Women’s Economic Empowerment and Entrepreneurship Takes Centre Stage as AU, USA Meet

An Advisor to the President of the United States of America (USA), Ivanka Trump, has met with the officials of the African Union (AU) Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to deepen the strategic dialogue between the African Union Commission (AUC) and the USA with a commitment to advance women’s economic empowerment and entrepreneurship across the continent.

Ivanka, who is the oldest daughter of the US President Donald Trump, was received by the AUC Deputy Chairperson, Kwesi Quartey.

In a joint statement at the end of the meeting in Addis Ababa, both sides expressed a commitment to strengthen the collaboration between the AUC and the USA within the existing Cooperation Framework as outlined in the 2018 High Level Dialogue held in Ethiopia on November 29, 2018.

The two top officials reaffirmed the USA’s and the AU’s “unwavering commitment to advance women’s economic empowerment and entrepreneurship across the continent by promoting opportunities for women’s participation in the work force, increasing women’s access to finance, trade, employment, education, and skills development.”

They also pledged to “combat scourges including child and forced marriage, human trafficking, and sexual exploitation and abuse.”

Both sides further reaffirmed their “commitment to shared values such as equality of opportunity, respect and promotion of women’s rights as well as ending all forms of gender-based violence and abuse in all spheres of life.”

AUC deputy chairperson briefed the USA delegation on ongoing AUC-led initiatives on Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment including the adoption of the first AU Strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (2018-2028); the Continental Results Framework for monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the Women; Peace and Security Agenda; the AU Funds for Women’s Economic Empowerment; and the AU Campaign to End Child Marriage as enshrined in the AU Agenda 2063 priorities.

Quartey highlighted the importance of building bridges between the African Diaspora and USA businesses with a particular emphasis on women entrepreneurs.

The Ivanka-led delegation informed the AUC of the White House-led Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative aimed at empowering 50 million women across the developing world by 2025, and the OPIC 2X Africa Initiative which seeks to mobilize $1 billion in investment towards providing women in Africa access to finance, high-quality jobs, and critical services.

USA launched the W-GDP Initiative in February 2019 by signing a National Security Presidential Memorandum.

W-GDP Initiative is aimed at supporting women in the economy around the world to help them thrive in the workforce, launch businesses, and create value for their communities. Through this Initiative, the USA plans to reach 50 million women across the developing world by 2025, boosting global gross domestic product and advancing peace, security, and stability for all.

W-GDP is the USA government’s first integrated approach to global women’s economic empowerment across multiple USA government departments and agencies. The initiative is focusing on three critical pillars for women’s economic empowerment: workforce development and skills training; entrepreneurship and access to capital; and the overall enabling environment of policies, laws, and social norms that affect women’s economic participation.

The AUC expressed appreciation to the USA for her various support including to the AUC Departments of Social Affairs, Trade and Industry, and the Office of the Chairperson’s Special Envoy for Women, Peace, and Security.

Recognising the shared commitment to Gender Equality and Women Empowerment, the USA and the AU reaffirmed their willingness to promote effective laws, policies, and institutions, working closely together towards achieving those objectives.

Conscious of the quality of their collaboration, the AUC and the USA agreed to work closely together to enhance their strategic partnership to advance gender equality, women’s rights, women’s economic empowerment and entrepreneurship continent-wide.

Before arriving at the AU Headquarters, Ivanka attended the launch of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC2X) Africa Women’s Initiative which took place in the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa.

The launch was also attended by the Ethiopian President, Sahle-Work Zewde; and the ECA Deputy Executive Secretary for Knowledge Delivery, Giovanie Biha.

The AU-USA meeting were, however, attended by the AUC Commissioner for Social Affairs, Amira Elfadil; the Commissioner for Trade and Industry, Albert Muchanga; and AU Special Envoy on Women Peace and Security, Bineta Diop.

On the entourage of Ivanka Trump were the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Mark Green; and the (OPIC) Acting Chief Executive Officer, David Bohigian.