New Faces New Voices, ILO and AfDB to join forces to promote Women Empowerment in Africa

Tuesday, 17 April 2012

ABUJA/ADDIS ABABA (ILO News) – New Faces New Voices (NFNV), the Pan-African Network of women in the financial and business sectors led by Ms Graça Machel, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) agreed in Abuja (Nigeria) to strengthen their cooperation to promote women empowerment in Africa.

The High Level participants – including Ms Graça Machel, Ms Judica Amri-Lawson, ILO Deputy Regional Director for Africa, Ms Ginette Yoman, AfDB Manager of the Gender Division, Ms Sina Chuma, Director of ILO Abuja Office and Ms Mwila Chigaga, Senior Gender Specialist for Africa – reached an important consensus aimed at institutionalizing the triangular relationship NFNV/ILO/AfDB with regard to supporting Africa’s women economic empowerment particularly through entrepreneurship connecting especially to financial inclusion.

“We recognise that women have the potential to deliver a significant contribution to economic growth in Africa. Our role is to advocate for investment so that this potential can be realised. In particular, we focus on increasing women’s access to finance and financial services, improving women’s skills as entrepreneurs and business leaders, and growing the number and visibility of African women in leadership and decision-making positions in the financial sector”, said Ms Machel, the renowned international advocate served on the boards of numerous international organisations.

Discussions also focussed on the cooperation in further implementing the Cairo Platform of Action for Women Entrepreneurship adopted in October 2009 and the on-going preparations for the Second African Women’s Economic Summit (AWES) scheduled for 13-14 July 2012 in Lagos, Nigeria that will highlight the women Small and Medium Enterprises market.

“First we agreed on the importance to bring our comparative advantages to be more effective and coherent in support of women entrepreneurs. Secondly that we would at the practical levels jointly implement programmes in selected countries before we propose the modality for institutionalized relations and thirdly we agreed to prioritize actions for the implementation of the Cairo Platform of Action”, stated Ms Amri-Lawson in charge of Program, Policy and Communication for Africa.

A technical follow-up meeting of the three organizations will be hosted by NFNV in South Africa in May 2012 to jointly work on a programme and country where the convergence of the three organizations will be elaborated. The joint programme is likely to also benefit from the network of the NFNV which is already present in 15 countries in Africa, the presence of AfDB at African country level and the network of ILO Offices in the region.

Together with the African Development Bank, New Faces New Voices hosts the African Women’s Economic Summit every two years to bring together influential stakeholders to focus on how to maximize the economic contribution of women to their societies. During the Summit, the ILO will now share the experience of financial inclusion programme in Zambia.

NFNV was founded on the belief that women are an under-utilized resource and that investing in women can have a significant development impact that would accelerate economic growth on the African continent.

More information at:

AfDB and Founder of New Faces, New Voices Network Co-host of the African Women Economic Summit

For further detailed info:

ILO Africa Communication team in Addis Ababa:

guebray@ilo.org , Tel: + 251/115-444415 or + 251/911-218115

rahel@ilo.org Tel: + 251/115/444454 or + 251/911-218113