Africa-Press – Angola. The Vice-President of the Republic, Esperança da Costa, yesterday appealed to women in the province of Bengo to continue to fight against all forms of discrimination, with greater attention and total commitment in combating school dropout to which many girls and young women are subject.
During a consultation meeting with several women’s associations, as part of the working visit to Bengo, the minister added that the fight is only possible with women’s commitment to Education.
For the Vice-President of the Republic, Education is a fundamental pillar for socio-economic development, although she recognizes that school dropout is still a major scourge, and that the Executive, through the Ministry of Education, is implementing a program to support learning.
Esperança da Costa considers it important to support the empowerment of young girls, both in improving Education, with better access, and in Health and greater qualifications, capable of ensuring skills for insertion in the job market.
“We often see all these actions fall apart, because young women are unable to continue their studies, due to harmful practices that lead them to withdraw from school and neglect the importance of Education”, lamented the governor.
According to the Vice-President of the Republic, such practices prevent young women from dreaming and achieving other perspectives in life and contributing to the country’s socio-economic development.
With this effort, the Executive hopes to ensure that around 13 thousand girls are included in the PAT Program and believes that it is possible for them not to drop out of school, through awareness campaigns on the importance of Education and sexual and reproductive education.
“Sometimes they are forced to marry early and others, due to ignorance, end up having and contracting early pregnancies. All of this has a negative impact on their progress in education. Let us, hand in hand, work together to prevent this evil, this harmful practice from spreading and to combat it. Only then will we be able to empower our young girls, so that they have the opportunities we had and became who we are today,” appealed Esperança da Costa.
Child protection
In the context of child protection, the Vice-President of the Republic asked women to be vigilant and report aggression or violence against minors that prevents them from developing.
According to the Vice-President of the Republic, together with the women present at the meeting, she highlighted the need for more sensitivity towards children, in order to offer support, daily assistance, affection and love that they need, aiming to stop the practices of aggression, especially, of witchcraft.
“We must identify and combat all perpetrators who cause these harms to children”, encouraged the minister, before highlighting the existence of other challenges for the Executive so that Bengo’s potential from an agricultural point of view translates into the development of the province.
Rural woman
Continuing to support rural women in agriculture and providing the necessary inputs to transform food systems to guarantee nutritional and food security for the population, in addition to combating poverty and hunger, were other promises made by the Vice President of the Republic.
“The governor of the province has already presented the memorandum and highlighted many issues that we must now address and identify mechanisms for implementing programs in favor of families and women in Bengo,” reinforced Esperança da Costa.
The governor wished the women of Bengo a prosperous life, as they play a leading role in managing families, as well as making a great contribution to the harmony of communities, without taking away the participation of partners.
“Man has to be by our side every day and woman allows and recognizes that progress is also the result of men’s participation”, he indicated and stressing: “Together, we will achieve a better future for all”.
Solidarity
On the occasion, Esperança da Costa became aware of the current socio-economic situation in Bengo, taking the opportunity to express “deep feelings of solidarity with the more than 46 thousand families in situations of vulnerability and risk, in the face of rains and extreme weather events that devastated the province.”
“Due to this situation, we want to express our engagement and commitment to identifying solutions so that it can be mitigated and does not result in situations of high risk to public health and human lives”, assured the Vice-President of the Republic.
After listening to the representatives of the different women’s associations, Esperança da Costa said that she took “good note” of the Bengo woman’s performance and those who continue to be the concerns. “We will, without a doubt, within the scope of the intervention of the various sectors, give the best treatment”, highlighted the government official.
At the consultation meeting, Esperança da Costa said that women in the province, organized in associations of the Police, Education and civil society, presented situations that demonstrated their determination, engagement and commitment to do everything they could to develop activities and responsibilities.
Associations
The women, representatives of the women’s associations of the National Police, Education and civil society exposed the problems and difficulties in the work areas.
The Angolan Women’s Association and Network, under the Ministry of the Interior, called for the construction of more police stations and stations in order to improve working conditions, access to housing and transport to facilitate, mainly, women.
The Education representative, Fina Camilo, called for the creation of educational policies that allow women the same opportunity to access new technologies, in addition to mechanized support in agriculture.
On the first day of her visit to Bengo, the Vice-President of the Republic held a meeting with governor Maria Antónia Nelumba, who reviewed the current socio-economic situation of the province, from Education, Health, Technical-Vocational Education, Higher Education, Water and others, which require the attention of the Central Government.
Esperança da Costa informed about the situation in the province
The concerns of the province of Bengo in different areas were presented yesterday to the Vice-President of the Republic, Esperança da Costa, during a courtesy meeting at the headquarters of the Provincial Government.
During the meeting, Governor Maria Nelumba explained that Bengo suffered a negative impact from the rains, so it is urgent to proceed with the dredging of the Dande River, as well as maintenance and protection to prevent flooding of the areas bordering the National Road-100.
The governor of Bengo also spoke about the opening of the Mabubas Dam floodgates, which normally “results from the river overflowing”, as happened during the rainy season between November 2023 and February 2024.
Maria Nelumba presented actions to respond to the consequences of the rain that in the municipality of Dande alone affected more than 90 thousand people.
Among the topics most discussed at the meeting, the governor of Bengo highlighted the electrification of rural areas, with the launch of the Dembos Triangle Project, construction of new distribution networks and rehabilitation of water collection, treatment and distribution stations, creation of technical and specialized training centers in light of the emergence of the Free Zone.
In the Education sector, Maria Nelumba reported that Bengo has 313 schools, both public and private, with more than five thousand professionals, teachers and administrators.
In this part of the national territory, around 160 thousand children are outside the Normal Education System and there is a significant shortage of teachers. The province of Bengo has a Technical Health Institute and a School of Special Education.
At the level of Higher Education, Bengo has three units with 65 teachers and more than two thousand students. The Vice-President of the Republic also took note of the level of implementation of the programs to combat poverty.
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