NEPAD Spanish Fund Project Completion Report Launch and Exhibition

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February 15, 2023

Media Advisory

What: NEPAD Spanish Fund Project Completion Report Launch and Exhibition

Venue: Outside Briefing Room 1, African Union Headquarters

When: February 15, 2023

Time: 09:30hrs – 10:00 EAT/GMT +3

Key Note Speakers:

H.E. Madam Nardos Bekele-Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, African Union Development Agency - NEPAD
H.E Vincent Biruta, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Rwanda
H.E José Manuel Albares, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Spain

Project Summary

The NEPAD Spanish Fund for African Women’s Empowerment is a partnership between the AUDA-NEPAD and the Spanish Government, through the Spanish Agency for International Development and Cooperation (AECID).

The EUR 20 million fund was established in 2007 to support programs on gender equity and women economic empowerment in Africa. The fund was structured around three thematic areas to maximize the impact of the investment towards empowering women on the continent: Economic empowerment; Civil society strengthening; and Institutional strengthening. In addition, the fund has provided support for projects in the areas of environmental management and access to health.

The programme that was implemented at the RECs was the Business Incubators for African Women Entrepreneurs (BIAWE), which was executed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and its Federation of National Associations of Women in Business (COMFWB).

The fund benefited more that 1.2 million women by implementing 78 selected projects in 38 African countries and Regional Economic Communities (RECs). The fund provided technical and financial support to women’s organizations, civil society organisations, government institutions and RECs, to scale-up women’s economic empowerment towards achieving sustainable development. The effective implementation of BIAWE by ECOWAS and COMESA-COMFWB resulted in the establishment of a network of business incubators that helped women's businesses in agro-processing, handicrafts and ICT to grow and become more sustainable.

The Fund provided funding to 46 projects during the first call for proposals in 2008. During the second call for proposals in 2011, 32 projects were implemented as approved by the NEPAD Spanish Fund Steering Committee. In total, 78 projects have been implemented in 38 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa for an amount of 15,461,561 Euros (1st call 6,285,000 Euros and 2nd call 9,176,561 Euros).

For further information please contact:

Millicent Kgeledi Communications Officer | AUDA-NEPAD Communications | African Union Development Agency- NEPAD Tel: ++27832661829| E-mail: MillicentS@nepad.org | Johannesburg, South Africa

Ms. Faith Adhiambo, Communications Officer- Agenda 2063 Information and Communication Directorate | African Union Commission Tel: +251 115 517 700 | E-mail: ochiengj@african-union.org | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Information and Communication Directorate, African Union Commission I E-mail: DIC@africa-union.org