The U.S. Chargé d’Affaires, Andrew Young, helped open a roundtable of five dozen technical and financial partners on November 26 to implement activities to enhance women’s equal participation in the peace-building process, provide relief and recovery services to survivors of gender-based violence, and advocate for equitable access to humanitarian assistance. The Chargé reaffirmed the United States Government’s commitment to support the Association for the Advancement of Women and Children in Mali (APROFEM) through a grant of over 100 million CFA. The program is implementing public awareness campaigns about women’s rights, and leadership and peace building training workshops; accountability and responsiveness training for elected women in parliament; studies on the barriers to girls’ and women’s access to humanitarian assistance; and installation of a resource center in the northern gateway town of Mopti, to disseminate information on economic opportunities for local citizens. The project will also target 5,000 beneficiaries including 3,400 women and 1,600 men in Mopti, to accelerate support for women as key enablers of peace, security, stability, and development.