The Young African Women Congress (YAWC), an annual residential Pan-African women’s congregation is set to host an East African sub-regional session in Nairobi, Kenya in May this year. This was contained in a statement signed by the YAWC Network Council Chair, Mr Daniel Osei Tuffuor who doubles as the Executive Director for the ExLA Group, the holding organisation for the YAWC Network.

Organised by the YAWC Network and the ExLA Group under the umbrella of the ExLA Group Gender Programme (EGGP), the Young African Women Congress has empowered thousands of young women of African descent who are living in Africa and the diaspora to be change agents in their communities since its inception in 2016. The fifth annual continental convocation of the congress was held last year in Accra, Ghana. The organisers have therefore decided to introduce the sub-regional sessions in the various sub-regions in Africa beginning from the year 2022 in order to take empowerment to the doorstep of every African woman. The East Africa sub-regional congress in Kenya in May 2022 is the first of the sub regional sessions and is set to take place from 22^nd to 25^th May at the University of Nairobi under the theme “Network for Empowerment: Refueling a Continent on the Rise”.

The congress under the aforementioned theme will explore the power of networking and its influence in mobilising the right support for harnessing a massive change in the trajectory of women’s empowerment in Africa.

It will feature well-renowned leaders from across the world who will take participants through various sessions including keynotes, panel discussions, group brainstorming sessions, a Gala dinner, business exhibition, among others. Parallel sessions would include presentations of various categories of projects and initiatives led by participants themselves, in their various countries and communities. Participants will also be taken on a full-day trip to enjoy the beauty and heritage of some parts of Kenya.

A total of over 500 young women from 30 different countries are expected to participate in the largest women’s congress in the sub-region with wide continental and global media coverage which will provide a broad and reliable platform for engagement of the business and social community across the world, for growth and development.

The 6^th annual continental convocation of the congress will also be held in Accra from 18^th to 22^nd September, 2022 under the theme, “Network for Empowerment: Africa and Beyond.

YAWC is open to young women of Africa and the diaspora who wish to be a part of the biggest platform for women empowerment in Africa. The platform promotes knowledge sharing and intellectual discourse and most importantly, engenders a strong sense of belonging which propels participants to become changemakers in their immediate environments with rippling effects on the continent at large.

Registration is currently on-going and interested participants can log on to the official website, www.yawcafrica.org to register and participate in any of the two sessions or both.