The African Development Bank and the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development (EAPD) launched on Sunday 7th May, 2017, the first session of the Egyptian-African Program for female African media specialists entitled "African Media Today and the Role of Women in Shaping its Future". The Program's objective to bring together female African journalists to learn about Egypt and EAPD activities through lectures, presentations, and site visits.
Addressing the 7-18 May workshop, the AfDB's Country Manager for Egypt, Leila Mokadem, highlighted the Bank's High 5s, development priorities -- Light up and power Africa; Feed Africa; Industrialize Africa; Integrate Africa; and Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa - which are being rolled out across the continent. She also underscored several initiatives launched by the Bank such as the New Deal on Energy for Africa, involving a commitment of US$12 billion over the next five years, with the goal of leveraging $45-50 billion. "Our goal is connect 130 million people to the grid, 75 million via off grids and provide some 150 million with clean cooking energy," Mokadem said. She also briefed the journalists on the Bank's Annual General Meetings holding in Ahmedabad, India from May 22-26 on the theme, "Transforming Agriculture for Wealth Creation in Africa."
In his contribution, Hazem Fahmy, Secretary General of EAPD, urged the women journalists to learn about what Egypt has to offer to their respective countries while their Egyptian journalists counterparts would do well to appreciate their country can derive from other African countries. He called for strong trade links between Egypt and the rest of the continent.
Maya Morsy, Head of the Egyptian Women's Council stressed the need for women to utilize social media tools to promote the status of women's rights and to serve as role models in their respective countries.
The Program includes visiting EAPD and the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) where they met with SCA chairman, Vice Admiral Mohab Mamish. 47 female journalists from 30
African countries are participating in the gathering.
The workshop is co-financed through EAPD's capacity-building program, funded by the AfDB's Middle Income Country Technical Assistance Fund, with a US$ 1.8 million grant approved in April 2015 to enhance trade and investment between Egypt and other African countries. The program had earlier financed the Egypt-Africa Business Forum held in Sharm el Sheikh in February 2016 presided by President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and attended by various African Heads of State and Ministers.
