Loredana Sinardo, BBA student at the University of St. Gallen interviews Bineta Diop, Founder and President of Femmes Africa Solidarité, a non-profit organization which promotes women’s rights in Africa. This interview took place at the St. Gallen Symposium, Switzerland.
St. Gallen, Switzerland
The ancient town of St. Gallen in Switzerland has been a centre of learning for centuries. And since 1969, the students at its university have organized an annual symposium bringing together leaders and thinkers of all ages from all over the world. This year, ideaXme joined them and some of the student organisers conducted a number of interviews for us.
The Connected World. Our Shared Responsibility
Here Loredana Sinardo and Bineta Diop talk of how seemingly localised issues often have a global impact. Should be think again when we distance ourselves from problems far away?
Biography of Mme Bineta Diop:
Bineta studied International Relations and Diplomacy. She has more than 35 years of experience in women human rights issues, led peace building initiatives, conducted teams to observe elections and facilitated women peace dialogue in Africa. Mme Diop has played key role in the adoption of many instruments and programmes for women in Africa. She is Founder and Chair of the Board, Femmes Africa Solidarité, an NGO created in 1996. Currently, Special Envoy of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission on Women, Peace and Security (WPS). Formerly: co-chaired the civil society advisory group to the UN on Security Council Resolution 1325 (WPS); Member, African Union Commission of Enquiry on South Sudan; served on many international executive and advisory boards, such as ICRC and Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue; co-chaired the 2014 World Economic Forum on Africa. Recipient of numerous awards, including: Knighted of the French Legion d’Honneur (2013); Jacques Chirac Foundation award (2013). Recognized as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, Time Magazine (2011). Doctor Honoris Causa, UN University for Peace, Costa Rica and Middlesex University in UK. Mme Bineta Diop also sits on the global board of The Hunger Project. Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS): FAS develop and implement programmes that fall in 4 main objectives: – Fostering, supporting and promoting women’s initiatives in the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts in Africa, and for the respect of their rights; – Strengthening women’s leadership capacity, including at the grassroots, to restore and maintain peace in their countries; – Engendering policies, structures, programmes and the peace process for the attainment of durable peace and human security in Africa; – Advocating at the national, regional and international levels for African women’s rights and concerns, and their critical role on issues of peace and security.
Bineta Diop and Loredana Sinardo ideaXme interview
This interview transcription has been edited to improve readability.
Equality in the Workplace
Loredana Sinardo, student, University of St. Gallen: [00:00:43] Hi, my name is Loredana Sinardo and I’m a student at University of St. Gallen. Today we’re here with Benita Drop for ideaXme. We are speaking from the St. Gallen Symposium, Switzerland, a conference to bring global leaders of today face to face with leaders of tomorrow and to discuss the world’s issues. One of the issues that concerns me is the inequality between men and women in the workplace. What is your opinion about this issue and the steps that could be taken to solve it and to bring the human story forward?
Bineta Diop, Founder and President Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS): [00:01:14] Let me just start by saying that I appreciate the fact that the St. Gallen Symposium showcases so many talented young people with such wide expertise.
On this subject of women in the workplace, when you look at some of the reporting going in the world. Interesting to note, for example, The World Economic Forum, reports that the gender gap will take 100 years before we achieve parity. So, that’s where we are right now. In my continent of Africa – it will take even longer, 150 years. But things are moving forward because everybody is recognizing that if we want growth, we need to have a society where women and men equally contribute. So, in the workplace we need to look at the human rights dimension and an important part of that is to make sure that women lead. We need to break the glass ceiling. In many boardrooms women are reaching the top, but it’s not enough. We have seen violence against women, especially during Covid. It happened in the workplace. It happened at home in the community, not just where I come from, but it was and is everywhere.
I think some of the objectives of policies that we are discussing today, the feminist foreign policy, for example, that engage men and women together focus on international relations. But it goes beyond international relations, that is country to country relations, to people in both the public and private sectors.
Bineta Diop, Founder and President Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS): [00:03:19] So to go back to policy on gender equality in the private sector, promotion of women within the workplace, providing them, as we say, with the support to scale operations, giving them all the tools that are necessary for them to be at the same level is important.
We do see them on many boards of organisations but here is room for improvement. As far as my personal experience is concerned. Right now, I’m on the board of The Hunger Project. We have men and women, but the majority of board members are now women on this project.
Bineta Diop, Founder and President Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS): [00:03:54] Many boards understand that if they want to respond to their clients’ needs, where their clients are made up of both men and women, they need to also make sure that they understand their clients’/customers’ agendas, wants, and needs. Feminists, women, add you might say, the human dimension, to reflect all of society.
Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS)
Loredana Sinardo, student, University of St. Gallen: [00:04:18] Thank you very much. You said, we have to promote and support women. You founded the Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS). Could you maybe tell us a bit about this project?
Bineta Diop, Founder and President Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS): [00:04:35] It’s a project that is more an incubator. We have created, for example, in Senegal, my country, a centre which is working with the University of Dakar on a master’s program. The focus of that programme is a subject very dear to my heart. It is gender, peace, and security. We need to create a critical mass of African young men and women on the issue of, preventing conflict and building peace. Our objective is to act now. So, we don’t wait until the last moment for young people have to be equipped with the skills to stop conflict.
Bineta Diop, Founder and President Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS): [00:05:13] So, one of the master’s programmes focuses on gender peace building, as mentioned created with the university in Senegal. Another one focuses on agriculture, and that’s why I’m on the board of The Hunger Project. It works with the community to encourage women at the community level to be involved in agriculture, in the whole value chain of agriculture. So, they are able to produce, transform and get access to the market.
Bineta Diop, Founder and President Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS): [00:05:55] Those are a few examples of what I am currently involved in. Since our foundation in 1996, FAS has been recognised across the world for our work. We have been recognized in Switzerland, in America and in Time Magazine.
Bineta Diop, Founder and President Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS): [00:06:17] We have been recognized for the work that we do in the area of peace building, in conflict resolution. We mediated with many leaders by helping to bring “women’s voices” into peace discussions. For example, in the Burundi process we worked with President Mandela. We worked with him as mediators.
Bineta Diop, Founder and President Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS): [00:06:38] We have worked in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) process in the East Congo. We continue to engage with the African Union on the Women Peace building program and with the Security Council on Women’s Peace and Security Agenda 1325. We do a lot!
Bineta Diop, Founder and President Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS): [00:06:55] We create networks. The last network we convened was Africa Women Leaders’ Network, supported by Germany. We collaborate with our partners to make sure that we create the system where women leaders, young women, have a major role but we involve the young men, because gender equality is a societal issue, is not just about women. It’s about men and women in the society when, you know, human rights of all are respected. So that’s what Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS) is about.
The Hunger Project
Loredana Sinardo, student, University of St. Gallen: [00:07:39] You also spoke about The Hunger Project. We’re here at the St. Gallen Symposium, Switzerland. If you could name some actions that countries such as Switzerland, first world countries, could contribute to fight hunger around the world, what would you name?
Bineta Diop, Founder and President Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS): [00:08:01] What I like about in The Hunger Project is they look at “hunger” within the system that brings about hunger. The link with poverty and women’s involvement or lack of it in the community. They encourage female and young people’s involvement in society to fight hunger.
Bineta Diop, Founder and President Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS): [00:08:35] Recently, I was with The Hunger Project in Mexico. We visited Chiapas and we went to the mountains, and we saw what the indigenous people, our project is doing on the ground, to empower women. Empowering the women in the community to be self-reliant.
We support and then we leave. Because at the end of the day we don’t continue the project forever. We give a certain time to each project, where we accompany them not just within the food security system, but the education system as well, because they need also to bring their children to school. In Mexico, for example, we supplied computers with one of our partners, to the young population of a mountain village to assist with their education. They were so excited!
Bineta Diop, Founder and President Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS): [00:09:38] We also help with supplying a health system, clinic for the women. Without it, they have long distances to travel to the main city. It’s the whole system that exacerbates hunger. So, The Hunger Project addresses the whole system.
Bineta Diop, Founder and President Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS): [00:09:57] Looking at Africa, when I visited, for example, one of the projects in Ethiopia, community members were encouraged to be become self-reliant. And the community themselves, the men and the women and the youth, independently work on agriculture. They own a lot of cows and have a cooperative system of financing. I feel very proud of our achievements there.
These solutions may be small but are scalable. We could transfer them to many other countries. And that’s why we are here in Switzerland today. We want help, to work with you on research and to receive financing. University research on those solutions that can be disseminated everywhere. Let students be involved in this process to understand the how! We have the practical application experience and want to share our knowledge.
Bineta Diop, Founder and President Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS): [00:11:07] There are many philanthropists in Switzerland. It is a humanitarian city. We want to emphasise to them and everyone, that the world is global. What affects me in Africa can affect everyone across the world. We have seen that with Covid. We are a global village, and we need to support one another. And that support is not just about money. It’s about how we build a better society, the infrastructure that we need to build together, the skills that can be provided to the young people, the curriculum that we can share at university and so on.
Our Connected World
Bineta Diop, Founder and President Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS): [00:11:52] We can contribute to the economic development of all sides. I have seen how the war in Ukraine has a global impact and how it is affecting us in Africa. So, what is happening in Africa, I’m sure also affects Europe. We need to make sure that we work together for prevention, especially to prevent the next disease, pandemic. We need to be prepared. We need to invest in human capital, and we need to invest in women and the youth.
Loredana Sinardo, student, University of St. Gallen: [00:12:38] I totally agree. Thank you very much.
Interview credit: Loredana Sinardo.
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