Amadou Mahtar Ba, AllAfrica’s co-founder and executive chair, has been appointed to the United Nations’ first-ever High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment. The establishment of the panel was announced on January 21 in Davos, Switzerland, by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The panel will provide recommendations for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to improve economic outcomes for women and promote women’s leadership in driving sustainable and inclusive, environmentally sensitive economic growth. President Luis Guillermo Solis of Costa Rica and IKEA CEO Simona Scarpaleggia are the panel co-chairs. They will be joined by a diverse range of eminent gender and equality actors, economics experts, academics, trade union leaders, business and government representatives from all regions.The High-Level Panel will have its inaugural meeting during the 60th session of the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations in March 2016 and present its first report with action-oriented recommendations in September 2016.