AfDB wins gender digital inclusion award.

Dubbed, the “Salute to Excellence Award”, the honour was bestowed on the AfDB by the largest organisation of journalists and media-related professionals of black colour in the United States of America, USA.

The National Association of Black Journalists announced the Salute to Excellence Awards at a gala event on Saturday, August 3, in Chicago, Illinois, and conferred on the Bank Group President last weekend.

Event organisers and sponsors stated that AfDB merits this award because of its numerous activities that focus on, not only employing more women to work with the bank, but also on making sure the female folk climb into management positions.

This is done by giving them gild-edged training in the use of modern technologies in business management. They highlighted the digital campaign that the AfDB carried out prior to celebrations marking the 2024 edition of the International Women’s Day. 

A campaign which the organisers said drew a diversity of contributions from the bank’s experts.

Some of these came from the AfDB’s Agriculture, Human and Social Development Complex; the Bank’s Communication and External Relations Department; the Vice Presidency for People and Talent Management; Africa Investment Forum; Agriculture and Agro-Industry Department; Water Development and Sanitation Department.

Others included the Gender, Women and Civil Society Department; Human Capital, Youth and Skills Development Department; as well as from initiatives such as Coding for Employment, Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa, AFAWA; and ENABLE Youth.

The organisers used the bank’s winning competition entry, referencing a suite of AfDB communications, highlighting efforts to advance its gender strategy and gender mainstreaming activities.

“This recognition from the National Association of Black Journalists comes as the Bank increasingly takes a ‘One Bank’ approach to mainstreaming gender across our operations internally and across the continent,” said Dr Beth Dunford, the Bank’s Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development.

Dunford went on to add that: “Our multimedia communications help tell the world through stories and testimony from Africa’s women, African Development Bank employees and our gender allies that African Development Bank Group is delivering solutions to reduce gender disparities across digital, economic, access to finance, and other sectors”.

The digital campaign included a series of AFAWA videos showcasing women entrepreneurs and financial institutions benefiting from the AFAWA Guarantee for Growth programme. 

Through AFAWA, the Bank has approved 1.7 billion United States Dollars, USD, in financing for lending to Africa’s women entrepreneurs via some 170 partner financial institutions in 43 African countries. 

More than 712 million USD has been disbursed to some 18,300 women-led businesses to date, organizers recalled.

“The Salute to Excellence Award is a reflection of the dedication of Bank staff, consultants and our partners’ tireless efforts to improve access to finance for Africa’s women-led small and medium enterprises. Their expertise helped shape our communications campaign,” said Dr Martha Phiri, AfDB Director for Gender, Women and Civil Society.

The event marks the AfDB’s fourth Salute to Excellence Award for communications since 2019; an award that recognises journalism and communications that best cover and communicate about the people or issues of the African and African American Diaspora or experience.

The National Association of Black Journalists Conference & Career Fair is the premier convention for journalism education, career development, networking, and industry innovation, organisers announced.

Talking to the women and the corporate world as a whole regarding the honour, the Bank Group President Adesina, explained the reasons behind his optimism and passion for Africa. 

“Africa is a continent of tremendous opportunities. It is endowed with and characterised by a young, dynamic and vibrant workforce, massive renewable energy potential, abundant biodiversity resources, rapid regional integration and innovative solutions designed to unlock the continent’s vast natural capital,” he said.

Harping on the resilience of Africa’s economies despite global challenges, also noting that the continent remains the second-fastest-growing region after Asia. 

Adesina cited the recent AfDB’s African Economic Outlook Report, which shows that the continent’s 3.7% economic growth for 2024, is sure to increase to 4.3% in 2025. 

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3204 Tuesday August 20, 2024