AfDB discusses with ICRC on creating more impacts on fragile areas in Africa

The African Development Bank recently held talks with the International Committee of the Red Cross Vice-President Gilles Carbonnier at the Bank's headquarters in Abidjan on furthering their shared development goals.

The objective of the meeting was to discuss collaboration between the institutions and share the progress made since the signing of a Bank-ICRC memorandum of understanding to explore partnership opportunities.

The Bank- International Committee of the Red Cross collaboration centers on working in areas of fragility in Africa, with special emphasis on building resilience, particularly among women and girls. "It is mainly through operation and cooperation that we are going to learn exactly how best to work together to be more relevant, more impactful," Gilles Carbonnier said.

The meeting was also attended by the representatives from the African Development Bank's Gender, Women and Civil Society Complex, the Bank's Transitional States Coordination Office and the Bank's Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery Complex. The talks were facilitated by Catherine Cudré-Mauroux, Bank Executive Director for Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg and Portugal. The talks were facilitated by Catherine Cudré-Mauroux, Bank Executive Director for Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg and Portugal.

"There's a recognition that if you look at humanitarian work that might be in the same region year after year, you cannot deal with that, without some development element, which we can bring in. From our perspective, there are a lot of places in Africa where we want to be working on development impact," the Bank's Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development, Dr Jennifer Blanke said.

"We know that we reach higher returns when investing in women. Studies demonstrate that women reinvest most of their income (up to 90 percent) in providing a social safety net for their families, with a ripple effect on health, education, nutrition and youth empowerment. Investments today will yield tomorrow's returns," the Director for the Bank's Gender, Women and Civil Society Department, Vanessa Moungar said while highlighting other area of interest in vulnerable women in the Sahel Region and North Africa.