Congo/Reducing inequalities: towards validation of Congo's "country gender profile
The Ministry for the Advancement of Women and the Integration of Women in Development, in partnership with the African Development Bank (ADB), is organizing a national workshop on April 16 and 17 in Brazzaville to review and validate the Congo's "Country Gender Profile".
The two-day workshop brings together executives from various sectoral ministries, including the one responsible for women's issues, civil society organizations, parliamentarians and the private sector. The aim is to validate Congo's country gender profile, a document designed to identify the country's opportunities and constraints in terms of reducing inequalities between women and men, girls and boys.This document aims to identify the country's opportunities and constraints in reducing inequalities between women and men, and between girls and boys, in order to identify the challenges faced by each category and take appropriate action.
According to Ouedraogo Tidiani, the AfDB's Senior Regional Gender Officer for Central Africa, the Country Gender Profile is a tool for advocacy, mobilizing financial resources and facilitating planning based on facts and figures on the situation of women and girls in the Congo. "The AfDB is convinced that sustainable, sustained development cannot be achieved without the effective participation of half the population, namely women and girls. It is for this reason that we have produced this document to serve as a reference tool for reducing gender inequalities in the country", he recalled.
According to him, the study shows glaring inequalities at several levels, notably in terms of education, access to financial resources and basic social infrastructures, as well as gender-based discrimination. "What's interesting to note is that the Congo has made significant efforts to reduce these inequalities through projects, programs and the promotion of gender equality. through projects, programs and high-level commitment that will enable us to overcome this situation and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals", concluded Ouedraogo Tidiani.
Antoine Marie SIE Tioyé, AfDB Country Manager, recalled that the study had been carried out to provide the country with up-to-date knowledge on gender as a tool for planning, advocacy and resource mobilization in favor of the country, and hence for dialogue with technical and financial partners. In his view, the development of Congo's "country gender profile" is part of the implementation of its intervention strategy in the country over the next few years. "It is a tool to support the implementation of the National Development Plan (NDP) 2022-2026, which emphasizes the importance of a strong, diversified and resilient economy in the Congo.and resilient economy, at the service of social progress for all, and which constitutes the programmatic frame of reference for government action to continue the country's march towards development. This gender profile is also intended to be in line with the orientations of the national gender policy and its implementation action plan", he emphasized.
Antoine Marie SIE Tioyé also urged participants to contribute their expertise to finalize and validate the document, which should open the door to category 1 projects and programs under the Bank's gender marker system.
Acting as interim chief of staff, Patrick Elvisse Tsiba, the minister's administrative and legal advisor in charge of gender issues, recalled that for several decies, the reduction of inequalities between women and men, particularly in access to services and opportunities, has been a constant concern of the public authorities. This concern has been reflected in successive NDPs, as well as in the national gender policy and its successive implementation plans. In the Congo, promoting women's active role in development has always been a subject of interest for national authorities and development partners alike.
"On the whole, the problem of inequality between women and men, boys and girls remains a sad reality that handicaps the country's inclusive and sustainable development. The main reason for this lies in the lack of strategies focused on the structural causes of the inequalities observed.This raises the issue of the effective implementation of legal, political and administrative measures included in national frameworks, and at the same time calls into question the inadequacy of budgetary resources allocated to initiatives aimed at reducing inequalities between women and men", he recalled.
Source: www.adiac-congo.com/
