Nouadhibou : International Women’s Day Celebrations Officially Kicked Off

The festivities commemorating the International Women’s Day were officially kicked off Monday in Nouadhibou by the Minister of Social Affairs, Children, and Family, Ms. Naha Haroun Cheikh Sidiya. The day is placed, this year, under the theme: “Women’s Leadership Towards Greater Equality of Opportunity To Counter COVID-19”. In her inaugural speech, the minister said that by choosing this theme, her department wanted to draw attention to the remarkable role women play in major crises such as that of COVID-19. She also listed some of the achievements of her department, especially in terms of women’s empowerment under the first phase of the Ewlewiyati program, a phase in which more than six hundred women’s cooperatives have benefited, through income-generating activities in all the wilayas of the country; a total number of six thousand poor women, two thousand women with disabilities and several hundred girls who have completed their higher education or vocational training studies. Previously, the mayor of Nouadhibou, Mr. El Ghaccem Ould Bellal, had congratulated the Mauritanian woman and detailed certain activities carried out or overseen by his municipality in support of women and children, through the municipal health center, schools, and kindergartens. The commemorative festivities of the day included the launch of a female solidarity caravan whose mission is to provide health services, distribute food products, and animate cultural events in the cities of Nouadhibou, Boulenouar, Chami, Nouamghar, M ‘ Haïjrat and N’Diagou. As part of the celebrations of the International Women’s Day, the Minister also inaugurated the Nouadhibou center for training and social promotion of twenty autistic children. The launching ceremony of the day was also marked by the distribution of ten prizes to the winning girls and help to twenty-one kindergartens, which host four hundred and sixteen children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Several commemorative ceremonies were organized in the other wilayas of the country to mark the event. They took place under the supervision of the walis and regional offices of the social affairs department.