DATE: 30 November 2021
WHERE: Virtual

THEME:  Forging and Adapting to New Realities for Greater Influence and Impact in a Rapidly Changing World

EVENT’S BRIEF

The South America-Africa-Middle-Asia Women Summit (SAMEAWS) is an annual programme that brings together, the most influential and prominent women as well as key stakeholders from the South America, Africa, Middle East, and Asian regions to re-emphasize the critical role of women in the future of developing economies, celebrate influential and prominent female role models who are directly contributing to their development, and most assuredly, confront the inequalities women face and focus on the change we want to see – and create – in the world.

The 2021 edition of this summit, which has been held in Dubai over the past 8 years,  would focus on the theme: “Forging and Adapting to New Realities for Greater Influence and Impact in a Rapidly Changing World” in light of the recent data from UN Women indicating that gender equality in the highest positions of power will not be reached for another 130 years as only 26 women are serving as Heads of State and/or Government in 24 countries in 2021, while gender parity in national legislative bodies will not be achieved before 2063 as only 19 countries have reached or surpassed 40 percent of women in parliament, including five countries Latin America and the Caribbean, four in Africa, and one in the Pacific.

Needless to say, achieving the UN-sponsored Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 is hinged on women’s equal participation and leadership. Therefore, the America-Africa-Middle-Asia Women Summit (SAMEAWS) shall be a mixture of keynotes, paper presentations, roundtable sessions, and pre-summit workshop that would offer unique and strategic opportunities for women leaders from all walks of life to openly share experiences and explore emerging best practices, adapt with agility to new realities, up-skill, and bridge the knowledge gap, build more capacity as professionals and leaders, demonstrate resilience during uncertain times, leverage digital tools, innovate to thrive and take their place at the highest echelon of leadership, and contribute their quota to solving the rising challenges in the today’s fast-changing world.

The objectives of the summit are therefore as follows:

1. Convene Think-Tanks, Experts, Academics, Researchers, and Research scholars to explore unique approaches to women’s greater influence and impact.
2. Get global female business and political leaders to share and adopt new realities, best practices that would help strengthen their influence and impact in their countries.
3. Convene High-Level Roundtable Sessions and Panel Discussions for stakeholders across developing nations to engage and exchange experiences, lessons learned, and best practices in developing a diversity of skills and female leadership in the society.
4. Celebrate some influential leaders and businesses across emerging economies, who directly contribute to the community and national development.

SAMEAWS 2021 shall have the following key highlights:

• Keynotes and paper presentations
• First Ladies on a Mission Roundtable
• Policymakers & Stakeholders Roundtable Session
• Female CEOs Roundtable Session
• CSR & Gender Equality- A panel discussion by companies and organizations making CSR women-friendly in developing nations.
• Amazons Watch Magazine’s Blue Ribbon Awards & annual Global Women Leaders Hall of Fame (GWLHOF) induction ceremony
• Unveiling the Amazons Watch Magazine’s 2021 Game Changers -Top 400 Women to Watch from Emerging Nations & Top 50 Public Sector Women of Excellence Showcase 2021
• Pre-summit women leadership development workshop.

Some of the key expected Participants at SAMEAWS 2020:

1. Female Heads of Government and Senior Female Government Leaders
2. First Ladies and Wives of Heads of Government
3. Major Industry Titans, leading CEOs and private-sector Stakeholders
4. Female Heads and Members of Boards
5. Academics, Researchers, and Research scholars
6. International Development Institutions