By Melvin Tejan Mansaray
The President of ECOWAS Female Parliamentarians Association (ECOFEPA), Senator Dr. Chantal Moussokoura Fanny, Ivory Coast has said that access to money is a major barrier for women’s empowerment and participation in governance.
She was speaking in an exclusive interview with this Press on the sidelines of ECOFEPA Executive Masterclass Programme on the theme, ” Advancing Women’s Participation in Global Trade and Export Opportunities in the ECOWAS Region,” held on Thursday 7th May, 2026 at the ECOWAS Parliament, International Conference Center, Area 10 Abuja Nigeria.
On what has her leadership at the ECOFEPA been like, Sen. Chantal said it is evidential through her hard-working team and leadership.
“When you see with your eyes you will know how the leadership of ECOFEPA is result-driven and is taking it to a higher height. We have vibrant women in the current ECOFEPA Bureau,” Sen. Chantal said.
Asked about what inspired the very first ECOFEPA Executive Masterclass Programme, Sen. Chantal said:
“The inspiration is the vacuum of everyday. Every woman, politician or not need money. We have to earn money because nobody will give us money. We have to earn money. Without money what can we do?”
She noted that the Masterclass is aimed at dialogue among women for women in finding ways and means in helping each other to have the money to improve on our lives and participation in politics. This helps our sisters to go ahead,” she emphasized.
Sen. Chantal noted that not everybody can be a politician, “but we should all together be proud to be here and see that our words make impact not just for politics.”
She stressed the need for women to have money to drive their aspirations in all walks of life.
Sen. Chantal stressed that lack of money is a major barrier to women’s empowerment and participation.
Sen. Chantal said:
” Yes, lack of money is a very big barrier for women’s representation. Imagine Nigeria has only four women out of one hundred and nine senators. Another, out of two hundred MPs, they have only seventeen women and this is a wealthy country. There are other problems, but the main one is lack of money.”
She noted that many people are unwilling to invest and promote women financially noting that in Ivory Coast and elsewhere, women are highly educated but due to lack of money they are underrepresented.
“We should give the women strength and hope and faith in saying that whatever a man can do, women can do also,” she posited.
Asked about how she intend to cascade the Senegal experience of women’s empowerment in West Africa and encourage other legislatures to emulate them, Sen. Chantal said: ” In Africa, it is not just Senegal, we also have Rwanda and now we are talking about Sierra Leone and few other countries, but Senegal is the first French and West African country to champion this course. We’re going to work on it and this can’t be done in a single day. Even God built the world in six days and rested on the seventh day. We’ll try. This is not an event but a process for which we are asking for your prayers.”