Nobel Peace Prize 2011 – “Walking Africa” Conference
ROME, Italy, May 25, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ — African women as a whole have been nominated for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize. The campaign will be presented during an international conference taking place at the Foreign Ministry on 25 May. The event will be opened by Foreign Minister Franco Frattini and his colleague Mara Carfagna.
The campaign, known as the Nobel Peace Prize for African Women (NOPPAW), has been taken forward by CIPSI, a non-governmental organisation, with the personal support of Minister Frattini. The minister signed an official nomination letter to the Nobel Committee and has been raising awareness amongst the entire diplomatic network of the importance of the campaign. CIPSI has also been awarded a grant of 370,000 euros to conduct an development education and information project.
The conference will include an up-date on the campaign, with a presentation on the nomination dossier officially lodged in Oslo on 1 February 2011. The African women present at the event will bring their own testimony and tell their own life-stories.
Guests from Africa will include the promoter of NOPPAW, Hélène Yinda, a theologian from Cameroon; Nafissatou Ndiaye representing Senegal’s Ministry for Equal Opportunities; Amany Asfour, President of Business and Professional Women Egypt and Director of the Human Resources, Science and Technology section of the African Union’s Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC); Suzanne Ware, President of PAG LA YIRI (“the woman is the foundation of society”); Fatumata Kane, a writer from Mali; Sylvie Jacqueline Ndogmo, President of FEM.NET, a network of women’s associations; Bernadette Muongo, coordinator of the programme helping women victims of conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Fatima Mohamed Lmeldeen, a teacher in West Darfur; and Fatma Fall, from the NOPPAW campaign’s technical committee in Senegal.
The singer Amii Stewart will usher in the conference with a performance that includes the anthem for the event.
SOURCE
Italy – Ministry of Foreign Affairs
