{"id":11300,"date":"2018-12-11T13:55:24","date_gmt":"2018-12-11T13:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gracamacheltrust.org\/?p=2484"},"modified":"2018-12-11T13:55:24","modified_gmt":"2018-12-11T13:55:24","slug":"the-future-is-female-its-time-to-fully-invest-in-and-optimize-the-continents-other-half","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/featured\/the-future-is-female-its-time-to-fully-invest-in-and-optimize-the-continents-other-half\/","title":{"rendered":"The Future Is Female: It\u2019s time to fully invest in and optimize the continent\u2019s other half!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo Credit: AfDB Group<\/p><\/div>\n

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African Development Bank President, Akinwumi Adesina, honoured Mrs. Gra\u00e7a Machel as the first Kofi A. Annan Eminent Persons Speaker, which is a new name for the Bank\u2019s African Development Institute\u2019s Eminent Speaker Series. This took place during the 22nd Eminent Speakers\u2019 Lecture of the African Development Institute in Abidjan, Cote d\u2019Ivoire. Mrs Machel gave a special address titled: \u201cEducating the Girl Child, Empowering Women, and Enhancing Female Entrepreneurship in Africa\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Development experts, Abidjan-based diplomats, members of the Southern African community in Cote d\u2019Ivoire, students from Ivorian secondary and tertiary institutions, members of different media agencies as well as African Development Bank members of staff took time to attend the event. Mrs. Machel reminded the audience about the 45 years that are remaining to achieve the goals that were set for Agenda 2063. She added that the 45 years is a lifespan of an entire generation of young girls that will grow to become active citizens whose potential must be unlocked. To ensure that we achieve the goals for our development by 2063 we need to fully invest in and optimize the continent\u2019s other half which for too long has been neglected: the African female!\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cAfrica\u2019s socio-economic transformation will only be realized once we aggressively address gender-specific challenges, prioritize gender equality and women\u2019s participation, and firmly entrench women in leadership positions at all levels in society.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Mrs. Machel, in her capacity as a global advocate for women and children, emphasised on the importance of education since it changes the lives of people, especially girls, and is a catalyst for reducing child and maternal deaths and lifting people out of poverty. This is critical for sustainable development.<\/p>\n

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\u201cInvesting in education from early childhood has a lasting effect on the survival, development, protection, and active participation of children in social, economic and political activities. Knowing what we know, we must demand that governments fully meet their commitments to the investment in education.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Education transforms the lives of individuals, communities and nations and is a prerequisite for sustainable development, Machel said, emphasizing that, \u201cEducation, particularly for girls, is a catalyst for reducing child and maternal deaths and lifting people out of poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mrs. Machel also commended the African Development Bank on its amazing work and encouraged AfDB to use its power and influence to lobby governments and private sector partners to invest more in nutrition and Early Childhood Development. Resources should also be allocated to help build Africa\u2019s human capital in order to impact change on the continent at the most fundamental of levels.<\/p>\n

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Read more about our work<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  African Development Bank President, Akinwumi Adesina, honoured Mrs. Gra\u00e7a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_rtcl_gb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}