The Sub-Saharan Africa Women’s development and Demographic Dividend Plus (SWEDD+) project, a $365 million endeavour, was initiated by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) with the goal of promoting economic development, healthcare, and gender equality in West Africa.
Burkina Faso, Chad, The Gambia, Senegal, and Togo are among the five nations that would profit from the project, which was unveiled in Abuja on Monday.
ECOWAS vice-president Damtien Tchintchibidja, who spoke at the ceremony, called the program a revolutionary move in tackling gender inequality and utilizing women’s and girls’ potential for regional development.
“This project is a huge step forward in our combined efforts to realise the full potential of women and girls in our region. Women and girls are the foundation of our societies, and empowering them is critical to achieving long-term development, economic growth, and social advancement,” Tchintchibidja remarked.
Over two million women and girls have benefited from the Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (SWEDD) initiative in the last ten years, and the SWEDD+ project, which is funded by the World Bank, aims to build on these achievements.
Nigeria’s coordinating minister of health and social welfare, Mohammed Pate, stressed the importance of the health sector in accomplishing the project’s objectives during the launch.
Pate emphasised continued initiatives to fortify the nation’s healthcare system while being represented by Kamil Shoretire, director of health planning, research, and statistics.
“The ministry is boosting access to reproductive health services, increasing staff capacity, and improving population health outcomes.
“With a strong emphasis on reproductive health interventions and family planning programs, more than 120,000 frontline health workers are undergoing training,” Pate stated.
In order to enhance the educational, health, and economic prospects of young women and girls in Nigeria, Pate praised the SWEDD+ project as a timely intervention.
“The people of Africa have enormous potential. By investing in our youth and making sure that young women and girls have the resources they need to succeed, we are addressing our demographic dividend through programs like SWEDD+,” he said.
A growing understanding of the significance of gender equality in attaining sustainable prosperity in Africa is shown in the SWEDD+ project. The project seeks to enable women and girls to assume leadership roles in their communities and make significant contributions to regional development by expanding their access to healthcare, education, and economic opportunities.
As the initiative gets underway, ECOWAS and its partners are hopeful that it will have a profound effect on millions of women and girls, establishing them as important forces behind Africa’s social and economic advancement.