In her opening speech, Song Wenyan gave her warm congratulation to the opening of the Mofcom Foreign Aid Degree Program on behalf of ACWF. She analyzed from a strategic perspective about the significance of popularizing quality education and promoting gender equality by Mofcom Foreign Aid Degree Program. She then introduced the background and goal of the Program, and hoped that every student could enhance their ability of applying theory and method into practice, and better understanding the China’s practices and experiences of promoting women’s development. She further expressed her hope that the students could promote their leadership of participating in social development and therefore contributing to gender equality and women’s development in respective countries.

Vice president Liu Meng gave a warm welcome to the 26 students from 17 countries on behalf of CWU, and expressed sincere thanks to ACWF. Then she introduced the history, mission and orientation of CWU, as well as the university’s achievements and positive social acknowledgement, especially the contributions in the field of promoting gender equality and the development of women and children. She introduced the background of the program, the high attention the university paid to the program, as well as the full preparation for the program. She hoped that the students could take advantage of the opportunity to study as well as learning about China’s national conditions, especially in the women’s development situations in China.

Ms. Joyce Wanogza Chione, representative of female officials from the developing countries, expressed her thanks to Chinese government for offering them the government scholarship, which made their dream of studying and living in China come true. They felt like home when they first arrived in China for this program. The status of women in their countries were mostly marginalized, therefore, it is very happy for them to study for their master degree in a university like CWU, which had the tradition of cultivating women leaders. They hope that they could bring the knowledge they would learn in China to their home countries to promote gender equality there.

Since 2016, CWU started enrolling oversea students to study in the Mofcom Foreign Aid Degree Program “Master of Social Work (Female leadership and social development)”among female officials in developing countries. This is the only program of Ministry of Commerce that aims at gender equality and women empowerment. This would help further emphasize CWU’s actual function of serving for China’s diplomacy and promoting women’s development and gender equality. 2017 Mofcom Foreign Aid Degree Program students were selected by Ministry of Commerce, Chinese embassies abroad and CWU, in governments and academic organizations of Asian, African and Latin American countries. In the end, 26 students from 17 countries of Algeria, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Botswana, Burundi, Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, Lesotho, Laos, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, south Sudan, Nigeria, Zanzibar, Uganda and so on were accepted by the program.