The activities marking the end of the Women’s month in Equateur province took place 45 KM away from Mbandaka at Widji-Fake, on the road to Bikoro on Friday 28 March 2014.

MONUSCO, UNICEFand WFPtook part in the activities destined to sensitize female associations and the populations of Widji-Fake organized by the provincial Ministry of Gender and the Thematic Working Group of the civil society organizations “Gender and sex-based violence.”During the awareness activity, the chief of UNICEF/Equateur, Agnès Fariala gave a presentation on “Women and education.”The chief of WFP/Equateur, Alti Bema, for his part, focused on the theme “Women, Engine for development.”Dodyne Maloba of MONUSCO Civil Affairs’ presentation focused on the theme“Promotion of peaceful coexistence between the Bantou women and the Pygmies in the Territory of Bikoro with a view to advocating for their empowerment.”

It is worth recalling that the difficult coexistence between the autochthones (Pygmies) and the Bantous in the Territory of Bikoro remains one of the obstacles to the education of the autochthones girls. Recommendation was issued that efforts be made to avert such a social and educational “segregation”which is not conducive to women’s development.The different presentations were followed by productive debates around the role of the rural women not only in educating children but also in contributing to community development and peaceful coexistence.

For a month-long, public companies, female associations and provincial authorities, backed by the United Nations (MONUSCO and UN Agencies), organized several activities aimed at raising women’s awareness of their condition in Equateur. The United Nations used the opportunity to explain their different strategies in the area of women’s empowerment.

MONUSCO/Jean-Tobie Okala