Africa - Francophone
Ms. Ntakebuka Wene Mwafizi Wilhelmine, graduated in Management, Economics, at the University of CEPROMAD, in the Province of South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, and holds a postgraduate degree in Community Management of HIV/AIDS from the Galilee Institute, Israel.
Development worker and human rights activist; co-founder of the organization Vision Communautaire (VICO), formerly Village Cobayes, an association committed to improving the socio-economic and health conditions of the most vulnerable in the DR Congo.
She initiated and executes socio-economic reintegration projects for victims of sexual violence, prolapse and fistula. As part of the promotion of sexual and reproductive health, she trains and educates young people on various topics.
She is VP of the Framework for Consultation of the Society in the DR Congo, Province of South Kivu, and is a member of the Board of Directors of XOESE, Fund for Francophone Women, in Togo/Lomé.
She is very committed to the promotion and defense of the rights of women, girls and children. Peace and security are aligned among her priorities, currently carrying a campaign “2022, Zero drop of blood in the DR Congo”, which she initiated (this campaign has had the support of more than 125 networks of women’s organizations and men from 26 provinces of the DR Congo). We conduct advocacy at both national and international levels for peace and security in our country DR Congo.
As part of the protection of the rights of young girls and women victims of gender-based violence, Wilhelmine has built three primary schools and a multi-purpose community center for the protection and empowerment of victims of war and shelters for women victims of violence, gender-based violence.
Through her commitment to improving the health of the most vulnerable, Wilhelmine has initiated a project for the extension and breeding of guinea pigs, its major impact has led to the eradication of kwashikor in Walungu territory, in Kabare, in province of South Kivu.
She has just set up a Collective of Women Committed to Peace and Development in the DR Congo and are the national moderator of this collective, which has had the support of around twenty women’s networks and organizations. The main objective of this collective is to advocate for peace and sustainable development in the Great Lakes region.
Wilhelmine is winner of the following awards:
– Prize for Gender Equality by XOESE, Fund for Francophone Women (first edition)
– Diploma of merit for our commitment to the consolidation and search for peace in the Great Lakes region;
– Diploma of merit for our supervision of young people;
– She is identified among the 25 influential women of the Great Lakes region;
– Medal of Excellence “Woman of Distinction” by the organizations of the World March of Women.
Africa - Anglophone
Arab & Gulf Region
Dr. Horeya T. Megahed is currently Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University. She got her Ph.D. from Indiana University (USA) in 1966 and was the first Egyptian woman specialized in political science. Since 1998 she is the International Representative of Hoda Sharawi Association to IAW, the oldest women’s NGO in Egypt. Like Hoda Sharawi before her, she served as Executive Vice-President of IAW. An ex. MP, she was a member of the People’s Assembly from 1990 to1995; member of the Executive Committee of Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) from 1990 to 1993; member and Vice-President of Women Parliamentarians (1990-1995) and head of the Egyptian delegation to the founding conference of Muslim Women Parliamentarians in Islamabad in 1995; a member of the Official Egyptian Delegation to Non-Governmental Organisations meeting in the ‘World Conference on Women’ in Nairobi in 1985, in Addis in 1990 and a member of the Egyptian Parliamentary Delegation in the ‘World Conference on Women’ in Beijing in 1995 when she addressed the Arab delegations.
The first woman to become the chairperson of the Department of Political Science (1986-92), besides being the director and board member of various research centers at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Horeya introduced a pioneer course on ‘Women and Politics’ in her department, was appointed the Coordinator of the ICESCO Chair at Cairo University in 2014, and the Chairperson of the Promotion Committee of the Supreme Council of Universities for 9 years ending in 2022.
In April 2022 she was appointed Board Member of the Migration Research Unit (MRU), which is affiliated to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) of the UN and the Center for Economic and Financial Research and Studies (Cairo University). She is the author of several books and articles on politics including women and politics, political thought, nation building, international borders, Pan Africanism and human rights. She established a school of thought based on relating theory to practice, conducting field work in both West and East Africa.
Europe
Yvonne Pokropek is passionate and emphatic HR Consultant with focus on Leadership Programs, Mentoring and Diversity topics. Before she became a consultant, she was HR director in big international companies for more than 20 years. The last assignment she had was with a big international logistics service provider, with responsibility for 14 countries between Ireland and Belarus and Russia.
Having worked in a very male industry her whole work life she has realized that increased equality and diversity does not come without hard work.
Therefore, she has dedicated a lot of time over the years to start up and finalize many initiatives with focus on these topics. Amongst other things mentoring programs with the goal to promote more women in leadership positions, developed a diversity game which has been used by many companies. The purpose with the game is to broaden perspectives and define prejudices that hinder increased diversity.
Yvonne has always engaged herself in different organisations, already as a young teenager she worked with the RedCross. In 2021 she was elected to the local steering committee of the Fredrika Bremer Förbundet in Gothenburg and 2022 she was elected to the board of Fredrika Bremer Förbundet, Sweden.