Mrs Cynthia Morrison (second from left) interacting with some of the participants.
A project dubbed, “50 Million Women Speak Project” (50MWSP) was yesterday launched in Accra with a call on women to venture into entrepreneurship and e- business.
The project seeks to facilitate women’s empowerment through creation of virtual platform to foster networking, sharing and access to financial and non-financial information.
It was organised by the Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection (MOGCSP) in partnership with Economic Community and West African States (ECOWAS) and African Development Bank.
Speaking at the launch, the Minister of MOGCSP, Mrs Cynthia Mamle Morrison, said women were pillars to nation building therefore giving them equal access to economic opportunities would make them independent financially without relying on men for survival.
She said the opportunity would empower women to work tirelessly to bridge the country’s gender gap, expatiating that, “this opportunity for women entrepreneurs will help them to work on the gender related barriers including poor education, entrepreneurial training, poor access to financial and non financial services,” she said.
The minister said the project would create a platform that would promote innovation geared towards learning and sharing of information to establish relationships with people and structures to help them grow and support their businesses.
The Director of ECOWAS Gender Development Centre, Mrs Salimatu Thiam who spoke on behalf of the president of ECOWAS, noted that women were the backbone of every country’s success and they needed an opportunity to compete with the male counterparts to improve their welfare on the African continent.
She explained that the project was part of the framework of Article 15 of Chapter 5 of the Additional Act on Equal Rights for Women and Men for Sustainable Development in the ECOWAS areas, calling on member states to adopt all legislative and regulatory measures to ensure women’s equal access to all economic and gainful opportunities.
Speaking on the benefit of the 5OMWSP, Afisah Zakaria, the Chief Director of MOGCSP, stated that the move to empower women and make them independent financially in society would foster developmental goals, adding that, “the time has come to deliberate on the efforts to mainstream gender equality in all spheres and also bring the issue to the forefront of policy making,” she added.
She lauded ECOWAS for helping to boost gender equality in Africa and urged all stakeholders to embrace the opportunity and make the project work in Ghana.
By Joyceline Natally Cudjoe and David Takyi
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