PLENARY REMARKS BY GRAÇA MACHEL
Chairperson of the Foundation for Community Development of Mozambique
Thank you and good evening. I want to pay my special tribute to David Rockefeller, a very good friend of Mozambique who is a courageous man, who in difficult times had the ability and the vision to extend his hands to countries like mine when he visited us for the first time in 1984. It's a special moment for me to be here on an occasion where we are paying tribute to you.
Africa is the only region of the globe which is under threat of not meeting the Millennium Goals. On our continent, all the social indicators indicate a very high level of human suffering, and these statistics can leave you with a sense of hopelessness.
But I want to show you the other side of Africa, of which I am a part. Today, new political leadership is emerging. When you listen to African leaders they now talk to the rest of the world about partnerships, about the need for investment, and of the opportunities Africa offers to the rest of the world. That's a major change in how we perceive ourselves and how we want to relate to the world.
Moreover, what I want to describe here is a social movement which is largely unseen and that most people don't talk about. There are hundreds of thousands or even millions of civil society organizations which are keeping our nations going. Yes, sometimes you hear about the wonderful things they do, like forcing a change of political leadership in Kenya. That was due to the civil society movement. And today we can celebrate that in Rwanda 49% of the parliamentarians are women. That's a result of this social movement which many people do not know about.
Let me give a good example from my country, South Africa. When we succeeded in getting the government to accept the plan of treatment of AIDS with anti-retroviral drugs, that actually was a result of pressure from civil society. So despite all the terrible indicators you hear each day, a movement of grassroots organizations, of NGOs, and of religious groups is emerging and moving the continent forward.
It is these often invisible grassroots groups that are tackling the AIDS pandemic. If you go to our continent today and you are not going to find orphans wandering around, it's families, it's communities, it's community-based organizations which are embracing children and keeping them in a safe environment, despite the levels of poverty or of human suffering I have talked about.
How can we strengthen this local capacity? There are a number of special civil society organizations -- you might call them "foundations" or "foundation-like organizations" -- which have been able to pull together community action with NGOs, with religious groups and with political leadership in order to work for social justice on our continent.
And for people inside and outside Africa who are looking to connect with civil society, such foundations can be a vital bridge. They are well rooted in the reality and culture of their own countries. They have earned the trust of grassroots organizations but they also connect very well with the government, with business and even with the rest of the world. They are part of a chain of solidarity of organized civil society organizations around the world. So what I bring here tonight is the importance of strengthening this social movement through these organizations, which are working for social justice by supporting people around the world.
This civil society movement is connecting with the new political leadership, as show in, the what is today, the African Union and NEPAD -- the New Partnership for Africa's Development.
I hope you leave tonight recognizing the new picture of Africa that is emerging, one that includes partnerships that are based on citizen to citizen cooperation, and that complements the new political partnerships being built by our leaders, who are very well represented tonight by President Obasanjo. When I say new leadership I am not saying necessarily the young people but the people who think new. So thank you Mr. President, and thank you all.
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Graça Machel is a leader in the fields of education, literacy and women's rights in Africa and efforts to address the conditions of children in war-torn countries. She helped found the first grantmaking foundation in Mozambique, the Foundation for Community Development, which works to overcome poverty and promote social justice. She has been the first lady of Mozambique and of South Africa, has served as Mozambique's Minister of Education, and was the first black person and first woman to serve as Chancellor of the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Mrs. Machel helped launch the Forum for African Women Educationalists. She chaired groundbreaking work for the UN on how armed conflicts affect children. In Mozambique, she is Chairperson of the National Organization of Children and President of the National Commission of UNESCO. She sits on several boards around the world including the International Crisis Group, CIVICUS, The United Nations Foundation and The United Nations University and is an international advisor to The Synergos Institute.