In one year since CGI commitment, Digital Democracy has trained 150 women and built a database documenting over 400 cases of rape in Haiti. The only phone-based emergency response system dedicated to rape and sexual assault in Haiti has been designed, launched and tested by Digital Democracy (Dd) and KOFAVIV, the Commission for Women Victims for Victims.

My maternal grandfather's mantra was, “Educate a woman, and you feed and educate her family.” He educated his daughters when Nigerian fathers rarely did. My grandfather was also very interested in my education and often questioned me about it. It is a shame his passion for educating women is not emulated by some African governments.

As Ethiopian women's rights organisations struggle to stay afloat following government legislation that prohibits them from receiving international funding, violence against women continues to rise, writes Billene Seyoum Woldeyes. But in the absence of social and institutional support, where can victims of gender-based violence turn to for help?

Shreen Abdul Saroor has experienced war and forced displacement. She grew up surrounded by violence in Sri Lanka, where Tamil militants expelled Muslims from the north in 1990, forcing her family to escape their Mannar Island home.

She understands the costs of war and, in particular, the vulnerability of women.

Millennium Development Goal Three of the UN has put 2015 as deadline to eliminate gender inequality and empower women at all levels including education, health, employment, equal opportunity and dignity among others. Reports show that many African countries are still far from meeting the target.

A crisis of truly biblical proportions now faces the international community in the Horn of Africa. More than 12 million people — over half the population of Australia — are in need of urgent help because of famine and drought.

Dean Hudgins, thank you for that introduction. I greatly appreciate this opportunity and want to thank the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, its College of Liberal Arts and Department of Political Science who are the hosts of this event. I also want to thank Professor Dr. Joanne Goodwin for participating in this event, and for the important role she is playing here at UNLV and as the Director of the Women's Research Institute of Nevada.

On Sept. 9, 1990, 21 years ago, rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army, LRA, abducted Florence Amony from her home in Palenga, a village in northern Uganda, as she slept. She was just 13.

In the month of August 2011, EASSI completed her second month-long training on the gender dimension of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) that targeted the countries of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia and Southern Sudan.