Maputo, 11 Jul (AIM) – The Canadian government has pledged to disburse 455 million meticais (7.1 million dollars, at the current exchange rate) to support the Women’s Voice and Leadership programme (WVL-Aliadas) in Mozambique.
The second phase of the programme, which was launched on Thursday in Maputo, is aimed at strengthening women’s rights and in contexts of crisis and inequality. It will be implemented by the Mozambican NGO, the Centre for Civil Society Learning and Capacity Building (CESC).
This amount is part of Canada’s global commitment of 195 million Canadian dollars to promote gender equality in partner countries.
According to Sara Nicholls, the High Commissioner of Canada to Mozambique, who was speaking at the event, this is more than a funding programme, “It’s about empowering women to lead, defend and transform their communities. It’s about recognizing the invaluable contributions of women’s rights organizations and feminist movements in promoting sustainable development.”
“It is important to ensure stable and flexible funding for feminist organizations, especially in contexts of crisis and conflict, where their work is most needed and challenging. Support for women’s organizations and feminist movements is particularly important in the current climate of global backlash against gender equality, diversity and feminism”, she said.
For his part, Abdul Esmail, Secretary of State for Gender and Social Action, said that the initiative strengthens the role of women’s organizations as active agents of social transformation.
“This programme assures the state’s institutional support for the consolidation of women’s leadership at all levels. Social justice and sustainable development inevitably involve the full inclusion of women and girls in decision-making processes”, he said.
(AIM)
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