CAIRO: The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), made up of 16 African countries, signed an agreement aiming to empower women agricultural entrepreneurs in West Africa with The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) on Monday, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia as part of the African Summit. The agreement, which is worth one million Euros and the two African bodies with funding in the form of a grant from Spain, will be administered by the NEPAD-Spain Fund. NEPAD is a policy framework within the African Union aiming to target developmental issues of agriculture and food security, climate change and governance. Political leaders from both Spain and Western Africa signed a joint declaration already in 2009, in which both the ECOWAS Commission and the Spanish government committed themselves to empower West African women. “The project seeks to support initiatives in economic capacity building for women, promote rural entrepreneurship and develop agricultural resources, “ read a statement on the agreement released by the The African Press Organization. It continued: “The grant will provide funds for the Business Incubator for African Women Entrepreneurs (BIAWE) project, which nurtures the business ventures of rural African women operating primarily in the area of agriculture." The two-year project hopes to increase the "economic options and promote the economic leadership of African rural women, as well as eradicate poverty within the ECOWAS region." The project will aim to support the rural, female entrepreneurs by providing a guarantee fund which will back the losses of banks or donors investing in the women's businesses, making it more likely that they will be able to obtain start-up capital for their businesses, or get a loan to expand it. The agreement also intends to aid with the" processing of agricultural produce and market access for the sale of the produce." The project is to be initiated in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone, with hopes to subsequently expand to other countries in West Africa. The statement released verifies that signing the agreement will be the final step leading up to the project's actual implementation.
