The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Conference on Women and Youth in Trade, convened under the patronage of Tanzania President H.E. Samia Suluhu Hassan and in conjunction with the Government of Tanzania, Champion of Women and Youth in Trade under the AfCFTA Conference themed "Women and Youth: The Engine of AfCFTA Trade in Africa" took place from 12 to 14 September 2022, in Dar-Es-Salam. Women, youth, and political and business leaders from across the continent joined arms to discuss how women and youth as drivers of intra-African trade can be positioned at the centre of the economic benefits of the AfCFTA.
Representing Graça Machel Trust, Ms Shiphra Chisha, the Trust's Director of Programs, spoke about women and youth as drivers of industrialisation in the context of the AfCFTA, which creates linkages for women and youth in trade. She pointed out the importance of harnessing the potential of women- and youth-led businesses in creating and participating in regional and continental value chains and provided concrete actions that can build the capacity of women and youth to meaningfully participate in the economy. She said, if women are half the world's population and have been disempowered, at best, or deliberately stifled, then humanity should take responsibility for its many failings and stagnation. In other words, we would have collectively ensured that 50% of the world's economic potential is made redundant.
Ms Chisha acknowledged the contributions of women and youth to the economy. She said, "if women can successfully trade amongst themselves in an improvised manner, only their imagination can limit how far they can go when they are eventually all supported with the right financial and technological tools to trade across borders and thereby scaling up their enterprises."
"The AfCFTA, now supported by the Protocol on Women and Youth in Trade, will not just integrate the continent but is meant to draw from the power of women entrepreneurs locally, regionally, inter-regionally, and at the continental level", said Ms Chisha. She also emphasised that there is a need for budget planners and decision-makers to ensure the allocation of funding to train women and support local businesses so that women will have the financial, technological, legal, and administrative understanding to engage in transnational trade.
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"Women will be the implementors of the AfCFTA Protocol and need to position themselves as a collective. Hence, a call to the government to encourage the private sector to support preferential procurement policies to ensure women are kept with resources for industrialisation," she added.
Among other high-level delegates at the conference was Dr Monique Nsanzabaganwa, the Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission. She is also a member of the Graça Machel Trust's Women in Finance Network, said, "Agenda 2063's Aspiration 6 seeks to create a prosperous Africa which is people driven. Relying on the potential of the populace, particularly that of women and youth, pointing out the AfCFTA as one of the flagship projects of Agenda 2063 would be critical to fostering a people-driven and inclusive development agenda."
The AfCFTA's Protocol on Women and Youth forms part of a series of continental-wide consultations with women and youth. The Protocol strives to offer workable solutions to the ongoing issues faced by women and young people who engage in both formal and informal trade across the continent.
