Kigali- Thursday 15 October 2020- The 50 Million African Women Speak Networking Project was unveiled this Thursday, 15 October 2020 as Rwanda joined the rest of the world to observe on the International Rural Women’s Day.  The event was celebrated in Musanze district, Muko sector under the theme: ‘Women at the Forefront in Transformational Change while Fighting against Covid-19 Pandemic’

The Minister of Gender and Family Promotion Prof. BAYISENGE Jeannette urged women to take advantage of the 50MAWSP. “The 50 Million African Women Speak Networking Platform, is a platform that will bring together women from 38 different African countries. I urge you to make use and take advantage of this platform which will help you to exchange business information, access to financial services and other services with other African women.’

She underlined that celebrating the International Rural Women’s Day aims at highlighting the role of rural women in the family and national development at large adding that it is also an opportunity to address the barriers that rural women still face and take steps to help them develop sustainably.

“Rural women have a significant role to play in the development of the country, especially in agriculture and animal husbandry, productivity and environmental protection, and she does all these sincerely.’ Noted Prof. Bayisenge

The Deputy Secretary of the East African Community Hon. Bazivamo Christophe said: ‘The Coronavirus pandemic has shown us that technology is the way to go in doing business. So we also want to help African women use this platform to find out what their peers are doing and where they can find opportunities.’

The platform, known as 50 Million African Women Speak (www.womenconnect.org) is a digital platform which aims at improving women’s ability to access financial and non-financial information has been launched. It is a one-stop shop for a wide range of financial and non-financial services that women need to start and grow successful businesses.

The project worth is funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) in collaboration with the Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS), the East African and Southern Africa Common Market (COMESA), and the Eastern African Community (EAC). It will allow women in 38 African countries to find information on running businesses, accessing financial services, create business opportunities online and access training resources, ultimately contributing to their economic empowerment. The 50 Million African Women Speak platform was first launched in 2019 during the Global Gender Summit which took place in Kigali, Rwanda. Click here to visit the platform.