AU member states urged to ensure women play key role in blue economy

 

The African Union (AU) member states attending the third Technical and Steering Committee Meeting of the Conserving Aquatic Biodiversity in the African Blue Economy project funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) in Mombasa.

African Union (AU) member states have been urged to prioritize women’s involvement in the Blue Economy through enhanced skills development.

Experts argue that women in the blue economy have been historically marginalized calling for targeted skills development and empowerment programs to ensure participation of women in the sector.

The African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) is currently hosting the third Technical and Steering Committee Meeting of  “Conserving Aquatic Biodiversity in the African Blue Economy” project in Mombasa.

Funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the project aims to strengthen marine biodiversity protection and promote the responsible use of aquatic resources across Africa.

The three-day meeting will assess the project’s progress, review implementation challenges, and develop actionable recommendations for future initiatives.

Representatives from the Swedish Embassy to the AU, the FAO Regional Office for Africa, and several AU member states including Uganda, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, South Africa, and Kenya, are participating.

Director of Mabuyi Development Planners of South Africa Zintle Lushaba says conserving aquatic biodiversity is very important when it comes to the gender equality issue as Gender disparities have been existing for a long time in Africa.

“Women are ignored or cast out of certain development programmes that uplift them. Gender equality in aquatic biodiversity is very important as women have got indigenous knowledge in the sector and they play a big role in their empowerment and attainment of sustainable development goals,” stated Lushaba.

The project since its inception in 2021 has made significant strides in uplifting women. Gender analysis on the current existing legislations, status core analysis and skills upliftment of women have been done.

“A lot of women within our countries lack skills in the sector. It is therefore imperative they be granted opportunities to be skilled in the sector so that they can play even more important roles and draw an income or a livelihood from the sector,” elucidated Lushaba.

She further called for infrastructure development in the sector and awareness creation to increase youth involvement.

AU-IBAR Gender Policy Strategy Expert Stephanie Achieng noted that through the project 55 AU member states have been supported.

She stated that the project also supports Marine Spatial Plans (MSPs), climate change mitigation and Gender Inclusivity in AU member states. All of the project’s objectives are linked to the Africa Blue Economy Strategy developed in 2019 by AU and AU Agenda 2063.

“We are supporting AU member states to mainstream and integrate gender considerations in aquatic biodiversity conservation and environmental management,” said Achieng.

Blue Economy, she noted, is a new framework, especially in Africa and it is not well understood. It has various thematic sectors like fisheries, tourism, mining, oil and deep sea exploitation among others.

“We have that holistic approach to the implementation of the Blue Economy. As much as our focus is on fisheries we try as much to link to the other sectors so that we have a coordinated cohesive approach to implementation of this particular framework,” she said.

The AU-IBAR builds the capacity of local governments, youths and women to tackle threats facing aquatic ecosystems.

By Haniel Mengistu