The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, chaired yesterday the third plenary meeting of the Africa Round Table, in which recommendations and proposals were presented to “mainstream gender” in the implementation of the Third Africa Plan.
The Africa Round Table is the main mechanism of the 3rd Africa Plan for dialogue with Spanish civil society and to promote Spanish foreign action with African countries. As representatives of civil society, the participants were Marta Iglesias (MPDL), member for political advocacy of the Governing Board of the NGDO Coordinator; Ignacio Valero (CESAL), Simon Nong (Africa Activa), Marta Blanco, president of CEOE International; Jesús Jiménez (Exporters and Investors Club), Jaime Montalvo (Spanish Chamber of Commerce), Ainhoa Marín (Real Instituto Elcano), Antumi Toasijé (Pan-African Center) and Deborah Ekoka (United Minds).
During the meeting, held at the Viana Palace in Madrid, representatives of NGDOs, the Academy and organizations of the African diaspora in Spain presented a series of recommendations and proposals to “mainstream gender and boost the achievement of the goals of the fifth Sustainable Development Goal of the United Nations 2030 Agenda,” as reported by the Ministry in a press release. This document, according to Albares, “will nourish Spanish action in Africa and will be a valuable contribution to the Government’s feminist foreign policy.”
As spokesperson for the representatives of civil society in the Africa Roundtable, Simon Nong thanked the Minister for his presence, which “demonstrates the political will to promote dialogue and to weave ties with civil society”. For her part, Ainhoa Marín warned that the Africa Plan should focus on women’s access to the use of land and bet on something that Spain “has developed little: strategic alliances between companies and NGOs”, and Marta Iglesias asked that the specificity of women be addressed with respect to the causes of migration, including violations of their rights, such as female genital mutilation and the phenomenon of trafficking.
Antumi Toasijé called for recognition of “the progress made by African states and societies” and for Spain to learn from the “good practices of some African countries”, while Deborah Ekoka defended the recovery, enhancement and dissemination of the “tradition of African women in their struggle against patriarchy”.
During the meeting, which continued under the chairmanship of the Secretary of State for Foreign and Global Affairs, Ángeles Moreno, the execution of the 3rd Africa Plan was also addressed, after almost three years of implementation, and the pilot exercise of coordination of actors and instruments for the promotion of Spanish business presence and investment in Senegal was presented, a commitment of the Africa 2023 Focus “that responds to the demand of civil society to improve the coordination of Spanish foreign action,” according to Foreign Affairs.
In this regard, Marta Blanco called for the creation of a “Team Spain” on the ground and Jesús Jiménez pointed out that Spain is little known in sub-Saharan Africa and called for Spanish official instruments to support companies to be more efficient. Jaime Montalvo welcomed the pilot exercise in Senegal and assured that, in the near future, his organization will make contributions to the draft action plan.
