OREANDA-NEWS. September 05, 2016. The Office of the Special the African Development Bank (AfDB's) Envoy on Gender (SEOG) in collaboration with the Agriculture and Agro-Industry Department (OSAN) and under the leadership of the AfDB Senior Vice President, Frannie Leautier, is convening a EWA-AFAWA Technical Session on 2-3 September to forge and reinforce partnership between the EWA and AFAWA Initiatives in order to coordinate action on the economic empowerment of women in the agriculture value chain Africa through specifically identifying a Road Map for joint initiatives and operations.

This technical session builds on a previous EWA-AFAWA High Level Function hosted by President Johnson Sirleaf on the sidelines of the African Union Summit in Kigali (July 2016) that recognized the close alignment of the EWA Program and the AFAWA Program, in that both initiatives aim to prioritize agricultural projects that target gender inequality and enable women to have equal access to opportunities throughout agricultural value chains.

EWA and AFAWA Coordinators and Partners (the African Capacity Building Foundation, Femmes Afrique Solidarit?, GIMAC), IFC and AfDB, convening this technical meeting, will discuss on the way forward and, as pointed by Dr. Leautier, during her opening remarks, will determine a joint Road Map in order to meet the target for joint implementation of the two flagship EWA-AFAWA activities by the end of 2016.