Ambassador Austin Gormley's August Agenda
It was a flurry of activity in August for Ambassador Austin Gormley, shuttling between Pretoria and Johannesburg for a series of speaking engagements.
With August being Women's Month in South Africa, there was a range of women-themed events happening almost daily. Mr. Gormley took to the platform at a number of high-profile gatherings to give Ireland's perspective on gender equality, women's empowerment, GBV, and also to share some best practices from the Irish experience.
SLIDE 1
- GBVF Response Fund initiative in concert with the Presidency of South Africa that aims to encourage corporate South Africa to adopt a zero tolerance approach around gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) in the workplace.
Ambassador Gormley expressed Ireland's support for this joint initiative for the private sector to actively tackle GBVH in the workplace.
Ambassador Gormley also pointed out that Ireland collaborates with South African entities such as the University of Witwatersrand, Social Change Assistance Trust (SCAT)and Sonke Gender Justice to lead the charge on ending gender-based violence.
2. Alongside Sandra Kramer, Head of the EU Delegation in South Africa at the 9th Gertrude Shope Dialogue Forum, a platform for women to discuss issues related to African peace-building, development, and conflict resolution at DIRCO.
3. Ambassador Gormley with Ms. Fatou Aminata Lo, UN Women Representative in Zimbabwe; and Ms. Vicky Dillon, the Embassy of Ireland's Deputy Head of Mission Zimbabwe at conclusion of the inaugural Women Leadership Summit in Harare.
4. Addressing the South African Women’s Pre-National Dialogue, convened by Embassy partner Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) and South African Women In Dialogue (SAWID).
5. Ambassador Gormley restating Ireland's commitment to end GBV at the 2nd Symposium on Preventing GBV in Southern Africa, a joint in initiative by the Embassies of Ireland, the Netherland's and Switzerland in South Africa, supported by UNESCO.
SLIDE 2
- Ambassador Gormley at the send-off for the 2024-2025 cohort of the Kader Asmal Fellows from South Africa and Lesotho.
2. Meeting with Ms. Linda Peter from the Department of Higher Education and Training. Here, Ambassador Gormley and Ms. Peter with the Kader Asmal Alumni.
3. Ambassador receiving Professor Dolores O'Riordan Vice-President for Global Engagement at UCD for discussions on deepening links between Irish and South African Higher Education institutions.
4. Meeting the seven winners and alumni of the Irish Tech Challenge South Africa and wising them well as they head to Dogpatch Labs, Embassy partner in Dublin. Go n’eiri an bothar libh!