WOMESA Kenya chapter elects new officials in Mombasa

Members of the Association of Women in Maritime Sector, East and Southern Africa witness their outgoing chairperson Tumaini Nyamoya (left middle) congratulate their newly elected Chairperson Fiona Mbandi (middle right) of Kenya Ports Authority during their 2019 elections in Mombasa on Wednesday.[Maarufu Mohamed, Standard]

The association of Women Managers in the Maritime Sector in Eastern and Southern Africa (WOMESA), Kenya chapter has a new team of officials.

WOMESA aims to advocate gender equity, improve women's access to maritime training and technology and promote their advancement to key decision making levels in the maritime sector in Eastern and Southern Africa.

During elections held at the Pride Inn Hotel, Mombasa, Ms Fiona Mbandi of Kenya Ports Authority was elected the new chairperson with Ms Joyce Awino assuming the position of Vice chairperson.

Kenya Ferry Services (KFS) Sarah Moritan is the new treasurer while Southern Engineering Company (Seco), Winnie Maina, a trained lawyer becomes the Secretary.

The post of marketing and communications officer was taken up by Ms Jacqueline Omayo.

In her acceptance speech, Ms Mbandi said that she was ready for the task ahead and would work to ensure that women in maritime get their right footing in the maritime sector.

''We shall ensure team work here and go full blast to give women a voice and reason to celebrate their wellbeing,'' she said.

Mombasa Port International Transport Federation (ITF) Ship Inspector, Ms Betty Makena lauded the incoming officials and urged them to focus more on safeguarding rights of women in maritime sector.

WOMESA was initiated by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and launched in December 2007, in Mombasa, Kenya, under IMO’s program on the Integration of Women in the Maritime Sector (IWMS).

The IWMS program's primary objective is to encourage IMO Member States to open the doors of their maritime institutes to enable women to train alongside men and so acquire the high-level of competence that the maritime industry demands.

In 2008, one year after its launch, WOMESA developed its first five-year strategic plan (2008 – 2013).

The strategic plan called for the formation of national chapters in each Member State in order to determine and prioritize the implementation of the identified programs. So far, five countries have launched their national chapters namely: Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa and the United Republic of Tanzania. Ethiopia is in the process of launching its chapter in the First Quarter of 2014.

With the foregoing, WOMESA, with IMO’s support, decided to mount a three-day workshop to review and develop a new five-year Strategic Plan (2014-2019) for the Association.

The objective of the workshop was to bring together WOMESA Governing Council Members, chairpersons from the different national chapters and IMO officials, to review the achievements made over the last five years and to develop a strategic plan that will guide the activities of the Association for the next five years.

A Consultant was commissioned by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to facilitate the Strategic Planning Workshop and systematically guide the workshop participants in the formulation of the five-year Strategic Plan (2014-2019).