Partnership between the United States and local Moroccan organizations in terms of women’s economic empowerment was the focus of a round table held Thursday in Rabat.
The meeting is part of the December 22, 2020, announcement by the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) of the launch of the 2X MENA Initiative, which will catalyze $1 billion of investments in projects that will further promote women’s economic empowerment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
On this occasion, US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, Kelley Currie, stressed that partnership with local organizations is at the heart of the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) initiative because they “have the local knowledge, know what needs to be done, can help to effectively intervene and identify the women who need what this program has to offer.”
It is critical “to help women prosper in the workforce, access skills, training, and funds. Now more than ever, we need women to be leaders in the recovery of the economy” impacted by the Covid-19 health crisis, she added.
For her part, Charity Wallace, DFC Managing Director for Global Women’s Issues said that the purpose of this round table is to identify opportunities for the DFC and the US government to invest in the economic empowerment of women in the MENA region and specifically in Morocco.
“We want to identify transactions through which we can invest in women as entrepreneurs, managers or employees, but also in products and services that benefit them,” she told MAP. Concerning Morocco, the DFC also wants to “identify opportunities for private sector inclusion,” Wallace added.
For her part, manager of Sustainable Industrial Zones Fund (Fonzid) at the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA)-Morocco, Ikram El Houdali, noted that the fund works to implement initiatives that improve women’s access to industrial zones through financing incubator initiatives, supporting small businesses, and funding vocational training programs and services, including transport and security.
Women do not have access to the necessary knowledge and training in the creation of small businesses or access to credit and funds, she observed.
Samira Mzibar, Gender and Social Inclusion Director at MCA-Morocco highlighted the importance of networking for building women’s self-confidence.
Through the 2X MENA initiative, the DFC will invest in solutions that provide economic opportunities for women that will enable them to participate more meaningfully in the economy, thrive in the labor market, and succeed as entrepreneurs.
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