The initiative
The regional initiative for Sub-Saharan Africa Women's Empowerment and the Demographic Dividend (SWEDD+) aims to build stronger, more united communities, and improve the quality of life for all by increasing the participation and leadership of women and girls.
The program began in 2015 as SWEDD—the Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend project. SWEDD was created as a concerted response to a call for action from Heads of State of the Sahel to address the region’s demographic challenges, including limited economic autonomy for women, low literacy rates, high school dropout among girls, early marriage and pregnancy, and the prevalence of female genital mutilation (FGM).
SWEDD+ builds on this foundation and is currently active in Burkina Faso, Chad, The Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, and Togo. During the previous decade, when the program operated under the name SWEDD, participating countries also included Benin, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, and Niger.
Transforming sub-Saharan Africa through the empowerment of women and girls
The SWEDD+ project aims to reduce gender inequalities in sub-Saharan Africa, accelerate the demographic transition (bringing high mortality and fertility rates down) and to reap the demographic dividend, i.e. to take advantage of the potential for economic growth that can result from involving the entire working-age population, mainly women.
The project focuses on strengthening human capital and promoting better learning outcomes for girls, reducing child marriage, reducing early pregnancy and increasing women's incomes and financial autonomy. The project mainly targets vulnerable adolescent girls aged 10 to 19 and aims to improve their level of empowerment, education and access to quality reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and nutritional health services (RMNCNH).
SWEDD focuses on the following themes:
- Improving life skills and health awareness among adolescents, and increasing their access to health services.
- Keeping girls in school.
- Broadening economic prospects by encouraging girls and women to take up higher-paying jobs.
- Creating an environment conducive to the social and economic empowerment of girls and young women and the elimination of gender-based violence.
The goal is to enable women and girls to fully exercise their autonomy and make informed decisions that contribute to the sustainable development of their communities. Within the SWEDD+ program, empowerment is defined as the ability of women and girls to realize their full potential and contribute meaningfully to the well-being of their households and societies, based on shared values of respect, responsibility, and equal opportunities.
SWEDD+ is the result of a strategic partnership among the World Bank, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), and the participating countries. The program builds on the experience of the 12 countries that have implemented it to date, promoting a coordinated regional approach and sustainable actions in West and Central Africa.
