The ECOWAS Centre for Gender Development (EGDC), in partnership with the GIZ EAT project, has conducted financial education training for women involved in processing and trading cross-border agricultural products in Côte d’Ivoire. The initiative took place from December 1 to 5, 2025, in Abidjan.
The program aimed to improve basic financial literacy and business management skills among women traders. It also addressed topics such as loans, repayments, and insurance options. Organizers stated that the goal was to help meet ECOWAS’s strategic objectives of creating a more integrated economic region and fostering inclusion of women, children, and young people.
Women cross-border traders from Côte d’Ivoire participated in the training. At the end of the course, tricycles were presented to these entrepreneurs to support hygienic and clean transport of foodstuffs across borders.
The closing ceremony included representatives from several organizations: “the President of the Abidjan Chamber of Commerce, the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Food Crops, the Ministry of Women, Family and Children, the Resident Director of GIZ in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire and the representative of the Director of the ECOWAS Centre for Gender Development” attended.