Zinder, March 14 (ANP). The Representative of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Niger, Ambassador Alapini Liliane has just completed, this Sunday March 14, 2021, a 72-hour working visit to the Zinder region.
Arrival last Friday in Zinder as part of International Women’s Day celebrated on March 8 each year, Ambassador Alapini Liliane, accompanied by Ms. Bana Fatima Moutari, President of REPSFECO (Women’s Network for Peace and Security of the ECOWAS Space), has undertaken a series of activities including separate meetings with the Governor of the Region, Issa Moussa and the Honorable Sultan of Damagaram, His Highness Aboubacar Sanda Oumarou.
The discussions, it should be noted, focused on questions of general interest. The activities within the framework of the feast of March 8 were placed under the high patronage of the governor of the Region of Zinder, Issa Moussa through a conference-debate on the theme “ Female leadership for an egalitarian future in the world of Covid 19 ”, who took the opportunity to congratulate ECOWAS for its support for the organization of this grouping to ” allow women to come together around activities to take stock of the struggles for their promotion.
The President of the Republic Issoufou Mahmadou, he said, “remains attentive to the concerns of women explaining the legal instruments signed by Niger for their emancipation”.
The laws passed on the quota of women to the tune of 25% for elective positions and 30% for appointment positions are quite edifying, he noted, before adding that “ the government has put in place two projects whose major objective is to ensure the empowerment and promotion of women ”.
The Representative of ECOWAS in Niger, in her intervention at the conference which brought together women’s groups, women and girls leaders, delivered to the participants the message of the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Jean Claude Kassi Brou.
The Ambassador “paid special tribute to the female staff of ECOWAS who, day after day, contribute in a remarkable way to the functioning of the Institution for the development of the region”.
The day of March 8, she said, is an “ opportunity to take stock of the progress made and the challenges that women still face with regard to the recognition and protection of their rights, to take stock of the struggle waged by the pioneers over the past years for equality and the social, economic and political rights of women ”.
ECOWAS, she insisted, aligns itself with the general theme chosen by the United Nations to celebrate International Women’s Day, including the 65th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women which is the annual session dedicated to promotion of gender equality and empowerment, is a unique space of convergence between governments, civil society organizations and technical and financial partners working in the field of gender issues.
This chosen theme, said Ambassador Alapini Liliane, “ prompts us to think more about the security and health challenges in our region, linked to Ebola disease and the COVID 19 coronavirus pandemic, to food insecurity. and extremism among others. ”
” With the onset of the health crisis linked to COVID 19, many women active in the economy, especially in the informal sector, have been severely affected through the cessation of certain economic activities including disruptions in the transformation and the distribution of agricultural products, the decline in household income without forgetting the reduction of opportunities for the most vulnerable households, ” she explained.
Efforts must be made, she continued, to strengthen access to training, productive and decent employment and social protection to contribute to access to credit, property, inheritance to natural resources and the establishment of gender-sensitive infrastructure.
The President of REPSFECO, for her part, declared that this meeting with women consists of “strengthening their capacity on the” central theme of female leadership for an egalitarian future in the world of COVID 19 “in the Sahelian space to deal with the COVID 19 pandemic. ”
It is now undeniable, she said, that “peace, health and security are essential conditions for the development of Niger”.
On the sidelines of this conference, the ECOWAS Representative in Niger went to the Galadimawa district of Birni where she handed over a donation consisting of rice, oil and a COVID 19 kit intended for blind women.
The latter, through the voice of Ms. Rahila, thanked ECOWAS for this important support to the vulnerable layers of the Zinder region.
This Sunday, Ambassador Alapini Liliane attended a great mobilization of women who undertook a public health operation on the main public road which leads to the city’s large market.
She declared, at the end of her 72-hour working visit, satisfied with the mobilization of women leaders in the region for their active participation and their commitment and their desire to eradicate Covid 19 and to impose themselves to have their places. in decision-making bodies.
Finally, the ECOWAS Representative in Niger congratulated the authorities of the Zinder region who kindly welcomed this activity which took place under good conditions and saluted all the women of Niger for their invaluable contribution to the success of the day of March 8, 2021.
SY/AS/ANP March 2021
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