Thandisizwe Mgudlwa
CAPE TOWN - The African Development Bank (AfDB) has shown that it means business when it comes to women empowerment during a recent event organised by African Development Bank Group president, Dr Akinwumi A Adesina.
Dr Adesina told women at a conference in Pretoria that they are part of a revolution that is building across Africa.
The head of Africa’s premier development lending institution was speaking at the virtual Women Heads of State Initiative, a new cross-media initiative. The summit recognises serving and past women presidents and prime ministers in Africa.
One of its highlights is strengthening the capacity for emerging female leaders on the continent. Dr Adesina lauded the accomplishments of women in Africa.
Unlike women in other parts of the world who have had to break through glass ceilings, he said, “women in Africa have had to break through male-dominated concrete ceilings”.
The recent virtual Africa Investment Forum boardrooms, an initiative of the Bank Group and other founding partners, attracted $32.8 billion in investment interests, including $5 billion for women-run businesses.
Moreover, issues discussed included women in leadership and business, climate change, vaccine manufacturing and water security.
The conference also honoured the 22 women who had served an African country as president or prime minister. Special guests included Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila of Namibia; Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the former president of Liberia; Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, the former President of Mauritius; and Joyce Banda, the former president of Malawi.
Addressing the topic of food security, Adesina decried the obstacles that women encounter across the continent.
He underscored challenges, including women’s lack of access to land, extension services and finance, even though women make up more than 60% of Africa’s smallholder farming community.
“A revolution is building,” Adesina said, while highlighting the African Development Bank Group’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (Afawa) initiative.
The programme disbursed $450 million in 2021 for financial institutions to lend to women-led businesses.
In 2022, Adesina added, the African Development Bank will disburse $500 million to women-led businesses. He further explained that women in business faced a $42 billion finance gap in Africa.
“Women must go beyond primary farm production. They must also dominate agro-processing value chains, where most of the wealth is generated.”
President Banda shared concerns about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s progress. She said the pandemic had deepened poverty levels and led to thousands of girls dropping out of school.
She was, however, heartened by the African Development Bank chief’s update on his institution’s women-centred programmes.
“The organisations supporting women in agriculture are really struggling … Malawian women farmers need help and need help now. There have been years when they have lost all their yields due to a lack of markets. Yet those companies that might help them to raise finance don’t turn up.”
President Johnson Sirleaf was emphatic about Africa’s prospects, which she said were boosted by an increasingly youthful population.
She called for policies that would focus on marginalised women. “As women leaders, we need to look at our own laws, and our own policies, and see: are they conducive to promoting those women who are at the levels where you may consider them disadvantaged?”
Both Banda and Johnson Sirleaf shared plans to uplift women through their respective foundations. This included an upcoming conference in Malawi, which will address funding for women-headed organisations, among other issues. Only 1% of gender funding goes to organisations headed by women, according to Banda.
The Women’s Head of State Summit was convened following the 2021 UN-organised Generation Equality Forum held in Paris.
Mgudlwa is an award-winning journalist
Cape Times