Luanda - The First Lady of the Republic of Angola, Ana Dias Lourenço, on Thursday in the city of Praia, Cabo Verde, highlighted the need to provide communities with digital tools and services to speed up the transformation and well-being of rural populations, with the active role and innovation of young farmers.
Ana Dias Lourenço, who was speaking in the debate on the Infuence of First Ladies in Women’s Empowerment, in the scope of the 6th edition of the Tropics Business Summit, stressed that this is one of the paths to take (digital inclusion), coupled with international doctrine and considering the growing dominance of the digital world.
“The 1000 Digital Villages Initiative is paradigmatic and is currently being tested in seven African countries aiming to equip communities with digital tools and services to speed up the transformation and well-being of rural populations. One of the measures already implemented was the creation of an application for the electronic registration of land and another application for the management of plagues and diseases”, she stressed.
Ana Dias Lourenço added that in Angola firm steps are being taken in the direction of many of the principles and objectives mentioned with the aim of equipping communities with technical and knowledge skills as well as behaviours through economic empowerment.
“In 2020, I created the Ngana Zenza Foundation for Community Development, which is fully committed to the sustainable development of communities, particularly rural communities. The Foundation for Community Development (FDC) works with the most vulnerable groups in society, including children, young girls and women, to promote basic values such as respect, solidarity, ethics, innovation and social responsibility”, she said.
According to Mrs Lourenço, the African market comprises 1.2 billion consumers, which represents an enormous opportunity to propel economic growth, reduce poverty and provide economic inclusion.
She said that with over 34% of African families still living with less than 2 dollars a day, its urgent to empower women and their increasing involvement in economic activities thus enhancing an underused human capital and an irreplaceable contribution.
The First Lady added that women leaders are vitally important for Africa´s affirmation in the world, because of their voice, strength and conviction.
“My appeal is for all women to fight for their rightful place and, above all, to persist in their struggle to build an Africa that is aware that each woman has a role and a mission to play. For women, each and every one in their role, to be unwavering partners in development: decisively, effectively and inclusively”, she reinforced.
To her, each woman has a role and a mission to play within the family, home, at work, in a enterprise or in the community in which she is part of, emphasizing that gender equality is not just a human rights matter, but it is also fundamental to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
“The necessary focus of gender equality in public discussion in Africa is not only as a result of the fact that it is a human rights issue, but also because it is fundamental to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations Agenda 2030 and the goals of the African Union Agenda 2063”, she emphasised.
Ana Dias Lourenço pointed to poverty eradication, the need to protect the planet from climate change, to secure peace and prosperity of the world and the promotion of partnership and cooperation spirit as guiding principles of the global agenda never achievable without the active role of women.
According to the Angolan First Lady, the African political leaders and the United Nations Agency for Food and Agriculture assumed the joint commitment to invest in the transformation of agrifood systems, trade and investment promotions within the African Continental Free Trade Zone and ensure that women, the youth and rural farmers are included in the continent´s agrifood systems.
The Tropics Business Summit is a Pan-African annual event with the purpose of bringing together businesspeople, political and community decision-makers, innovators and enterprises to provide to them a wide platform of business contacts by covering all African markets.
For the sixth consecutive year, the Tropics Business Summit brings together over 350 speakers, roughly 500 journalists and other media professionals, over 350 startups, investors and 50,000 online participants.
The panel on “The Global Influence and Leadership of First Ladies: How it affects the empowerment of the new generation of African girls and women” intends to take a global look at the influence of First Ladies in Africa´s development process and address the issue of gender equality and women's leadership.
The First Ladies on the panel interacted with a diverse range of women leaders, representing a variety of backgrounds and ideas, but sharing a common goal related to boosting gender equality promotion and women's empowerment in their own communities and across the African continent.
The participants set in motion an informal mechanism in which they will share their experiences and exchange ideas with the audience on women's leadership in Africa´s sustainable development process.
