(AfDB ) - America’s largest organization of journalists and media-related professionals of colour has named the African Development Bank Group a “Salute to Excellence Award” winner for Bank communications observing International Women’s Day and its “Gender in Focus” series.

The Bank clinched the National Association of Black Journalists’ online public relations and marketing award category honor for the month-long Bank “Gender in Focus” digital campaign embracing International Women’s Day in March 2023.

Led by the Bank's Agriculture, Human and Social Development Complex and the Bank's Communication and External Relations Department, the campaign drew a diversity of Bank contributions including from: the Vice Presidency for People and Talent Management; Africa Investment Forum; Agriculture and Agro-Industry Department; Water Development and Sanitation Department; Gender, Women and Civil Society Department; Human Capital, Youth and Skills Development Department; as well as from initiatives such as Coding for Employment, Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) and ENABLE Youth.

The National Association of Black Journalists announced the Salute to Excellence Awards at a gala event on Saturday, 3 August in Chicago, Illinois (USA).

The Bank’s winning competition entry referenced a suite of Bank communications highlighting Bank efforts to advance its Gender Strategy and gender mainstreaming activities, including press releases, a webinar, social media posts, media relations engagement, written feature stories, videos, blogs and podcast.

“This recognition from the National Association of Black Journalists comes as the Bank increasingly takes a ‘One Bank’ approach to mainstreaming gender across our operations internally and across the continent,” said Dr. Beth Dunford, the Bank’s Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development.

“Our multimedia communications help tell the world through stories and testimony from Africa’s women, African Development Bank employees and our gender allies that African Development Bank Group is delivering solutions to reduce gender disparities across digital, economic, access to finance, and other sectors,” Dunford added.

The digital campaign included a series of AFAWA videos showcasing women entrepreneurs and financial institutions benefiting from the AFAWA Guarantee for Growth program. Through AFAWA, the Bank has approved $1.7 billion in financing for lending to Africa’s women entrepreneurs via some 170 partner financial institutions in 43 African countries. More than $712 million has been disbursed to some 18,300 women-led businesses to date.

“The Salute to Excellence Award is a reflection of the dedication of Bank staff, consultants and our partners’ tireless efforts to improve access to finance for Africa’s women-led small and medium enterprises. Their expertise helped shape our communications campaign,” said Dr. Martha Phiri, the Bank’s Acting Director for Gender, Women and Civil Society.

Last weekend’s announcement marks the Bank’s fourth Salute to Excellence Award for communications since 2019. The Salute to Excellence Awards recognize journalism and communications that best cover and communicate about the people or issues of the African and African American Diaspora or experience.

The National Association of Black Journalists Conference & Career Fair is the premier convention for journalism education, career development, networking, and industry innovation.

Watch the video announcement and promo clip representing the Bank’s winning communications at the Salute to Excellence Awards here.