<h6><strong>The Diplomat</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation hosted this Wednesday the presentation of the COYWA cooperation programme, launched by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa's Development (AUDA-NEPAD) to improve the living conditions of African youth and women.</strong></h4> The programme 'Creating Opportunities for Youth and Women in Africa' (COYWA) focuses on capacity building, supporting socio-economic inclusion and promoting entrepreneurship among young people and women in Africa. To achieve this goal, as reported by AECID in a press release, their economic and social empowerment is promoted through access to institutional representation, decent employment and the reduction of gender violence. The fundamental pillars of the program include training, job creation, social inclusion, the promotion of gender equality and the defense of human rights. The text of the program was agreed in March 2024 after several months of negotiations by the respective AECID and AUDA-NEPAD teams. Since then, an initial voluntary contribution of seven million euros was allocated by AECID and in December 2024 a second contribution of two million euros was allocated to the program. In addition, the COYWA program is expected to be implemented in close cooperation with the Regional Economic Communities (RECs). The programme's presentation ceremony was chaired by the Secretary of State for International Cooperation, Eva Granados Galiano, and was attended by the Director of AECID, Antón Leis García, and the Executive Director of AUDA-NEPAD, Nardos Bekele-Thomas, with whom the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, met on 13 January to launch the programme. In her speech, the Secretary of State for International Cooperation referred to the central role played by the feminist and gender approach in Spanish Cooperation, in particular, and in Spain's Foreign Policy, in general. For his part, the Director of AECID reviewed the long history of cooperation with the African Union Development Agency (and previously with NEPAD), which dates back to 2007, when the Spain-NEPAD Fund for the Empowerment of African Women was launched. According to the Agency, this collaboration is part of “a context of excellent relations with the African Union, in a determined commitment to the African regional integration process.”
