The Harambee Award for the Promotion and Equality of African Women has been awarded this year to Dr. Ebele Okoye, pharmacist, who will receive her prize in Madrid this coming March 13th. Dr. Ebele Okoye is the creator of the AMAD -Women’s Board project (Http://womensboard.org.ng/), she is committed to fostering the development of the woman through education, vocational training and the strengthening of her spirit of service to the community in order to make her a citizen that can participate to the social progress of her country.

“The great inequalities -says Okoye- are not just between men and women but, above all, among a few rich people and a large majority of poor people “.

“In rural areas women are totally submissive” and because of this Okoye focuses on their training, so that they could be able to live better and be independent. The Nigerian doctor is also dedicated to teenage girls so that they won’t leave school and learn a trade.

Okoye is firmly convinced that Africa’s change is tightly connected to women’s development because they are those who transmit education, culture and tradition: “Educating a woman means to educate the whole family and, with families, all the Country “.

“Africa – she says – needs responsible leaders and the AMAD project is an excellent model because it not only offers seminars on leadership, but also faces social problems, in particular the fight against poverty. For example, the application of the AMAD program in the community of Iroto, an area of ​​the local government of Ijebu-Ode, in the state of Ogun, helped almost 4,000 women and children in the area“.