ENSEA in Abidjan in collaboration with the DigiFemmes Programme organised on Monday 27 March 2023, a conference on Digital and the empowerment of women in Côte d’Ivoire. It is part of the celebration of the International Women’s Rights Day.
Placed under the high patronage of Mrs. Nialé KABA, Minister of Planning and Development, the theme of this conference was “The Digital and the Empowerment of Women in Côte d’Ivoire: Innovative Initiatives to Promote the Inclusion of Women in the Ivorian Digital Economy”. This theme is a variation of the one chosen this year for the celebration of the International Women’s Rights Day in Côte d’Ivoire, which is: “For an inclusive digital world: innovation and technologies for gender equality”.

The theme was analysed during a panel with experts such as
– Ms Evelyne Kodjo, Director of Training and Skills Development at the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy
– DR. Hugues KOUADIO, Director of the National School of Statistics and Applied Economics (ENSEA)
– Nadine Zoro, Program Director DigiFemmes
– Marcel Etté Perreti, Manager of Digital Transformation Tony Blair Institute
– Ablawa Fémi AMOUSSOU YEO, Wood Packaging Industry

This conference provided a platform to present the DigiFemmes programme and the work of ENSEA and the Ivorian government in using digital technology as a lever for the social and economic inclusion of Ivorian women.
It brought together several key players in the digital industry and representatives of the Government, including Ms. Nialé KABA, Minister of Planning and Development, sponsor of the conference, Minister Amadou COULIBALY, Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Government Spokesperson, as well as development partners, including the Vice President of the Operations Sector of the MCC, who is currently visiting Côte d’Ivoire,
the resident representative of UN-Women, the country representative of the Tony Blair Institute, the country representative of USAID Côte d’Ivoire.

Highlights
Several highlights marked this conference, namely
– The visit of the ENSEA premises hosting the Digifemme programme, which allowed the 150 learners of the Digifemme academy programme and 35 women entrepreneurs of the Digifemme entrepreneur programme to be seen in a work situation. They took the opportunity to thank the programme’s partners and present their grievances;
– The speeches of the Director of ENSEA, the Deputy Vice President of Sector Operations in the Compact Operations Department of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, the Minister of Planning and Development;
– The handing over of computers to the winners of the ENSEA Statistical Engineers (ISE) competition;
– The Panel: The Digital and the Empowerment of Women in Côte d’Ivoire: Innovative Initiatives to Promote the Inclusion of Women in the Ivorian Digital Economy
The panel: Digital and Women’s Empowerment in Côte d’Ivoire: Innovative Initiatives to Promote Women’s Inclusion in the Ivorian Digital Economy, during which panelists shared their experiences on key topics such as the impact of education on women’s digital empowerment, the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in the digital economy and the opportunities offered by emerging technologies to promote women’s inclusion.

ENSEA, Centre of Excellence, as part of its policy of social responsibility, has undertaken various activities under the patronage of Mrs. Nialé KABA, Minister of Planning and Development, Minister of ENSEA. The aim is to sensitise and encourage women and girls to choose and enter the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Supporting and accompanying initiatives such as Digifemme is also part of ENSEA’s Corporate Social Responsibility policy. “Women play a central role and are an essential link in the economic and social development of our countries, which unfortunately is not always recognised at its true value,” said Minister Nialé KABA. According to the Minister of Planning, women in Côte d’Ivoire, as in many developing countries, still often have little access to economic opportunities in the digital sector. For the Minister of Planning, this kind of initiative by ENSEA is to be encouraged. “Allow me to congratulate the Director of ENSEA and his team for the dynamism and promotion of female talent. ENSEA is distinguished as a Centre of Excellence in Africa for Statistics and Economic Modelling. Since its creation in 1961, it has trained more than 4,000 students from some twenty African countries. The school is thus a crucible of African integration where cultures mix in excellence. The organisation of this conference is perfectly in line with the missions of the Centre of Excellence. It is a question of maintaining, strengthening and making it a tradition, in order to provide a space for reflection on development issues,” she said in her speech.

Let us recall that since 2018, the Minister of Planning and Development is the sponsor of the caravan of awareness of ENSEA to the young people of the scientific series to the statistical training and offers each year computers to the winners of the competitions of the engineer level. This year, 12 winners from Cameroon, Benin, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire were rewarded.