One of the most distressing challenges arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic has been an increase in the frequency and severity of violence against women – described as the ‘Shadow Pandemic’.

According to data from UN Women, one in three women worldwide experience physical or sexual violence mostly by an intimate partner; with an estimated 736 million women being subjected to intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both at least once in their life (30% of women aged 15 and older). Today, the risk of child marriage is highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, where more than one in three women, aged 20–24 years, were married before the age of 18. (UN Women, 2020).

The issues are more prevalent for those in marginalized groups living below the poverty line and earning less than $2 a day. Financial, technological, and legal innovations do not consider the less privileged and their access to policies, processes, and resolutions, unlike other less developed regions. Against this backdrop, the session will engage in discourse and hope to address how Africans can solve their own unique challenges, not just on political and economic ideals, but also on social and cultural issues.

Speakers share best practices and learnings from their experiences tackling Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in local communities, and in regional and national policy spaces.