Safety and support for women as workers, wives and mothers must be elevated so their potential can be fully utilised, said Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Nazmi bin Haji Mohamad in a message for International Women’s Day 2024.
The minister said the research project on women’s development in the country which began in 2023 has been completed and “confirms the good development of women in the country”.
He said the outcome of this research will be used to develop the National Plan of Action on Women this year.
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
The minister said several events have been planned in conjunction with the 11th International Women’s Day celebration this year.
This includes a religious/thanksgiving ceremony at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam Mosque and a Asia Inc Forum with the theme ‘Investment for Women: Accelerating National Development’ hosted by Brunei Fertilizer Industries Sdn Bdh.
The minister said investment in women’s entrepreneurship has been identified as one of the contributors to socio-economic development.
“Therefore, several support and development programmes for women’s entrepreneurship have been implemented by relevant agencies, such as The BIBD SEED programme launched by Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam in 2018 in collaboration with the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.
“This entrepreneurship development programme is aimed at empowering mothers from underprivileged backgrounds. This programme won a ‘3G Women Empowerment Programme’ award at the 4th Global Good Governance Awards in 2019.”
Other initatives include the ‘eBunda’ initiative by Dynamik Technologies which provides a business and the Women InnovateHer Workshop 2024 organised by the Brunei Intellectual Property Office (BruIPO) in collaboration with Darussalam Enterprise (DARe), aimed at giving exposure to local women inventors, designers and entrepreneurs about various types of intellectual property (including patents, trademarks, industrial designs, copyrights) as well as explaining the importance of protecting intellectual property in their respective businesses.
“Investing in women’s advancement can catalyse societal progress, economic growth as well as inclusive and sustainable development. Let us take advantage of the opportunities that can be derived from collaboration, innovation and advocacy for women’s development to build a brighter future and progress for generations to come.”
