The Director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), Aarti Holla-Main, has announced that following a productive discussion with HE Makoloo Maurice, Ambassador & Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kenya Mission to Vienna, Austria, the decision has been made to host the 2024 UNOOSA‘s annual Space4Women Expert Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, in November 2024.
This will mark the fifth meeting organised by UNOOSA and our esteemed co-hosting organisations, a testament to the collaborative spirit and shared commitment to gender equality in the space sector. Our previous meetings in New York (2017), Brazil and the United Arab Emirates (2021), the Republic of Korea (2022), and Canada (2023) have paved the way for this important gathering.
UNOOSA’s Space4Women initiative encourages women and girls to pursue STEM education and raise awareness about career opportunities, emphasising gender equality and empowerment in the space sector. The expert meeting will ensure that the benefits of space exploration are accessible to women and girls, fostering their equal and active participation in space science, technology, innovation, and exploration.
The meeting’s objectives are to discuss strategies and empower each participant to make a real difference. We aim to support the integration of gender mainstreaming into national space strategies and policies, understand women’s perspectives and needs in space research and technology, discuss actions to achieve gender equality targets outlined in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, and empower each participant to advocate for gender equality efforts at institutional and individual levels.
Furthermore, the meeting will bring together experts to contribute through presentations, sharing expertise, and preparing a gender mainstreaming toolkit for the space sector. It will also address the impact of recent flooding in Kenya on agriculture and food security, particularly crucial discussions as most farmers in Kenya are women.
UNOOSA will provide details regarding the programme, registration, and financial support in due course. For more information, please get in touch with UNOOSA at space4women@un.org.
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