Addis Ababa, 15 November 2016 – A strong delegation from the African Union Commission (AUC) is expected to take active part at  the 10th Africa Women Cup of Nations to be held in Yaoundé, capital city of Cameroon from 19th November to 3rd December 2016.The biennial International Football Championship organized by the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) for the women’s national teams of Africa in partnership with the AUC, will bring together a total of eight teams. The official Opening Ceremony for the   AFCON Women 2016 will take place on 19 November 2016. The tournament will be played in two cities: Yaoundé – Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo with the capacity of 38,509 and in the Limbe Municipal Stadium with the capacity of 20,000, between the periods from 19th November to 3rd December 2016. The AUC in collaboration with CAF and Unicef will join efforts and use the platform to empower women through football in line with Agenda 2063 in support and creation awareness on the continental efforts campaign to End Child Marriage under the awareness theme ‘Together against the Marriage of Young Girls’.

The eight female football teams namely; Cameroon (host), Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe will galvanise many African citizens around the issue of sports and related activities. The African Union is hoping that the competition will clearly demonstrate a true spirit of Pan-Africanism and projects the image of a continent united around the values of peace, dialogue, integration and development, as well as social cohesion among the youths in Africa.

Worth recalling that, the African Union Commission (AUC) and the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) on 14 June 2012 signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at using football as a tool to promote development, peace and humanitarian objectives for social change in Africa in line with the CAF Statutes which provide as follows, “support of the actions of the African Union and non-governmental organizations related to youth, sport and culture”. Inspired by the AUC-CAF collaboration past success stories, the AUC will make use the AFCON Women 2016 to promote its vision, activities and key messages in line with the AU 2016 theme on Human Rights with a particular focus on the Rights of Women. It will also sensitise the population on the AU Agenda 2063 and promote African unity and integration, the realization of children rights, combating child marriage, peace and security in the continent, among others…

The Department of Social Affairs of the AUC is leading the process within the AU Commission for the   successful participation at the AFCON Women 2016 in Cameroon.

A press conference to that effect will be jointly addressed by the AUC, CAF and UNICEF on Thursday 17 November 2016 in Cameroon, followed by the launching ceremony on 18 November 2016 of the End Child Marriage Campaign in Africa at the Yaoundé Hilton Hotel.

Journalists are invited to massively attend and cover the events.

#hashtags:   #AGENDA2063 #EndChildMarriageNow# Empowerwomen

For more information, please contact:

Amb. Olawale Maiyegun, Director, Dept. of Social Affairs, African Union Commission, P O Box 3243, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Tel:   +251 115 51 77 00/ Ext 2210, Email: MaiyegunO@africa-union.org  and CC: StrijdomJ@africa-union.org and ThunduN@africa-union.org; ShepandeM@africa-union.org; kessyl@africa-union.org

Media contact:

Mrs. Esther Azaa Tankou, Head of Information Division ; Tel: +251911361185; E-mail: yamboue@africa-union.org / esthertankou@yahoo.com , Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: DIC@african-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

Follow us

Face book: https://www.facebook.com/AfricanUnionCommission

Twitter: https://twitter.com/_AfricanUnion

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/AUCommission