07 Oct 2016

 International Working Group (IWG) on Women and Sport will next week Friday host 2016 Africa Women in Sport conference.
The two days conference will be held under the theme Reshaping Africa Women and Sport.
IWG, marketing and public relations manager, Boitumelo Kenosi said in an interview that preparation went very well and at least 223 participants from around the world had confirmed their attendance.
Furthermore, she said there would be a panel discussion talking about minority communities in sport and inclusive sport facilities. The panelists, she said would be Olympic 800 metres gold medalist Caster Semenya from South Africa, United Kingdom basketball player Asma Elbadawi, sport administrator Shirley Keoagile and Ghanaian Dr Bella Bello Bitungu.
She said the Namibian minister of home affairs and immigration, Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana would give a keynote address.
“Other topics to be discussed include gender mainstreaming into sport, demystifying negative masculinity and mentorship and empowering of women in sport in Africa,” she said.
She said they were hosting the Africa Women in Sport conference, after they were given the task after winning the bid to see how best they could improve women in sport structure in Africa.
Kenosi said of the five regions in the world, Africa was the only one left behind in coming up with a robust structure of women in sport, hence the hosting of the conference to fortify the existing structure.
The Africa conference, she added, would also help them to gauge their readiness for the coming 2018 World conference.
“We are using it as a dry-run to 2018 to check our system and identify where we are lacking and which areas need to be improved before the major conference,” she said.
Meanwhile a press release from IWG states that the conference programme will feature a social programme in the form of the screening of the movie Queen of Katwe which will premier in the country as part of the programme on the evening of October 14. It says the movie premier will be done in partnership with the Botswana Chess Federation, and the event will double as a cultural night and also a celebration of sport and its role in the development of girls in sport.
The movie Queen of Katwe is about a young Ugandan girl called Phiona Mutesi from Uganda who used chess to get out of poverty and become an icon, a celebrated figure, vibrant and confident young girl.
The story is a true depiction of sport as a tool for development of both the young and old.
The release further says the evening event will be officiated by the IWG patron, Minister of Health and Wellness, Dorcas Makgato, Africa Chess Federation president, Lewis Ncube and one of the main characters of the movie, Robert Katende. ENDS