Empowerment of women: the SWEDD-Guinea project to the aid of women’s groups in the regions of Kankan, Faranah and Labé.
This Thursday, May 19, 2023, the town hall of Matam served as the framework for the official handover ceremony of the multifunctional platforms intended for women’s groups in the regions of Kankan, Faranah and Labé. An action that is part of the implementation of the SWEDD-Guinea project, in favor of the empowerment of women in the regions concerned.
Symbolically, the handover was made by Rose Pola Pricemou, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, to her counterpart for the advancement of women, children and vulnerable people, Aïcha Nanette Conté. In total, the latter received 153 multifunctional platforms.

By platform, in this specific case, we mean a set of agro-food processing equipment from which the women’s groups identified in the regions covered by the SWEDD project will benefit. These 1200 pieces of equipment are made up of various items including flour mills, cereal winnowers, rice and fonio hullers, néré hullers, oil press machines, etc. They will be distributed in 153 rural communes belonging to the 14 prefectures of these 3 regions covered. »
» The objective is to reduce the hardship of women’s work, in domestic tasks, to respond to the need to expand employment opportunities, income-generating activities for women, but also to ensure food security » , said the national coordinator of the project, Mamadou Safayou Bah…

After the words of thanks and recognition to the technical and financial partners of the SWEDD Guinea project, Rose Pola Pricemou, made a point of pointing out that before the handover of the handover ceremony of these platforms, » it there was the identification of more than 300 women’s groups and sites for setting up these multifunctional platforms in the various targeted areas ”.
For the Minister in charge of the Advancement of Women, Children and Vulnerable People, SWEDD’s gesture is in line with the priorities assigned to her department, particularly in the area of women’s empowerment. And she says, » the operationalization of these platforms will contribute to the achievement of the targeted objectives « . Then addressing the beneficiary women’s groups, Aicha Nanette Conté urges them to » judicious and rational use » of the equipment made available to them. In any case, she warns, the use of these platforms » will be subject to regular monitoring » by her department.
The distribution of equipment will be based on geo-agronomic characteristics. “ The equipment is adapted from one region to another. They are ordered taking into account the specific activities of women in each region. For example, those in Middle Guinea no longer need fonio hulling machines. The oil press machine is of much more interest to those in Upper Guinea ,” explains Mamadou Safayou Bah

The next stage of the project is the installation of the hangars which must house the equipment already listed, with a view to starting the activities.
As a reminder, this project for women’s empowerment and the demographic dividend in the Sahel (SWEDD) is a joint initiative of the World Bank and nine (9) countries of the Sahel, including Guinea. The country benefited from 60 million dollars, including 20 million in credits and 40 million in grants.