Taiwan, US, Eswatini stage GCTF workshop on women’s economic empowerment

A workshop promoting women’s economic empowerment was held under the Taiwan-U.S. Global Cooperation and Training Framework (GCTF) on March 6th in the Kingdom of Eswatini to mark International Women’s Day.

Themed “Women Empowerment: Autonomy and Economic Sustainability,” the event was jointly organized by the Taiwan and U.S. embassies in Eswatini, the Eswatini Deputy Prime Minister’s Office, U.N. Eswatini and the EU Delegation to Eswatini, around 300 guests participated.

Taiwan Amb. Jeremy Liang and Eswatini Deputy PM Thulisile Dladla gave opening remarks, while speakers such as Zanele Kunene, senior policy and program analyst of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), outlined the progress of various programs in the African country. Local beneficiaries of Taiwan-Eswatini cooperative projects also set up booths at the venue to showcase their achievements.

The event is the second of its kind staged in the African ally under the GCTF’s auspices since December 2021 and underscored the two sides’ commitment to enhancing women’s welfare. Since its launch in June 2015 by Taiwan and the U.S., with Japan and Australia joining later, the GCTF has become a critical platform for discussing solutions to global issues.

The GCTF International Austronesian Languages Revitalization Forum held in Palau in September 2019 was the first GCTF event to take place outside of Taiwan, while the first GCTF-affiliated workshop was held in the Czech Republic in September 2021. The expansion has solidified the initiative’s role in facilitating experience sharing and capacity-building efforts among like-minded partners.