Gender parity: OXFAM commends ECOWAS

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The Country Director, OXFAM, Mr Constant Tchona, has commended the ECOWAS parliament for its commitment to gender equality.

Tchona made the commendation in an address at a seminar in Abuja on Tuesday.

The seminar was jointly organised by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), OXFAM International, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and Women in Law and Development in Africa.

The seminar was held to address gender parity in the agriculture sector through the establishment of an inter-parliamentary network.

The Country Director also praised ECOWAS for its quest to ensure that agricultural investments were of benefit to women and men in the region.

Mr Sekou Sangare, ECOWAS Commissioner for Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources, said that women and youth could not be left out in any agricultural transformation process.

“As an institution and together with our partners, our commitment to you and this network is to consistently engage and extend our technical expertise and experience and any other support within our ability to make sure the network lives up to its objectives,” he said.

The network would address impediments to achieving sustainable agriculture in the ECOWAS sub-region.

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The network by the ECOWAS Parliament would also focus on addressing gender and social inequality in agricultural investments and promote best practices to ensure inclusive local development.

In his address at the occasion, Mr Sekou Sangare, ECOWAS Commissioner for Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources, said that women and youth could not be left out in any agricultural transformation process.

Sangare, who was represented by Mr Ernest Aubee, Principal Programme Officer and ECOWAS Head of Agriculture Division, said the network was critical to realising objectives of the ECOWAS Agricultural Policy 2025.

He added that the commission had put mechanisms in place to achieve food and nutrition security in the region.

“One of such frameworks is the Regional Agricultural Investment Plan 2025 and the National Agricultural Investment plans for food and nutrition security which all the ECOWAS member states are working on.

“And we are very hopeful that by the end of this year we will be able to complete this process,” he added.

Mr Suffyan Koroma, FAO representative to Nigeria described gender inequality as a driver of poverty hunger and malnutrition adding that both men and women were key partners to addressing the challenges.

“FAO will support this initial phase of the operationalisation of the network for an amount of $99, 000 through a technical cooperation project facility with the ECOWAS Parliament,” he added.

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