The Arab International Women’s Forum was truly delighted to collaborate with the London School of Economics on Saturday 08 March 2025 on the very special occasion of International Women’s Day on an outstanding conference, ‘Empowering Women in Agriculture: Navigating Peace, Conflict, and Food Security’. This event was co-hosted by the Arab International Women’s Forum, the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa, The Centre for Women, Peace and Security, The LSE International Development Department and the LSE Middle East Centre. Together, we were proud to platform the diverse voices of women who work or are involved in the agricultural sector and who are leading the way within their own communities and internationally to make the sector sustainable.
Throughout Africa and the MENA Region, women are forging new pathways for agricultural innovation that address the critical issues of sustainability, inequality and peace, and so the conference aimed to promote women-led innovation and advocacy in agriculture across Africa, address critical issues, and pave the way for sustainable development and peace. Haifa Al Kaylani OBE, as President & Founder of the Arab International Women’s Forum, was delighted to co-chair this key event with Dr Caroline Green, Manager of the Centre for Women, Peace and Security at LSE, and to deliver a keynote in the opening session alongside Dr Green and Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli, President & CEO of the ONE Campaign. Throughout the day we greatly welcomed the contributions, insights and messages of some of AIWF’s valued members who supported the event as speakers, including:
Professor Rym Ayadi, Founder and President of the Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association (AIWF institutional partner);
Sarah El Battouty, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion, Entrepreneur & Climate Activist / Architect;
Hassan Halawy, CEO of Elite Agritech Division (who joined via video message); and
Funke Michaels, Policy Academy Fellow, Newcastle University, among many others.
We look forward to furthering our contributions with LSE in the future and to the upcoming report and recommendations which will be published jointly by AIWF and LSE in due course to capture the key discussions of the day. AIWF now also looks ahead to our June 2024 conference at the Royal Academy of Engineering in partnership with WiSER on the sidelines of London Climate Action Week 2025, at which many of the key findings and takeaways from our conference on Saturday can be explored further.
