A visit and exchange mission took place on the 20th and 21st of February between the commissioners responsible for human development of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), ITUC-Africa, the General Secretary of OTUWA (Organization of Trade Unions of West Africa ) took place on the 20th and 21st of February at the WAEMU headquarters in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
This meeting was part of the process of strengthening the representativity of trade unions in sub-regional, regional and international institutions.
This meeting made it possible on the one hand to follow up the CSI-Africa- WAEMU roadmap set up since 2014, which focused on the extension of the health insurance coverage and the implementation of Social protection policies at national level. It has also promoted mechanisms to strengthen collaboration between ITUC Africa, OTAO and WAEMU. At the end of the various exchanges, three axes of synergies and common action between these three organizations have been identified on the gender issue. Those axes are the support of the WAEMU states in the mainstreaming of a gender perspective; Gender mainstreaming in the WAEMU technical unit; the promotion and support of women entrepreneurs and the fight against female circumcision.
ITUC-Africa and OTUWA were also invited to participate in the drawing-up of terms of reference for the next meeting of the WAEMU Commission on Social Dialogue scheduled for next April.
The Program Coordinator took advantage of her visit to Burkina Faso to strengthen the capacity of 20 members of the network for women trade unionists from Burkina Faso.
These women from the four trade union organizations of Burkina Faso that are affiliated to ITUC Africa were trained on the Charter of the network of women trade unionists of West Africa. The network will be launched officially in the coming days.
