Burundian Women Entrepreneurs committed to the effective operationalization of the Project at the National level

Burundian Women Entrepreneurs committed to the effective operationalization of the Project at the National level The General Secretariat of the East African Community through the Information Exchange Network Project of Fifty (50) Million Women, in collaboration with the Ministry of Presidency in charge of East African Community Affairs and the Ministry of Human Rights, Social Affairs and Gender, organized a workshop to present the Project Platform to the National Team responsible for facilitating the implementation of the project and Women Entrepreneurs from November 21 to 22, 2019 in Bujumbura, Burundi. In his introduction, the Project Coordinator indicated that the objective of the workshop is to present and promote the project platform for the National Project Team and Women Entrepreneurs in order to collect comments on the content and functionalities of the project platform for its improvement. He added that the National Project Team and the Women Entrepreneurs must take ownership of the System, since the launch of the project at the National level is planned for the year 2020 in Burundi, and in other Partner countries of the East African Community. The workshop saw the participation of the Regional Coordinator of the East African Businesswomen Platform (EAWiBP), the Representative of the General Secretariat of the East African Community, the representative of the Minister in the Presidency in charge of of the East African Community, the representative of the Minister of Human Rights, Social Affairs and Gender who is at the same time Focal Point of the project, Members of the National Project Team as well as the Women Entrepreneurs of Burundi. In various speeches, it was mentioned the need for the Platform, a project to connect African Women Entrepreneurs in General and Burundian women in particular. They insisted on the sensitization and visibility of the project so that Burundian Businesswomen become aware of the Platform and its content and thus benefit from its advantages. In the opening speech, the representative of the Minister of Human Rights, Social Affairs and Gender who is at the same time Focal Point of the project, asked all participants to provide comments on the content and functionalities of the Platform in order to improve the Platform. He stressed that the Government of the Republic of Burundi will provide all its support for the effective operationalization of the project at the National Level. Nevertheless, the Focal Point noted some challenges in the implementation of this project, in particular that related to the sensitization of all the beneficiaries at the national level so that they become aware of all the functionalities and all the advantages of the platform and draw profile. During the group work, the participants gave comments on the content already collected by the consultants and suggested some elements for its improvement. The Burundian Women Entrepreneurs present during the workshop created their own accounts on the platform to connect with other African Women Entrepreneurs in order to exchange information relating to their businesses. These women say they are very committed to promoting this very important project.