The Diplomat
Yesterday, King Philip VI received in audience a group of 20 women leaders from the Mediterranean and Africa who are in Spain as part of the RAISA Program of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This group of women leaders from the Mediterranean and Africa are visiting Madrid from yesterday until October 30 with the aim of strengthening ties with important Spanish public and private institutions, as well as with agents of civil society. During the meeting with the King, they were accompanied by the Secretary of State for International Cooperation, Pilar Cancela.
The objective of the RAISA Program is to give African women a voice and establish possible lines of collaboration between Spain and the African continent, and includes a series of talks and round tables to analyze the strengths, threats and challenges facing African women today. The RAISA Program is supported by Casa África, Casa Árabe and Casa Mediterráneo.
During their stay in Spain, these women will participate in a series of sessions planned at Casa Árabe, coordinated by the Women for Africa Foundation, in which the participants will make contact with Spanish women in their own professional or activist fields. In addition to being received by the King, they will also hold meetings with the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto; members of the International Cooperation Commission of the Congress of Deputies, the AECID, the Elcano Royal Institute, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and the Cotec Foundation, among others.
The delegation is made up of women, mostly between 25 and 45 years of age, with recognized leadership and varied professional profiles: political leaders, civil servants, journalists, academics, directors of non-governmental and non-profit organizations, businesswomen, human rights defenders, scientists, mediators in peace and security processes and representatives of the business world.
