The keynote address will be delivered by Ms Elinor Sisulu with the focus on gender equality and economic development in Africa. Ms Sisulu is amongst others the Chairperson of the Book Development Foundation and the Director of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition Board. She is also the author of biography; Walter and Albertina Sisulu: In Our Lifetime.  In 2003, she also published a children’s book, The Day Gogo Went to Vote, and in 1997 co-authored a monograph, Women in Zimbabwe.

The Gender Equality and Economic Development Conference aims to:

• analyse gender issues and the socio-economic role of women in the informal and formal economic sectors;
• share challenges and best practices for gender equality and economic development;
• provide country-wide data on opportunities and constraints on women, including status of both women and men in education, health, politics, natural resources and civil society;
• set a new tone of discussion on gender equality and economic development in Africa, as partnership between men and women, on constructing family, community and work in the new economy of the 21st century;
• form institutional partnerships for development and implementation of strategic programmes elaborated on the basis of the discussions during the conference.

For more information, please call Futhi Umlaw at Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, University of Pretoria.
Tel: +27 12 420 3393: Fax: +27 12 420 5971 Website: www.rbi-ssa.org