The Angolan Oil & Gas Service Companies Association (AECIPA) has unveiled its plans to make the empowerment of Youth a core focal point of the 2021 Angola Energy Series Programme, hosting a special focus day during the Angola Oil and Gas Service and Technology Conference (AOTC) in November
This will feature the involvement of many Angolan ministries, leading energy sector companies and organisations, major universities and special participation from global humanitarian charity, The HALO Trust and representatives of its 100 Women in Demining project.
The announcement comes following a hugely insightful webinar which took place 7 October entitled Empowering the Next Generation and featuring speakers from across the sector.
Through interactive speaker sessions, workshops, displays and special ‘come and live in my shoes’ style showcases, that will be delivered by a range of individuals working in the industry and other Angolan sectors, Day Three at AOTC will explore and support the notion that investment in the country’s youth is essential and pivotal to Angola’s long term growth and success.
The HALO Trust – a humanitarian organisation that has been saving lives and helping war-torn communities across the globe recover for over 30 years – will be demonstrating some of its work in Angola during the day. Women involved directly with its 100 Women in Demining project will be interacting with students and delegates to give their first-hand experiences of the work it does.
Programme manager of HALO Angola, Rob Syfret, explained, “Since 2017, The HALO Trust has run this unique project in Angola to train and employ all-female demining teams, combining women’s empowerment whilst clearing landmines and making land safe.”
Speaking of the challenges faced, he added, “Angola still has over 1,100 identified minefields, covering over 70 million sq m of land. The largest challenge to clearing mines is funding. Humanitarian NGOs like HALO work with both Government donors and companies to raise funds to clear mines. Bp has been the leading partner in this new era of companies making serious investments to help the communities of the countries where they work.”
“With the support of bp and their partners in blocks 18 and 31, the British government, ENI and World Without Mines, our allfemale teams will make a major contribution to clearing Benguela Province entirely of landmines while learning valuable skills and supporting their families. HALO needs help from the rest of the community in order to complete the job in the remaining contaminated provinces of Angola.”
Throughout the Angola Energy Series 2021, host AECIPA has explored many of the issues that are directly impacting the oil, gas and energy sectors today, often stagnating its growth as well as the importance of local content and the responsibility of companies to the country in which they operate. This has included webinars on gender diversity and the development of youth as part of a series of four free to attend sessions preceding the November conference.
For full details and registration information, visit www.angola-series.com
