The Gender, Women and Civil Society Department (AHGC) hosted a two day workshop from 8-9 October 2018 in Abidjan, Côte d’ivoire with a delegation from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). This workshop was a promising first step to exchange knowledge, ideas and expertise on how to respond in a timely and judicious manner to the needs and priorities of the population – particularly women and girls – in transition countries in Africa.

Vanessa Moungar, Director of the Gender, Women and Civil Society Department opened the workshop by recognizing that the frontiers between the humanitarian and development sectors are blurred, both crossing paths and having common objectives. She said that gender equality is a pressing issue in delivering more efficiently and sustainably the Bank’s High 5s in Regional Member Countries, especially in transition settings. “Gender-specific interventions in fragile situations have the potential to transform vicious cycles of vulnerability into virtuous ones, supporting inclusive societies and building resilient communities. Indeed, Security and Development are intertwined in enhancing social inclusion and economic empowerment of vulnerable communities.”

Hugo Slim, Head of Policy and Humanitarian Diplomacy at the ICRC stressed the importance of leveraging on the institutions’ comparative advantages for more impactful interventions and enhanced protection of people at the bottom of the pyramid that are most vulnerable to shocks such as economic crises, conflicts or natural disasters. This is only possible, he said, by breaking silos of knowledge, expertise and actions as well as developing a common understanding of the needs and priorities of the communities affected.

During the workshop, both institutions exchanged information and experiences on their approach to accelerating gender mainstreaming and community engagement in their operations. Discussions focused on common objectives to address gender inequality, fragility and pave the way for a more resilient and inclusive growth on the continent. Patrick Youssef, the ICRC Deputy Regional Director for Africa, gave an overview of the institution’s operations in the Sahel region, stressing that re-inforcement of community resilience is a guiding principle. The relevance of collaborating with the ICRC was agreed upon as a mean to reach out to more remote communities as part of the Bank’s broad and impactful initiatives in the region. This was illustrated with the example of Liberia, where the National Society of the Red Cross has been providing support to women abused during the conflict through the acquisition of skills in income-generating activities. National Societies also have the capacity and know-how to reach out to people in need in most parts of the country compared to other non-state actors.

Globally there is increased awareness of accelerating women empowerment and gender equality as a means to foster community resilience and achieve inclusive and sustainable development. Both sides overwhelmingly agreed that the Security-Development-Humanitarian nexus which consists of aligning the immediate response to urgent needs in fragile situation on long-term planning for sustainable development needs to be systematized. On this basis, discussion on the framework between the Bank and the ICRC provided an opportunity to explore the sum of the different parts and paths that the partners bring to the door steps of Regional Member Countries. The ICRC accepted the Bank’s invitation to attend the 2019 Civil Society Forum as well as the African Resilience Forum and expressed the wish to further strenghthen the collaboration.

This emerging collaboration reflects the Bank’s commitment to strengthen its engagement with the Non-Private sector and non state actors to achieve its High 5s priorities - (Light up and power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa, Integrate Africa, and improve the quality of life for the people of Africa) - in its Regional Member Countries. Efforts include building strategic partnerships with non-state and non private actors by improving outreach interactions and knowledge sharing for effective delivery of the Bank’s programs and initiatives.