United Nations resident coordinator Rebecca Adda-Dontoh says women are key to the country’s economic development.

She said this in Mangochi on Thursday during the opening of the 2023 Institute of Chartered Accountants in Malawi (Icam) Professional Women’s Conference.

Adda-Dontoh: Malawi can easily attain its long-term development goals

Adda-Dontoh said with women constituting over half of the country’s population and in almost all the sectors of the economy, Malawi can easily attain its long-term development goals outlined in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Malawi 2063, the country’s long-term development plan.

She said: “Malawi has suffered four tropical cyclones in four years and that is devastating. And not just in Malawi, many countries are suffering because of the war in Ukraine, the Covid-19 pandemic and vulnerabilities to climate change.

“But SDGs and MW2063 are still achievable but we have to put a lot more in it and this includes everybody in academia, governments, civil society and women, especially because they are there in almost all the sectors.”

Icam president Moffat Ngalande said the conference seeks to empower women to achieve great heights, as women accountants are catalysts for economic development.

He said: “Women are critical to achieving MW2063 because they are at the helm of stewardship, and that is why we need to empower them to believe in themselves.”

Forum for Women Accountants president Akonda Sipuni-Yakobe said through the interaction at the conference, women shared insights on how to succeed at the workplace, which is mostly male-dominated.

This, she said, is in addition to societal responsibilities placed on women.

Gender equality and the empowerment of women is embedded within the

framework of MW2063, which is Malawi’s blueprint for development and SDG goal number 5.

Further, the country’s Constitution recognises gender equality as a principle of national policy and provides for the right to equality and non-discrimination, and the protection of the rights of women.

This framework is further consolidated by the Gender Equality Act which defines and enhances the mechanisms for ensuring gender equality and the empowerment of women.

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