Romana

The Harambee prize for the promotion of the equality of African women was awarded on October 18 to the Nigerian economist Ezinne Ukagwu. Since 2002 she has directed the Iroto Center for Rural Development and has overseen the setting up of the Abidagba medical clinic. The prize was presented by the orchestra director Inma Sharo in a ceremony presided over by Her Royal Highness Doña Teresa de Borbón, Honorary President of Harambee, and by Juan Luis Rodríguez Fraile, President of Harambee España.

During the ceremony, celebrated in the Caixa Forum of Madrid, Ezinne said that Nigerian women “are very courageous and positive, capable of great effort. They play a key role in each family, which urgently requires the co-responsibility of the men, in order to work cooperatively, without antagonisms.”

Inma Shara said: “Harambee’s work with Africans is very effective, because the people themselves are involved in each project and are given the tools to take an active role themselves.” For her part, H.R.H. Doña Teresa de Borbón noted that Ezinne means “good mother” in the local dialect, and that “Ezinne has given honor to her name during her whole life, first with her sisters and brothers, later with her students, and now with the women of Ogun. Together with other Nigerians. she has carried out an immense work in favor of the education of the neediest women of this region in Nigeria.”