Joint ECOWAS, COMESA and EAC Workshop to Validate New Functionalities for the Update of the “50 Million African Women Speak Platform (50MAWSP)”

The three-day workshop, held from 15 to 17 May 2024 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, was organised by the ECOWAS Centre for Gender and Development (ECGD). It brought together experts from ECOWAS, COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa), EAC (East African Community), women users of the 50MAWSP platform and partners such as the Spanish Cooperation, the African Development Bank (AfDB), USAID West Africa and the UN Women Office for West and Central Africa.

The workshop was officially opened by the Director of Cabinet of the Minister in charge of Regional Integration and Ivorians Living Abroad, in the presence of the Director of the ECGD, who gave the keynote address on behalf of Professor Fatou SOW SARR, ECOWAS Commissioner for Human Development and Social Affairs. Other speakers at the opening ceremony included the Representative of the ECOWAS Resident Representative in Côte d’Ivoire, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain to Côte d’Ivoire, the AfDB Representative, the COMESA Gender Director and the Director of Cabinet of the Côte d’Ivoire Minister for Social Affairs, Women and Children.

The aim of the workshop was to validate the new functionalities proposed to revive the 50MAWSP platform, such as improving the user interface and user experience, improving the platform’s content and promotion, improving the platform’s networking functions and improving the platform’s analysis functions. The workshop also focused on studying and validating the terms of reference for the recruitment of a firm to evaluate the first phase of the 50MAWSP digital networking platform project and to identify ways of making the platform autonomous and self-financing during the second phase of the project.

At the end of the three-day workshop, the three implementing partner RECs of the 50MAWSP project signed the Workshop Outcome Declaration, which summarises the agreements between RECs for the next steps in the implementation of the project.

For reference, the 50MAWSP digital platform, launched in November 2019 and covering data collection in 38 African countries, is dedicated to supporting the economic empowerment of women entrepreneurs in Africa. Its main objective is to meet the need for financial and non-financial information to facilitate the growth and success of women in business.

The 3-day workshop ended with participants expressing their satisfaction. The closing ceremony of the meeting was attended by the representative of USAID, the US development agency, who reiterated that his institution is always ready to support the development of women throughout Africa.

Other speakers at the ceremony included the UN-WOMEN Representative, the EAC Senior Gender Programme Officer, the COMESA Director of Gender and Social Affairs, and the Representative of the ECOWAS Resident Representative in Côte d’Ivoire.

The workshop was officially closed by the Director of the ECOWAS Centre for Gender Development, Ms Sandra OULATE FATTOH, on behalf of Commissioner Fatou SOW SARR