Lusaka, Zambia—IFFAMPAC participated at the World Family Summit +5 (WFS), held December 4-7, 2009 in Istanbul, Turkey. The theme for the WFS was “Families in Balance,” a global mobilization towards the achievement of the third of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, “Gender Equality.”
IFFAMPAC Africa Representative Mr. Evans Lombe represented the organization at this summit, which was attended by ministers for families, government representatives, United Nations officials, international NGOs, scholars and academic institutions.
IFFAMPAC represented families of missing persons from armed conflicts, stressing the need to enhance education and social-economic empowerment for women and youths, since after conflicts the heads of households are often missing and the women and children must care for themselves.
The participation of IFFAMPAC at the prestigious international summit created opportunities for the voices of families of missing persons from armed conflicts to be heard. Furthermore, IFFAMPAC had an opportunity to engage government representatives, NGOs, and associations in discussing possibilities of networking, creating partnerships, and collaborating to save the families both in Africa and other parts of the world, with the goal of promoting consorted effort.
While at the summit IFFAMPAC presented various requests on the need to open up more branch offices in other countries, recruitment of volunteers and affiliates to enhance its work, donor support from well-wishers, and formation of family associations, as the basis for empowering the surviving families members, especially women and youths.
For more information and pictures, see the Event Release.