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Promotion of girls in the specialized technical and vocational training sector in the Republic of Benin: ECOWAS offers scholarships for excellence
Cotonou, Benin, February 05, 2024. The ECOWAS Resident Representative in Benin, Ambassador Amadou DIONGUE, and Madame Véronique TOGNIFODE, Minister of Social Affairs and Microfinance of the Republic of Benin, presented cheques to the beneficiaries of ECOWAS scholarships for excellence in the Republic of Benin, as part of a program launched in 2010 by the ECOWAS Center for Gender Development (CCDG). The ceremony took place on February 05, 2024, in the meeting room of the National Microfinance Fund, in the presence of the Head of the ECOWAS National Office in Benin, executives from the various ministerial departments concerned, and the parents of the beneficiaries.
In all, sixty-two (62) cheques to the value of 300,000FCFA each were awarded to young girls from technical and vocational training establishments, selected according to well-defined criteria, in all twelve (12) departments of Benin.
The event was marked by speeches from the Director General of Social Affairs, the spokeswoman for the beneficiaries, the ECOWAS Resident Representative in Benin and the Minister of Social Affairs and Microfinance.
In his speech, Ambassador Amadou DIONGUE recalled the context of the initiation and reiterated the importance of the Organization’s focus on gender promotion. Finally, he congratulated the girls and encouraged them to work hard, to take up scientific subjects, to achieve excellence and to stay there, because, he said, this was the only way to truly combat gender disparities in education.
For her part, Madame Véronique TOGNIFODE, Minister of Social Affairs and Microfinance, expressed her gratitude to ECOWAS, through its Center for Gender Development (CCDG), which works tirelessly alongside the Government of Benin, supporting in particular its ministry for the empowerment of girls and women, through four (04) major programs, including the “Scholarships for excellence to deserving female learners of technical and vocational training”. In her view, by awarding excellence scholarships to deserving girls, ECOWAS is celebrating Benin’s female intelligentsia and helping to keep them in school and increase their enrolment rates, especially the most deserving girls in technical and vocational courses.
The spokeswoman for the recipients, while firmly promising to put the scholarships to good use in order to be counted among tomorrow’s elite, thanked ECOWAS and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Microfinance for this support, which will help them enormously to pursue their studies without difficulty.