NFNV Nigeria holds regional stakeholders forum on women cross-border trade in Dakar

Sequel to the commencement of the second phase of its project on “Raising Voices for Women Cross Border Trades in West Africa,” the Nigeria country chapter of the nonprofit New Faces New Voices (NFNV Nigeria) is set to hold a two-day regional roundtable with stakeholders on women cross-border trade in Dakar, Senegal.

The stakeholders’ forum which will hold between September 11 and 12 at Novotel Dakar will bring together stakeholders, institutions and key players towards formalizing and institutionalizing the regional Cross Border Women Association which will continue to interface with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) with the support of NFNV.

“At the end of the meeting delegates are expected to develop a strategy or policy document for the effective implementation and sustainable operation of the Association. Representatives of stakeholder countries will be drawn from Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d Iviore and Senegal,” said Aishatu Debola Aminu, Nigeria country director of NFNV in a pre-meeting interview.

New Faces New Voices Nigeria had in 2014 successfully implemented the first phase of the Raising Voices for Women Cross Border Traders in West Africa Project with the support of UK Department for International Development’s Supporting West Africa’s Regional Integration Program (SWARIP) implemented across five ECOWAS member states of Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Niger, and Cote d’Ivoire.

The Dakar stakeholders forum is part of activities leading to the first-ever Pan-African Women EXPO scheduled for 8th to 22nd October, 2018 in Abuja, Nigeria, also being organized by NFNV Nigeria in collaboration with COMECO Nigeria; it will have in attendance representatives of the West African regional Cross Border Trade Women Association as well as representatives of immigration, customs and border security agencies from the respective countries.