Bukola Afeni
Stakeholders working in the women and gender sector said Public-private partnerships are powerful strategies for ending gender inequality and amplifying women and girls’ voices.
Voix EssentiELLES, Her Voice Fund, Speak Up Africa, Y+ Global, ViiV Healthcare Positive Action, and the Global Fund disclosed this at the Women Deliver 2023 conference in Kigali, Rwanda.
They hosted a side event on the theme “Advancing gender equality through investing in women and girls’ meaningful engagement in decision-making spaces”. The event kicked off the second phase of Voix EssentiELLES, an initiative supported by Fondation CHANEL and the Global Fund.
This year, 2023, marks the twentieth anniversary of the Maputo Protocol on African Women’s Rights. The protocol established African women’s rights guarantee as a fundamental condition
for sustainable development. Yet women still face multiple barriers to accessing healthcare, education, economic opportunities, and decision-making bodies in Africa.
The program was organized as part of the Women Deliver 2023 conference.
The event was an opportunity to highlight the voices of community organizations, women and girls, activists and funders committed to tackling health, economic, religious, and socio-cultural barriers to the development of women and girls in all their diversity.
Senior Program Lead at IDEO, Larissa Bachia, emphasized the need for a community-based approach to the design and implementation of gender equality programmes.
“We need to neutralize hierarchies, reinforce girls’ agency, and ensure they have the means for active participation. They should sit at a table with funders and implementing organizations as
peers. We need to embrace new ways of working.
“We can be subject matter experts, but decision-making on what will work and what will not work should be left for those whose lives are affected by the solutions we design and implement” she noted
President of “Jeunes engagées pour la sexualité”, Jennifer Van, a Voix EssentiELLES Fund grantee in Côte d’Ivoire in 2021 and 2022, was one of the panellists.
She highlighted her organization’s significant achievements and impact in fighting gender-based violence and inequality in Côte d’Ivoire.
She emphasized the urgent need to invest in women’s leadership and empowerment and the need for long-term funding for organizations like hers.
“Through the Voix EssentiELLES initiative, we have helped hundreds of young girls take control of their sexual health by avoiding risky sexual behaviour. It is vital to support women-led organizations working to eliminate gender inequality, as women’s empowerment is a key lever
for sustainable and equitable development in Africa,” she said.
The Deputy Executive Director of Speak Up Africa, Fara Ndiaye, stated that collaboration between the public and private sectors is a key strategy in all Speak Up Africa interventions,
including gender equality initiatives.
“As once a younger, smaller organization with what was considered lower absorptive financial capacity, we feel tremendously blessed to now be in a position where we can strengthen the capacities and unleash the potential of dozens of grassroots organizations across West Africa.
“With this second phase, we strive for increased impact as we further build trust and sustainable relationships with our grantees”, she concluded.
The Head of Community, Rights
and Gender at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, Kate Thomson, disclosed that there are still enormous challenges to achieving gender equality.
” We must leverage the skills and contributions of all. Governments and businesses must work together with women and girls in all their diversity to create an inclusive ecosystem where women and girls can thrive and contribute fully to development.
The coordinator of the HER Voice Fund, Maximina Jokonya, believes that public-private partnerships can be a powerful strategy for ending gender inequality and amplifying women’s and girls’ voices. “It is crucial that the public and private sectors pool their resources and
expertise to drive social change and achieve gender equality. The synergy of their actions can lead to the implementation of inclusive policies, the creation of positive role models and the
development of women as leaders and decision-makers,”
