ECA Partakes in the Formation of an African-Spanish Women's Network

November 06, 2006

Anxious to push the gender agenda and promote the advancement of women in Africa, ECA/ACGS have endeavoured to forge partnerships with international development actors and join efforts to spearhead various initiatives aiming to address gender issues, namely promoting women's entrepreneurship. In this context, ACGS participated last month in a Consultative Forum on the formation of an African- Spanish Network of Women (Madrid 18-19 October 2006).

This Forum is the result of an initiative held in March 2006 in Maputo, Mozambique and sanctioned by the Maputo Declaration on Spanish Cooperation. It was organized in at the invitation of the Spanish Government to start addressing issues outlined in the Maputo Declaration.

Dignitaries from the Governments of Spain attended the meeting alongside several participants from civil society, national, sub-regional and regional networks in Africa and Spain, UN agencies at the sub regional level and the AU/ NEPAD. Emelang Leteane represented ECA/ACGS in this Forum and made a presentation on the African Gender and Development Index, and the results of the trials that have been conducted in 12 African countries so far.

In his opening address, Mr. Juan Pablo de Laiglesia, General Secretary of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI), recognized the role women play in peace building and reiterated the commitment of Spain to Africa as outlined in " The Master Plan for Spanish cooperation: 2005-2008.

Reiterating his country's intention to continue strengthening its presence in Africa, Mr. de Laiglesia pointed out that the Spanish government plans to extend its offices to 14 African countries, and to attain a 90 million euro mark in development cooperation this year. Commending this initiative, H.E. Ambassador Manuel T. O'da Silva, the Mozambican Ambassador to Spain recognized that the Network, once set up, would be a right step to encourage cooperation that will culminate in local solutions for women. He also expressed his hope that other issues raised in the Mozambique Declaration will be addressed adequately.

By convening this Forum, the Spanish Cooperation wanted to achieve the following objectives:

•  Assist to reinforce dialogue between African and Spanish women;

•  Generate and expand knowledge of women in Sub-Saharan Africa and Spain, and exchange information

•  Contribute to a reflection on Spanish and International cooperation with regard to African women, by promoting and fostering initiatives that lead to the development of Africa and the empowerment of African women.

During the meeting, a series of issues of interest to both African and Spanish women were identified and discussed, namely the launch of the Network of African and Spanish women .

In her closing remarks, Ms. Leire Pajin, Spanish Secretary of State for International Cooperation highlighted the plight of women throughout the world and quoted statistics to illustrate their suffering due to inequity, biased attitudes and policies, etc. She further underlined the Spanish intervention in this regard and noted that Spain was currently giving more attention to Africa, as a way of accepting responsibility and resorting to concrete action to redress past trends. She further noted that the expected Network would help to identify priorities for women who will be active participants, rather than mere recipients.

Commending the initiative, Ms. Litha Musyimi-Ogana, the NEPAD Advisor on Gender, Parliamentary Affairs and Civil Society Organizations, assured the meeting that African women would commit themselves to making this initiative succeed and achieve the desired results.

The official launch of the Network of African-Spanish Women is expected to take place in Madrid, in the course of 2007.