Presentation made by Sarah Lawan, Sahel and West Africa Club Secretariat (SWAC/OECD) at the SWAC Strategy and Policy Group (SPG) meeting on 19 June 2019 (OECD Conference Centre, Boulogne-Billancourt).

1. Sarah Lawan
Sahel and West Africa Club Secretariat
Women and Youth Working Group
A proposal of the Sahel and West Africa Club

2. Youthful population
Africa: Median ages
CIA Factbook, Simran Khosla/GlobalPost, 2014

3. Active women
OECD/SWAC (2019), Women and Trade Networks in West Africa, West African Studies, OECD
Publishing, Paris.

4. “In Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea, Mali and
Senegal, women represent, on average, 43% of the agricultural labour force
but only 8% of agricultural land owners.”
FAO, 2011
Bouchama, N., et al. (2018), "Gender Inequality in West African Social Institutions", West African
Papers, No. 13, OECD Publishing, Paris.

5. “Seven of the 20 countries with the highest rates of early marriage in the
world are found in West Africa (Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, Mali, Niger,
Nigeria and Sierra Leone), with rates reaching as high as 76% in Niger.”
Bouchama, N., et al. (2018), "Gender Inequality in West African Social Institutions", West African
Papers, No. 13, OECD Publishing, Paris.

6. “If women’s parliamentary representation in the region has increased from
13% in 2007 to almost 16% in 2017, wide discrepancies remain among
countries, ranging from 43% in Senegal to 6% in Nigeria.”
IPU, 2017
Bouchama, N., et al. (2018), "Gender Inequality in West African Social Institutions", West African
Papers, No. 13, OECD Publishing, Paris.

7. Sahelles

8. Connecting hyphen – from Maghreb to the coast (and beyond)
OECD/SWAC (2014), An Atlas of the Sahara-Sahel: Geography,
Economics and Security, West African Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris
AU/NEPAD (2019), Virtual PIDA Information Centre, Programme for
Infrastructure Development in Africa
PIDA Projects Dashboard

9. Outspoken diversity
OECD/SWAC (2009), Regional Atlas on West Africa, West African Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris.

10. Our goals:
Ensure better representativeness in SWAC strategic guidance
Improve SWAC gender and age overall sensitivity
Shape regional policies and contribute to global debates

11. Sahelles:
Openess and pragmatism…
… innovation and flexibility…
… to improve the well being of my sisters
and the next generation of West Africans

12. Thank you for your attention

13. Dr Leena Koni Hoffmann
Associate Fellow with the Chatham House Africa Programme and the Nigeria Country
Lead for the Programme’s Social Norms and Accountable Governance Project (SNAG)
Received her doctorate in African Studies from the University of
Birmingham, UK, MA in International Relations from the University of Lancaster, UK,
and BSc. in Sociology from the University of Jos, Nigeria
Research focuses on regional trade, gender and markets,
governance and security in West Africa

14. Halimatou Hima
Born and raised in Niger where she sent to Lycée Mariama before heading to the United
World College (NM) then Wellesley College for her undergraduate degree
Holds a Master in Public Policy (MPP) from Harvard Kennedy School where she
focused on Political Economy and Development
Currently conducts her doctoral studies at the University of Cambridge on
education, gender, and inequality and hopes to make a difference in the world of
research, policy, and in the lives of people