ECOWAS Centre for Gender Development Celebrates International Women's Day 2025

The ECOWAS Centre for Gender Development (CCDG) is set to celebrate International Women's Day (IWD) on March 5, 2025, at the Azalai Hotel in Dakar, Senegal. This year's theme, aligning with the United Nations' choice, is "For all women and girls: rights, equality and empowerment". The event aims to highlight the crucial role women play in their communities and advocate for their rights and access to opportunities.

The ECOWAS Centre for Gender Development is organizing this celebration to remind people of the important role that women in the ECOWAS region play in their communities and to continue advocating for the respect of their rights and their access to opportunities. ECOWAS proposes to organise a solemn ceremony for the signing of a Partnership Agreement between ECOWAS and the Ministry for the Family and Solidarity of the Republic of Senegal concerning ECOWAS support for the setting up of a production unit for sanitary pads in Senegal.

ECOWAS is aware of the challenges facing women and girls in terms of access to quality health care, and the lack of access to appropriate services and measures to guarantee and protect their reproductive health. It is therefore supporting three of its Member States in setting up sanitary pads and diapers manufacturing units for teenagers, women suffering from obstetric fistula and elderly women.

The aim of the project is to prevent teenage girls from dropping out of school and to provide appropriate responses to the intimate needs of women with obstetric fistula and elderly women with urinary retention problems. The aim is to improve the learning conditions of young girls and keep them in the education system; to support the reproductive health and socio-economic conditions of women suffering from obstetric fistula and the well-being of elderly women.

The ceremony will be attended by representatives of the two institutions, the ECOWAS Resident Representative in Senegal, the Commissioner for Human Development and Social Affairs of the ECOWAS Commission, the DG of GIABA, and the Director of the ECOWAS Gender Development Centre, the relevant sectoral ministries, civil society organisations, NGOs working in the field of health, particularly in the area of obstetric fistula, and other women's networks and associations involved in the production of sanitary towels and the support of the elderly. Students, pupils, women with fistula and beneficiaries of EGDC programmes are also involved in this event.