North Africa Coffee Talk / Action Lab 1 • Monday 14 September 2026, 14:00–15:00 CEST (Brussels time), online.

Green hydrogen will not scale on molecules alone. It will scale through the people who build projects, run operations and unlock finance, and it needs women in those core roles and decision spaces.

On 14 September, MED-GEM Network and Women in Green Hydrogen (WiGH) North Africa open the first activation of a wider regional pathway: a one-hour interactive Coffee Talk that moves from connection to structured action. Bringing together women active in green hydrogen and renewable energy across Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia, the session is designed to produce something concrete: a shared mapping of women's expertise across the region, and a regional challenge matrix identifying the barriers that hold women back from technical, financial and leadership roles.

This is not another panel. Working in country breakout rooms, participants will answer three simple questions, where the women and the expertise already are, what is holding women back, and what the network can realistically activate next, and turn their answers into a common set of priorities.

The Coffee Talk is the first of three connected Action Labs. It opens a regional advocacy and mobilisation pathway that continues with a WiGH Middle East / GCC Action Lab, a joint MENA–GCC campaign, and a public activation with UNIDO at European Hydrogen Week in Brussels. From visibility to measurable outputs; from evidence to action.

Register and contribute to the mapping

Seats are limited. Registration also includes a short questionnaire that feeds directly into the regional mapping and helps prepare the breakout discussions, participation and inclusion in the mapping are entirely opt-in.

👉 Register here: https://mailchi.mp/med-gem.eu/wigh_action-lab1 

👉 Preliminary form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdmaIq3zd8Nr4ibZ1Nj7q_6mEtcSEBOs0-3_iUATRBm-P5qoA/viewform

👉 Connect here : https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/386065614536312?p=6CIlto5QYrHxMfdrJ4 

Agenda

Master of Ceremony: Tiziana de Harlez — Project Manager, GIZ International Services / MED-GEM Network

• 14:00–14:08 | Welcome & framing
  Nihal Mansouri — Regional Director North Africa, Women in Green Hydrogen
  Raya Ben Guiza Verniers — Communication & Raising Awareness Expert, MED-GEM Network
• 14:08–14:18 | Meet the Network — Five WiGH Country Coordinators
  🇩🇿 Radia Lasledj — WiGH Country Coordinator, Algeria
  🇪🇬 Eman Adel — WiGH Country Coordinator, Egypt
  🇲🇷 Hana Didi Bounama — WiGH Country Coordinator, Mauritania
  🇲🇦 Maya Demnati — WiGH Country Coordinator, Morocco
  🇹🇳 Ghada Amari — WiGH Country Coordinator, Tunisia
• 14:18–14:38 | Country Breakout Rooms — Challenge Lab
  Five parallel country discussions led by the respective WiGH Country Coordinators.
• 14:38–14:50 | Results from the Five Rooms
  Short restitution from Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia: expertise, main barrier and one priority for action.
• 14:50–14:53 | Regional Perspective
  Nadia Chioukh — Director of International Cooperation & Strategic Partnerships, RCREEE
• 14:53–14:56 | IRENA Perspective & Possible Collaboration
  Gauri Singh — Deputy Director-General, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)
• 14:56–15:00 | Call to Action & Next Steps
  Nihal Mansouri + Raya Ben Guiza Verniers
  Expert mapping, North Africa Challenge Matrix, Middle East/GCC Action Lab 2 and the pathway towards European Hydrogen Week and the wider EU–MENA–GCC Action Lab process.

14 September 2026 | 14:00–15:00 CEST | Online

MED-GEM Network is funded by the European Union. 

This event is designed in partnership with Women in Green Hydrogen North Africa, with the contribution of RCREEE.