GSEF : “ Financing And Accompanying African Women For Their Economic Empowerment In African Territories “
During the Femm’Ess Pre-Forum Day of 3rd May 2023, held as part of the World Forum for Social and Solidarity Economy in Dakar, Senegal, from 1 to 6 May 2023, the network of Locally Elected Women of Africa, (REFELA), organised a self-managed session under the theme: “Financing and support for African women for their economic empowerment in the territories”. The choice of this theme is justified by the desire of the REFELA members to contribute to the fight against social inequalities, an approach initiated through the campaign “African Cities Favorable to the Economic Empowerment of Women and Girls´´. This campaign aims to sensitize stakeholders to get more involved in the economic empowerment of women and thus opens the positive path to gender equality, poverty eradication and inclusive economic growth.
The session was presided by Mrs Marie Angèle MEYANGA , Mayor of Afamloum, Vice-President of REFELA Central Africa Region, Cameroon and modered by Mr. Bachir KANOUTE, Executive Director, ENDA-ECOPOP, Senegal. The panelist was : Mrs Kibena Kingo NASSORO, Councilor of Morogoro, President of REFELA-Tanzania., Mrs Monique AYI épse NKAMGNA, President of the National Social and Solidarity Economy, Mayor of Dzeng, Cameroon, Mrs. Ndeye Maty CISSE ,Vice-President of the Departmental Council of Kaolack, Senegal et Mrs Khadija DOUAYRI Local Elected, President of the Development, Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Commission, Council of the Orient Region, Morocco.
The discussions in this session allowed the women of REFELA to present the various support measures dedicated to women. The panelists were able to present examples of effective tools and experiences for African elected officials and women entrepreneurs promoting their economic empowerment within African communities.
Principal questions raised :
- What means does the city have to acquire funds to finance women’s projects?
- How does the transition from the informal economy to the formal and sustainable territorial economy take place?
- What are the challenges and opportunities for sustainable financing of women’s economic activities?
- How can Territorial Coaching and Capacity Building benefit women for their economic empowerment?
In response to questions related to the difficulties faced by women, that are challenging their economic empowerment, the speakers shared examples that have produced positive results in several contexts.
Among other challenges they face, they highlighted the following aspects :
- Difficult access to credit and other financial services due to lack of collateral;
- Discrimination and limited financial education;
- Weak legal and regulatory frameworks;
- The limited access of women to public markets and to spaces for the promotion and marketing of their products/services;
- Difficult access to factors to enable their production, such as land..etc…
Faced with these challenges, local elected officials have made it known, through their interventions, that the associative tradition is very strong in the territories and conceals significant potential, skilled and highly motivated human resources.
With regards to opportunities, the panelists acknowledged that many countries in Africa have made succesfull improvements in promoting women’s economic empowerment. It should be noted that these advances vary considerably from one country to another.
Examples of experiences and good practices shared were as follows:
- Women’s access to financial services through local financing funds/development partner funds, microfinance, gender-sensitive loans, crowdfunding to enable women with projects to create their businesses;
- Support for access to markets, the creation and connection with distribution surfaces at local and national level for the sale of their products;
- Implementation of laws on gender equality that guarantee the equal right to economic opportunities;
- The progressive accessibility of girls to education and to training and capacity building programs to give them the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed and be economically empowered.
- The increasing access of women to leadership positions and to political life, which allows them to defend their interests and promote their role in the development of their communities in an inclusive and sustainable manner.
- The organisation of major events such as agro-syvo-pastoral fairs in Burkina Faso as public spaces for the promotion and enhancement of local products;
- Initiation of support programs such as Territorial Coaching and projects to promote gender equality and the economic empowerment of women, between territories such as the PEG project, to strengthen the role and decentralised cooperation between civil society and local authorities;
- Launch of campaigns to raise awareness and promote the role of women in economic life, such as the campaign of UCLG Africa through its REFELA network “African cities favorable to the economic empowerment of women and girls”;
Conclusion and Recommendations
In general, financing and economic empowerment of women are critical to promoting gender equality and sustainable economic development.
By improving women’s access to finance and supporting their entrepreneurship, we can unlock women’s potential as drivers for economic growth and social progress.
As such, all the speakers unanimously called for the need to continue efforts to:
- Encourage Public-Private Partnerships;
- Create an environment conducive to female entrepreneurship and the economic empowerment of women through parity laws and rights to funding;
- Democratize the achievements of women supporting their right to entrepreneurship and their economic participation;
- Create networks and set up platforms for exchange and promotion of local products for the sustainable and inclusive development of territories;
- Strengthen the place of the social and solidarity economy in the territories through the formalisation of women’s economic activities and encourage the transition from informal to formal;