2019 Gender Summit in Kigali: African Development Bank and Rwanda want to accelerate the promotion of gender equality

20-Nov-2019

For the first time, Africa hosts, from 25 to 27 November in Kigali, the World Summit on Gender, an event that aims to share best practices and stimulate innovation to accelerate progress on gender equality gender.

About 200 delegations, heads of state, policy makers, academics and civil society representatives are expected in Kigali to discuss the central theme of this 4 th edition of the Summit: "Removing Barriers to Gender Equality". Rwanda is a model country for gender equality: women make up more than half of the Rwandan population, occupy 40% of ministerial portfolios and represent more than 60% of MPs.

What levers has the Rwandan government used to promote the development of women in its own country? What specific measures has it taken and how has gender been included in government programs? The answers to these questions will provide some food for thought for Summit participants, focusing on ways to create an enabling legal, regulatory and institutional environment for gender equality and women's empowerment.

Several key themes should dominate the debates at the Kigali Summit, such as "the rise of innovative financing", "the mechanisms for the advancement of women in society" or "the constraints that affect gender equality". .

Among the constraints identified are gender inequality, impunity, insufficient institutional support for the establishment of national programs for the promotion of gender equality and especially ignorance of the problems of marginalized women, in particular feminicide and sexual violence.

"We believe that the Summit will be an opportunity to share best practices to accelerate progress on gender equality and women's empowerment in Africa and globally," Soline said last month. Nyirahabimana, Rwandan Minister of Gender and Family Promotion.

The African Development Bank has taken the lead for several years to promote gender equality. The institution has initiated or supported many initiatives to address the financing gap affecting women in Africa, such as the pan-African AFAWA (Affirmative Finance for Women in Africa) initiative.

"This is a historic moment for Africa and the world. Women will be at the heart of the global discourse, as agents of change. We must seize this opportunity and capitalize on it for transformational change on a large scale, "said Vanessa Moungar, director of gender, women and civil society at the African Development Bank.

AFAWA received $ 251 million in support from G7 Heads of State and $ 61.8 million from several of the Bank's global partners as part of the G7 initiative. financing for women entrepreneurs We-Fi.

"The status quo can not go on," President of the African Development Bank Adesina Akinwumi warned in September 2018 at the launch of the FinDev Canada conference. "No country can really move forward in the 21 st century if it leaves half of its talents behind," the bank president said.