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Singer Hopes to Help Expand Financial Services for African Women

International music star Angelique Kidjo is the voice of a new project designed to help women across the African continent.

国际音乐明星安琪莉可·基德尤是一个帮助非洲大陆女性新项目的发言人。 

The project is partly aimed to change laws that block millions of women from wealth and property ownership.

该项目还有个目的就是改变那些阻止数百万妇女拥有财富和财产的法律。 

Kidjo spoke¹ about the project with The Associated Press, and described what she has seen over years of travel in Africa.

基德尤在接受美联社采访时谈到了这个项目，并描述了她多年来在非洲旅行的所见所闻。 

She said women throughout the marketplaces wished they had the money and tools to do more.

她说，市场上的女性希望她们有足够的钱和工具来做更多的事情。 

“Why do banks give more loans to men versus² women? That’s the question I have,” she said.

“为什么银行给男性的贷款比给女性的多？这就是我的问题，”她说。 

“Millions of women entrepreneurs in Africa, they lack loans versus the men.”

“非洲有数百万女性企业家。与男性相比，她们缺乏贷款。” 

Kidjo added, "And we know men pay less back than women."

基德尤补充说：“我们知道男人比女人还得少。” 

Next week, the artist will help the African Development Bank launch AFAWA, or Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa.

下周，这位艺术家将帮助非洲开发银行启动AFAWA，即非洲妇女融资平权行动。 

Already, the Group of Seven worlds leading economies has committed $250 million to the effort.

世界主要经济体组成的七国集团已经承诺为这项工作提供2.5亿美元。 

The African Development Bank is providing $1 billion, which will be deployed³ across all 54 African countries.

非洲开发银行将提供10亿美元，用于54个非洲国家。 

The goal is to raise $5 billion for efforts to guarantee loans, train women in finance and end some laws that can be barriers to getting credit.

该计划的目标是筹集50亿美元，用于担保贷款、培训女性金融从业者，以及废除一些可能成为获得信贷障碍的法律。

African women face a $42-billion financing imbalance with men.

非洲女性面临420亿美元的男女融资不平衡。 

In some countries, women are barred from opening bank accounts without approval from their husbands or fathers.

在一些国家，未经丈夫或父亲批准，妇女不得开立银行账户。 

Similarly, inheritance laws in parts of the continent often leave women with very little or even nothing.

同样，非洲大陆部分地区的继承法也常常使妇女几乎一无所有。 

But reforms are in progress.

但改革仍在进行中。 

In 2018, a World Bank report said 32 percent of reforms in sub-Saharan African countries dealt with equal treatment for women and men in financial services.

2018年，世界银行的一份报告称，在撒哈拉以南的非洲国家中，32%的改革涉及金融服务中的男女平等待遇。

Angola, Congo and Zambia joined other countries in banning sex-based credit discrimination, the report said.

报告称，安哥拉、刚果和赞比亚也加入了这个行列，禁止基于性别的信贷歧视。 

With the new fund for financing African women “we will be able to go as low as a few hundred dollars’ loan for people who need it the most,” said Vanessa Moungar, an African Development Bank official.

非洲开发银行官员凡妮莎·蒙加说，有了这个为非洲妇女提供资金的新基金，“我们将能够为最需要帮助的人提供最低几百美元的贷款。”

The AFAWA is set to launch this month in Rwanda at the Global Gender⁴ Summit.

AFAWA将于本月在卢旺达全球性别峰会上启动。 

The conference gathers representatives from development banks around the world.

会议聚集了来自世界各地开发银行的代表。 

When Rwanda changed its own laws to give women access to land, their inclusion in financial services and products went from 36 percent to 63 percent in just four years, Moungar said.

蒙加说，当卢旺达修改了自己的法律，允许妇女获得土地时，她们在金融服务和产品中的比例在短短4年内从36%上升到63%。

"I want all the women out there to know whats really driving us and our hearts, Moungar said.

她说：“我想让所有的女性都知道，是什么在驱动着我们和我们的心。” 

We are working for them and nothing else."

“我们做的一切都是为了自己，为了忠于自己的内心。”