Prime Minister @MohamedBeavogui, delivering the speech launching the SWEDD Guinea project in Labé - May 20, 2022
It is the city of Labé, a little over 400 kilometers from the Guinean capital that the SWEDD project was launched on May 20, 2022. After a little more than 3 years of preparation, the start of the field activities was given during this launch in the presence of beneficiaries, financial and technical partners, as well as members of the government, led by the Prime Minister, Mohamed BÉAVOGUI.
The Women's Empowerment and Demographic Dividend Project in the Sahel is an initiative of nine countries that Guinea and Cameroon have just joined. Recalling the objectives of the project, the Minister of Economy, Finance and Planning indicated that the project will be built on three components, namely "the empowerment of women and girls, national capacity building for the provision of reproductive health products, and the development of policies related to the demographic dividend. Dr. Lancinet Conde, pledged to "spare no effort to achieve the expected results, with a view to improving the living conditions of the Guinean population in general, and of women and girls in particular. This project is funded by the World Bank with technical support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the West African Health Organization (WAHO). It is being implemented in 3 regions, namely Labé, Faranah and Kankan, in favor of 153 communes.
More than 300 guests, including 200 young girls and women, direct beneficiaries of the project from the regions of Kankan and Faranah, took part in the launch of the coupled project. In this perspective of making the populations, actors of their own change, Nestor Koffi, Resident Representative of the World Bank in Guinea, indicated that "Africa must consider the demographic issue not as a fatality but as an asset". Praising the leadership of the authorities and the work done by the SWEED Project Management Unit, the World Bank Representative reaffirmed the commitment of his institution to support the success of the empowerment of women and girls in the project areas.
The commitment to support Guinea in this initiative was also reaffirmed by Dr. Olga Sankara, Acting UNFPA Representative in Guinea, on behalf of UNFPA Regional Director, Argentina Matavel PICCINI. "UNFPA is ready to accompany Guinea on its chosen path to successfully reduce inequalities and vulnerabilities for the transformation of the lives of women, girls and communities in the regions of Labé, Faranah and Kankan, which constitute 37% of the Guinean population.
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UNFPA, the traditional partner for technical assistance to the SWEDD project in all beneficiary countries, including Guinea, is aligned with the government's vision to provide women and girls with the opportunities necessary for their empowerment.
For Prime Minister Mohamed Béavogui, "the SWEDD project is an expression of the commitment of African states to invest in the human capital of their countries and in strategic partnerships that will empower girls and women as essential factors for growth and development. He underlined the importance that SWEDD represents for the Government which places women at the heart of its concerns, recalling that he had, before coming to Labé, signed cheques in favor of women's groups to materialize commitments made by the Head of State. Mohamed Béavogui, invited all the partners and actors in charge of this project "to remain mobilized to ensure the success of the project".
