployment of AI innovations for advancing maternal, sexual and reproductive health and rights through health systems strengthening in low-income countries. By responsible, we are referring to AI innovations that are ethical, inclusive and equitable, respect human rights and contribute to environmental sustainability.
Speakers:
- Laure Tall (Keynote), research director, Initiative Prospective Agricole et Rurale (IPAR)
- Noor Sabah Rakhshani, PHC Global, Pakistan
- Dr Rosalind Parkes-Ratanshi, Infectious Disease Institute, Uganda
- Cintia Cejas, Instituto de Efectividad Clínica y Sanitaria, Argentina
- Dr Nadine Sabra, research associate, Global Health Institute, American University of Beirut, Lebanon
Moderated by Dr Samuel Oti, senior program specialist, IDRC
Organized by IDRC.
July 19, 1:30 – 3 pm (CAT)
This concurrent session will showcase co-created, field-tested solutions supported by IDRC and UN Women over the last four years with organizations in West and East Africa in the areas of women’s economic empowerment, reducing or eliminating the burdens of unpaid care work, and shifting gender norms. The panelists will explore the interplay between these goals and the challenges and opportunities for green transitions.
Speakers:
- Bipasha Baruah (Keynote), professor & Canada research chair in Global Women's Issues, University of Western Ontario
- Jemimah Njuki, chief of economic empowerment, UNWOMEN
- Muriel Ametoglo, regional feminist economist & gender, and economics policy specialist, UNWOMEN
- Xavérine Uwimana, national coordinator of Réseau des Femmes, Rwanda
- Elie Antoine Padonou, National University of Agriculture, Abomey Calavi, Benin
Moderated by Flaubert Mbiekop, senior program specialist, IDRC
Co-organized by IDRC and UN Women.
July 20, 11:30 am – 1 pm (CAT)
Evidence shows that health systems are insufficiently responsive to women’s specific health needs and yet are highly dependent on them as providers of care. This side event will bring together a diverse group of international actors to share their experiences and describe insights from their research on the multiple challenges female health workers face as they seek to improve and sustain their mental and physical health and socio-economic well-being.
Speakers:
- Dr Sabin Nsanzimana (Keynote), Minister of Health, Rwanda (TBC)
- Anis Farid, research project manager, Women's Aid Organisation
- Dr Lisa Avery, assistant professor, Director, Africa Initiatives, University of Manitoba
- Melania Chiponda, gender and climate advisor, African Women's Development and Communication Network
- Muriel Ametoglo (Discussant), regional feminist economist/gender and economic policy specialist, UN Women West and Central Africa Regional Office
Moderated by Kathryn Toure, regional director, Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office, IDRC
Organized by the Women RISE Initiative, a partnership between the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and IDRC.
Here are a few more events organized by IDRC research partners:
Beyond warm words: achieving gender-just, low-carbon economies in practice, part of the Women Deliver virtual conference, July 19, 4:00 – 5:15 pm (CAT), organized by SouthSouthNorth and Climate and Development Knowledge Network.
SheVax+ documentary launch at the Women Deliver Arts & Film Festival, July 20, 10:00 – 10:30 am (CAT), organized by Tufts University and Afrohun.
