Seychelles attends workshop on ‘Empowerment of Women & Young Girls’ |01 December 2017

The director for Youth Leadership and Empowerment at the Seychelles National Youth Council (SNYC), Bernadette Barbier, attended a workshop on ‘Capacity Building and Empowerment of Women and Girls’ from November 6 to 10, 2017 in Goma, Congo.

The workshop was conducted by the French-speaking World Conference of Ministers for Youth and Sports (CONFEJES).

Founded in 1969, CONFEJES is an inter-government institution that works to promote Youth, Sports and Leisure within the French-speaking space.

Bernadette, who has been working with young people for the past 31 years, explains that the workshop was mainly a capacity building session for the national delegates of the ‘Groupe de Travail Consultatif Femme’ (GTFC) and it focused on the empowerment of women and young girls.

The session was chaired by the governor of the North Kivu Province of Goma, the secretary general of CONFEJES, the president of the Provincial Assembly of North Kivu, the mayor of Goma and the president of the GTFC.

Approximately thirty delegates from French member countries in Africa and the Indian Ocean were also present, including Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros, Tunisia and Burkina Faso.

Each member country of the CONFEJES was given the opportunity to report on the related activities that they have been implementing back home.

“It was also an opportunity to brainstorm on how to educate young girls to take up their responsibilities and follow-up on what other women have done in our given countries. The workshop also entailed an evaluation and assessment of a strategic plan,” says Bernadette.

Through the various discussions, Bernadette was enlightened about issues relating to women and young girls that are being faced in the region and about the numerous ways in which other member states are responding to these. The brainstorming session brought about innovative ideas that can be implemented to further empower women and young girls through education. These are valuable insights for Seychelles as it continues to place great emphasis on - “uplifting the moral, cultural, educational, economic, artistic and physical wellbeing of Seychellois youth through planned programmes of activities” (SNYC).

Speaking about her impression of the workshop, Bernadette says that she found it to be a very interesting experience as the work of women was acknowledged and valorised.

She also found the purpose of the workshop especially meaningful to her as a woman as she has dedicated much of her life to youth work.

Following her nomination as the coordinator of the GTCF which aims to promote the participation of women and young girls in youth, sport and leisure activities, Bernadette says that her role will be to “take note of all activities involving women and girls and also to start initiating activities and programmes in relation to this”.