New Women's Network Launched in Central Africa

Nov. 25, 2009 — Solange Beatrice Bindang works day-in and day-out to improve women's lives in Cameroon. As a program coordinator for the Save the Women and Humanity Association, she works to advance women's status in a country where forced marriage and female genital mutilation is common, and where nearly 4 out of every 10 women are illiterate.

When she joined 25 other women leaders from Cameroon, Chad and Equatorial Guinea for CEDPA's recent month-long Global Women in Management program in Douala, she realized that her work could be strengthened by joining forces with other women's organizations throughout the region.

“We have the same context, Central Africa. We have the same problems: political problems, environmental problems, cultural problems, they are the same,” said Solange. She believed that by coming together, the women leaders could share approaches, strategies and lessons learned that could improve their impact.

Solange shared her vision with other program participants, and, after full days of training, these determined leaders spent their evenings forming Réseau des Organisations des Femmes Leaders en Afrique Centrale (the Central African Network for Leaders of Women’s Organizations) or ROFLAC.

Applying advocacy and planning skills they learned during the day, in a matter of weeks they developed a global objective, a vision and a mission for the new network.

Workshop participants gathered after hours to organize and develop the ROFLAC network.

The network will be dedicated to improving women’s status in Central Africa, and advancing women's contribution to sustainable development and good governance. In the coming months they will develop a plan of action that will prioritize and address specific issues within their communities.

The network has identified the issue of maternal health as one of its first priorities. In Cameroon, one out of every 24 women will die due to complications of pregnancy and childbirth. In Chad, one out of 11 women will die of maternal causes.

The four-week Global Women in Management workshop that brought Solange and her new network members together is one of CEDPA's longest running programs. It advances leadership, project management, decision-making, business development, and proposal writing skills for women leading community change in developing countries.

The program design provides skill building and technical knowledge, as well as opportunities for exchange and learning among participants about the challenges they face and successful strategies to overcome barriers impeding women's progress.

To date, CEDPA has held 51 Global Women in Management workshops worldwide in countries including Brazil, Cameroon, Egypt, Mexico, Nigeria and the United States. Since 2005, the program has been sponsored by the ExxonMobil Foundation’s Women’s Economic Opportunity Initiative. Support from ExxonMobil has enabled over 276 women leaders from 36 different countries to participate in the management workshops.

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