BLACK & GREEN AGENDA
African Women’s Empowerment Forum (AWEF) represents black voices on climate change and LEVEL UP.
The African Women’s Empowerment Forum (AWEF) launched its maiden conference on climate change and levelling up, with the goal of representing black communities’ perspectives on the national agenda. Faith Gakanje – Ajala, founder and CEO of AWEF, hosted the conference, which was attended by Shadow Levelling Up Minister Alex Norris MP. Participants came from all over the UK to discuss how climate change affects their communities and the inclusion of black communities on the levelling up agenda. The event, which took place on October 1st, 2022, at the Marcus Garvey Centre in Nottingham, featured local black owned businesses operating in the environmental markets, showcasing a variety of products and services ranging from organic oils and cosmetics to ‘green’ lifestyle products and services.
Money and power, according to Mr. Norris, are at the heart of levelling up and changing the country. He stated that Britain is a wealthy country, saying: At the moment, the money and power we have – and we are a wealthy country, we have autonomy, we are a democratic country, with a lot of assets to work with – but a lot of that is focused solely in the Centre point, so decisions that affect our daily lives are often taken by people in Whitehall or Westminster, who don’t know our communities as well as we do, and we want to see a shift of that power.”
WATCH: Black entrepreneurs explain climate change at an AWEF event.
Faith Gakanje-Ajala addressed the audience, saying:
“Now is the time to begin the discussions that will shape our voice.” The shadow minister for levelling up has turned up, and it is up to us to work together and raise our voices so that he can represent us wherever the information needs to go Faith Gakanje-Ajala and Alex Norris MP attend an AWEF event. AWEF invites the African diaspora to share their perspectives, concerns, and recommendations on levelling up and climate change.