Staff Reporter
THE Third First Lady of Namibia, Monica Geingos, was recently honoured with the 2024 Hall of Femme Award from the International Women’s Forum South Africa (IWFSA) in Johannesburg, recognising her as a global role model and purposeful leader in advancing women’s issues.
“The award citation for Mrs Geingos recognised her transformative work on financial inclusion in Namibia, how she drove meaningful change as First Lady, and her turnaround of the Organisation of African First Ladies during her tenure as its President, which included leading a successful capital campaign, deepening organisational capacity, and launching a high-level gender equality campaign titled the “We Are Equal” campaign, which has to date been launched in 18 countries with a combined population of 700 million Africans,” the Executive Assistant to the Third First Lady, Mavis Elias, revealed.
RECOGNISED: Scenes from the International Women’s Forum South Africa (IWFSA) Gala in Johannesburg, South Africa. Photos: Monica Geingos, The 3rd First Lady of Namibia. 
RECOGNISED: Scenes from the International Women’s Forum South Africa (IWFSA) Gala in Johannesburg, South Africa. Photos: Monica Geingos, The 3rd First Lady of Namibia. 
RECOGNISED: Scenes from the International Women’s Forum South Africa (IWFSA) Gala in Johannesburg, South Africa. Photos: Monica Geingos, The 3rd First Lady of Namibia. 
RECOGNISED: Scenes from the International Women’s Forum South Africa (IWFSA) Gala in Johannesburg, South Africa. Photos: Monica Geingos, The 3rd First Lady of Namibia.
Elias added that Geingos dedicated her award to adolescent girls and young women across Africa, who inspire her vision of intergenerational solidarity among women to accelerate the path towards equality.
“In accepting the award, Mrs Geingos reflected on the 2024 SDG Gender Index that found that no country had achieved the promise of gender equality envisioned by the UN’s 2030 sustainable development goal and that between 2019 and 2022, nearly 40% of countries home to more than 1 billion women and girls – stagnated or declined on gender equality. Mrs Geingos shared that these deeply rooted biases manifest in unequal access to sexual and reproductive health, unequal political representation, economic disparities and a lack of legal protection and how adolescent girls and young women suffer the brunt of biases against women, with half of 15 – 19-year-old girls either out of school, married or parenting and bearing the most risk,” Elias recalled.
Elias explained that IWFSA is part of the International Women’s Forum (IWF), a global invitation-only network of some of the world’s most accomplished and influential women leaders.
“The IWFSA Award Gala was held in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 31 October 2024, and was attended by the former First Lady of the Republic of South Africa and IWFSA Patron, H.E. Dr Zanele Mbeki, IWFSA President Ms Nolitha Fakude, IWFSA Board Members, and South Africa’s top women leaders,” Elias added.
