Podcasts

Back

Trade, Women, and Inclusive Growth: Empowering African Women Through Regional Integration

25
March 2026
By Oumayma Bourhriba & Luladay Berhanu Mengistie

This episode, part of the Leadership Talks, explores the role of trade and regional integration in advancing women’s economic empowerment in Africa. Drawing on insights from a trade advisor involved in AfCFTA implementation, the discussion highlights key barriers faced by women entrepreneurs, including access to finance, information, and formal markets. The conversation emphasizes that inclusive trade policies and women’s participation in decision-making are central to sustainable and resilient economic growth across the continent.

RELATED CONTENT

  • Authors
    May 31, 2018
    Salutations Thank you for the invitation to address the 2018 Africa Think Tank Summit  in this memorable city of Rabat. I thank in particular, the OCP Policy Center and the Think Tank and Civil Societies Program of the University of Pennsylvania for hosting the Summit with the theme “Deepening Expertise and Enhancing Sustainability: Insight into Contemporary Challenges Facing African Think Tanks”. Rabat, Morocco has been the sprouting ground of numerous agenda-setti ...
  • Authors
    Sabine Cessou
    May 31, 2018
    What are the best ways forward to enhance the capacity, increase the impact, and ensure the long term viability of think tanks in Africa? These questions have been debated during the 2nd edition of African Think Tank Summit (ATTS) held in Rabat from May 9th to May 11th.  The African think tanks have positively evolved over the years in order to respond to the specific needs of their different countries. They operate as platforms to share knowledge and train young leaders, with ...
  • April 18, 2018
    The recently signed African Continental Free Trade Agreement represents a countercurrent to protectionist tendencies across the Atlantic and the Pacific, and may well move the economic integration of the African continent forward. Translating the vision into action, however, will call upon signatories to undertake deeper domestic reforms and to confront specific challenges related to the agreement itself. This brief explains why the agreement is important for Africa and identifies p ...
  • Authors
    Mouhamadou Moustapha Ly
    March 28, 2018
    Ce mardi 21 Mars 2018, quarante-quatre chefs d’Etat et de gouvernement réunis à Kigali (Rwanda) signaient l’accord de création de la zone de libre échange continentale (Continental Free Trade Area, CFTA). Cet accord historique marque la volonté des Etats africains d’aller vers la mise en place à l’échelle du continent d’un marché commun où les échanges de biens et de services seraient libres et la circulation des capitaux et des personnes sans contraintes. Tels que précisés dans la ...
  • Authors
    Fernando S. PEROBELLI
    Flãvio V. VIEIRA
    Vinicius A. VALE
    January 26, 2018
    Brazil and Morocco have been engaged in different forms of trade negotiations and committed to liberalize their trade, as they have concluded several bilateral and multilateral trade agreements whether within the WTO or in specific framework. This paper analyzes different facets of trade relations between Brazil and Morocco and assesses the potential for deeper trade integration between these two key players in the southern Atlantic. Trade flows between Brazil and Morocco have been ...
  • Authors
    November 27, 2017
    Current technological developments in manufacturing are likely to lead to a partial reversal of the wave of fragmentation and global value chains that was at the core of the rise of North-South trade from 1990 onwards. At the same time, China – the main hub of the global-growth-cum-structural-change of that period - may attempt to extend the previous wave through its “One Belt, One Road” initiative. ...
  • Authors
    Dina N. Elshahawany
    Michael L. Lahr
    September 18, 2017
    This paper focuses on a proposed development corridor in Egypt, a main component of which is a desert-based expansion of the current highway network. The main beneficial features of this proposed transport investment are travel time reductions and improved accessibility. We use a spatial computable general equilibrium (SCGE) model to estimate the economic impacts of changes in transportation costs from this new roadway. To effect this, we integrate the model with a stylized geo-code ...
  • June 21, 2017
    Ce podcast est présenté par Moubarack Lo. Il y analyse l’apport de l’adhésion marocaine à la CEDEAO suite à l’accord de principe donné par ses membres au 51e sommet de Monrovia le 4 juin ...
  • Authors
    February 1, 2017
    L’analyse des relations commerciales entre le Maroc et l’Afrique subsaharienne fait ressortir un volume des échanges croissants, reflétant ainsi une dynamisation continue des leurs relations commerciales. Une tendance similaire est observée au niveau des investissements directs étrangers, qui ne cessent de croître au cours des dernières années, traduisant la volonté du Maroc à devenir un acteur majeur dans le développement du continent africain. Ce Policy Brief présente dans un prem ...
  • Authors
    Thomas Awazu Pereira da Silva
    January 2, 2017
    This year, under the patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, the OCP Policy Center (OCPPC) - in collaboration with the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMFUS) - hosted and organized the fifth Atlantic Dialogues, gathering over 300 high-level international public- and private-sector leaders from the Atlantic Basin to discuss cross-regional issues ranging from economic and social development, security and trade, to migration, resources, and energy. This year’s e ...