PRESS RELEASE

Abuja, Nigeria – December 16, 2024  Building on the transformative success of the Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend project (SWEDD), which has empowered over two million girls across Sub-Saharan Africa over the past decade, the next phase—SWEDD+—is set to launch
in Abuja, Nigeria, on December 16, 2024. This new phase aims to extend its impact by providing even more girls with enhanced access to education, essential and reproductive health services, and economic opportunities, accelerating their empowerment and advancing progress toward gender equality across the region.

Funded by the World Bank, the new SWEDD+ (Sub-Saharan Africa Women’s Empowerment
and Demographic Dividend Plus) is a $365 million project that will be implemented initially in five countries—Burkina Faso, Chad, The Gambia, Senegal and Togo; two Regional Economic Community Blocs (RECs): the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), represented by the West African Health Organization (WAHO) and the Department of Human Development and Social Affairs (DHDSA) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS). The RECs and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will continue to provide technical assistance, with UNFPA bringing its extensive expertise in conceptualizing and implementing evaluation-led models.

ECOWAS, through WAHO, will continue to execute its mandate, working with partners, mobilizing resources and driving its regional and community agenda to ensure the right of everyone to health. The ECOWAS official launch of the SWEDD+ project in Abuja will work toward this goal, and that of shared growth and prosperity, by bringing together key stakeholders, including government leaders, development partners, and representatives from SWEDD and SWEDD+ participating countries and regional institutions.

The ECOWAS Department of Human Development and Social Affairs has entered the SWEDD+ project to strengthen institutional capacity for gender equality and promoting human capital development. This includes improving access to education, healthcare, and economic opportunities for women and girls.

A regional and collaborative initiative for Africa's shared prosperity

High population growth presents a unique opportunity to drive development by breaking down gender barriers and addressing inequality. SWEDD+ leverages this potential by empowering women and girls to take advantage of the opportunities created by the growing population. By fostering their active participation in the economy and society, SWEDD+ not only helps women shape their futures but also contributes to a transformative demographic shift that supports sustainable development and economic growth.

Since 2015, SWEDD has effectively addressed root causes of child marriage, adolescent pregnancies, gender-based violence and school dropout rates among girls in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. SWEDD+ builds on the achievements of SWEDD and expands the initiative with a comprehensive, multisectoral approach.

In the past decade, SWEDD has implemented a holistic package of interventions that
significantly impacted the lives of adolescent girls, women and communities.

The project has:
 Supported nearly 1 million girls through educational assistance to stay in school,
through interventions such as providing scholarships, meals, transportation, etc.,
sometimes breaking cycles of early marriage.
 Provided economic opportunities to over 150,000 young women
 Established more than 8,000 safe spaces for women and girls, with almost half a
million members.
 Set up almost 5,000 clubs for husbands and future husbands, with over 85,000
members, promoting greater male involvement in household responsibilities, and
breaking down harmful gender norms.
 Given access to modern family planning to over 1 million new contraceptive
users, with 76% of supported health facilities no longer experiencing stock-outs
 Supported the training of 14,000 midwives who have been deployed as part of the
quality assurance of reproductive health services

The project has also fostered economic independence for young women through job creation,
skills-training, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy training. SWEDD+ aims to amplify these successes, improve access to critical sexual and reproductive health services, and scaling capacity-building initiatives across the region.

SWEDD+ will amplify impact through three transformative, multisectoral approaches:

1. Gender-transformative Interventions: Promoting the social and economic autonomy
of women and girls through education, skills-building, and economic empowerment.
2. Strengthened Health Services: Expanding access to quality reproductive, maternal,
neonatal, child and adolescent health, and nutrition services (RMNCAHN), while
increasing the number of trained healthcare workers, including midwives.
3. Policy Advocacy and Institutional Strengthening: Building regional and national
capacity among policymakers, religious and traditional leaders, and institutions to
generate data for gender-sensitive policies and project management, with a focus on
combating gender-based violence and protecting the rights and safety of women and
girls.

This milestone event that will take place in Abuja from December 16-18, 2024 provides an opportunity to review SWEDD's achievements, share lessons learned, and present the roadmap for implementing SWEDD+. Discussions will focus on identifying innovative strategic interventions that also reduce the impact of climate change and insecurity and strengthening the collaborative framework that has defined SWEDD's success.

This launch marks not just the beginning of a new phase, but a renewed commitment to
creating a future where every woman and girl can thrive.

For more information, please contact:
Oluwafunmike Sopein-Mann,
Coordinator of the SWEDD+ project for ECOWAS-WAHO
[email protected]