Dr. Jill Biden Arrives in Lusaka, Zambia to Highlight Women’s Empowerment

Dr. Jill Biden has arrived in Lusaka, Zambia, her first stop on a three-country visit to Africa. Dr. Biden is joined by Rajiv Shah, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and Catherine Russell, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues. Dr. Biden’s trip to Africa will highlight the importance of girls’ education and women’s participation in government, the economy, and civil society in accelerating economic development, improving health and educational outcomes, strengthening democratic governance, and fostering peace and security.

While in Zambia, Dr. Biden will underscore the U.S. government’s commitment to women’s empowerment, education, and health. She will meet with Zambia’s Second Lady, Dr. Charlotte Harland Scott, to discuss the major issues affecting women in the country, with particular attention to education, gender-based violence, health and economic empowerment. They will be joined by government officials to discuss activities that the local ministries are carrying out to empower women and girls.

Later, Dr. Biden will deliver remarks at Shalom Community School to underscore U.S. programs and priorities in education, health, and women’s empowerment. Her remarks will highlight joint U.S. and Zambian efforts in this area.

Dr. Biden will then open a panel discussion to discuss the challenges, successes and continued opportunities for the economic empowerment of women in the Zambian economy, where few women have traditionally held positions of power.  The discussion will include prominent women representing key sectors and organizations who will share their experiences.

Before departing Zambia, Dr. Biden will visit a local health facility to highlight how partnerships between the U.S. government, the Zambian government, and local organizations have helped increase the availability and uptake of quality services for adult and child survivors of gender-based violence. 

Readout of the Vice President’s Meetings on Unaccompanied Minors and Immigration Reform

Today, the Vice President met with faith leaders and refugee advocates for a roundtable discussion on the influx of unaccompanied minors migrating to the southwest border of the United States.  The Vice President also met with members of the “Bibles, Badges and Business” coalition for a roundtable discussion on commonsense immigration reform.

In his meeting with faith leaders and refugee advocates, the Vice President updated the group on the Administration’s efforts to address the urgent humanitarian situation caused by the influx of unaccompanied children and adults migrating to the United States, primarily from Central America.  The Vice President also reported the outcomes of his June 20 meeting in Guatemala with the presidents of Guatemala and El Salvador and representatives from the governments of Honduras and Mexico.  Those outcomes included a shared commitment to inform constituents of the dangers of putting children in the hands of criminal smugglers, to combat misinformation spread by criminal networks attempting to smuggle minors, and to address underlying causes of migration including insecurity and lack of economic opportunity.

The Vice President then met with members of “Bibles, Badges, and Business”—a national network of faith, law enforcement, and business leaders, that today included representatives from the agricultural industry, among others.  The Vice President thanked them for their leadership and tireless efforts working in their communities for immigration reform and encouraged them to continue to keep standing up for a commonsense solution.