Mauritius to host IORA Ministerial Conference on Women’s Economic Empowerment

The Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare would organise the ‘Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Ministerial Conference on Women’s Economic Empowerment: A pre-requisite for Sustainable Development, on 28th and 29th August 2018. The objectives of the Conference are to launch the Working Group on Women’s Economic Empowerment as set out in the IORA Action Plan for 2017-2021; and bring together IORA Ministers in-charge of the portfolio of Gender/Women’s Affairs on a common platform to discuss the pertinence of mainstreaming gender in priority areas identified by IORA and define key strategies that would promote greater cooperation and prosperity; It also aims to identify and formulate gender-responsive initiatives and strategies to be implemented by the Working Group on Women’s Economic Empowerment in a bid to address gender gaps in the IORA priority intervention areas and the Blue Economy; and foster information and knowledge sharing on policies, programmes, initiatives and best practices that promote economic empowerment of women. The Conference would also lead to the finalisation and adoption of the Work Plan of the Working Group on Women’s Economic Empowerment.