FEMNET | African Feminist Post-COVID-19 Economic Recovery Statement

African Feminist Post-COVID-19 Economic Recovery Statement

By FEMNET
07 Jul 2020

Dear Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Dr. Donald Kaberuka, Mr. Tidjane Thiam, Mr. Trevor Manuel and Mr. Benkhalfa Abderrahmane,

We write this letter to you in your capacities as the Special Envoys that the African Union has mandated to mobilize international support to address the coronavirus pandemic in Africa. We are a constellation of African feminists who are steeped in pan-African visions for a liberated Africa. These visions enable us to dare to believe that there are ample solutions and resources to the many pandemics that our continent faces. We are part of various communities, formations, sectors and disciplines including law, feminist organizing, fund mobilization, economics, land and agrarian rights, health, cultural production, development studies, food sovereignty, tax justice, ecological work inter alia.

We need solutions and COVID-19 has provided us with an opportunity to re-imagine African political economies. This moment requires a pan-African response that creates an enabling environment for people and movement led economic work, including but not limited to cooperative and solidarity economics, to be given the support and space to flourish. COVID-19 needs to be a turn-around point from orthodox laissez-faire models and overly financialized states. This crisis is an opportunity to dislodge structural inequality and re-frame the political economy which contributed to this tipping point. We have been actively working on, producing data and building ground up movements since structural adjustment. Most of us – like yourself – lived through Structural Adjustment Programs and the hollowed states that remained. The financial crisis of 2008 was an acute rupture of globalization and a reminder that unfettered markets cannot be the primary arbiter of wealth and economic distribution. Our states in all their imperfection are the tangible entities where we reside, produce, consume and eventually will be laid to rest.

The credit crisis was enormous and pervasive, and it altered our world in ways we are still realizing. Sadly though, any crisis can seem banal and even invisible. People adapt and come to accept the changes wrought by crisis. This cannot be the case here. The resilience of market logic has taken hold and flattened markets to the extent that economic orthodoxy and neo-liberal forms of production are viewed not just as coincidences of globalization but rather the natural order of our universe. COVID-19 has flattened that universe and we have the chance to reframe state capacities and the draconian measures that they often use to enforce social order in a fragile time.

Initiatives like the African Charter for Popular Participation for Development, the UN New Agenda for Development of Africa vision 2020, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) have not yielded substantive dividends. If the sum total of all these previous initiatives has brought us to this moment, we need to rethink our options. We need a deeper re-orientation of African development which goes beyond COVID-19.

As Africa now moves towards raising increased financial support in response to the impacts of the pandemic, the weaknesses of dominant policy templates and development financing models must no longer compromise the autonomy of African states to effectively deliver the mandate of Africa’s people. African “growth” over the last twenty years has been accompanied by pervasive unemployment, whilst wealth and inequality gaps are now at their highest levels. Decades of reduced public spending has left millions without access to basic services such as healthcare, whilst the movement towards privatising those services and resources (including water and energy) further compromises equitable access as a result of basic services being commodified and subject to market rules and shareholder needs. Meanwhile, the tunnel visioned policy focus on industrial and export-orientated agriculture has failed to deliver food security for Africa. Additionally, the lack of investment in localised food systems that center food sovereignty has had detrimental impacts on African biodiversity and climate resilience.

The gender dimensions of prevailing policy models are still not fully acknowledged or considered, including how those models deepen women’s economic inequality by exploiting their labour inside and outside the home; invisible, poorly paid, unpaid, and insecure. As COVID-19 continues to move across the continent, the absence of social safety nets needed by women due to their greater fiscal precarity in the face of economic shocks has exposed the failures of a development trajectory currently prioritizing productivity for growth over the wellbeing of African people. Indeed COVID-19 has made evident what feminists have long emphasized: that the profits made in economies and markets are subsidized by women’s unpaid care and domestic work–an essential service that even the current pandemic has failed to acknowledge and address in policy.

We have history on our shoulders which requires us to reflect strongly and honestly about the repercussions of continuing on this dogmatic debt track. We are soliciting funds while Africa has a net capital outflow of money. What posterity does this offer future generations? We are concerned about the forms and sources of finance and the accompanying conditionalities. In past generations these have increased our burden of unpaid work on African women. We have the feminist hope and expectations that your plans for this continent are in alignment with a progressive, forward looking vision. COVID-19 has shown us where our structural weaknesses are and history has shown us that old ways are not working.

We call on you to ensure that you create an open, inclusive and transparent process to shape how you undertake the work and interpret what your efforts at mobilizing support produces. This process needs to move beyond just including ‘expert economists’ to also include groups which have been thus far marginalized by the current economic model. In light of this, we would like to begin a conversation with you. We want to hear your thoughts and vision for African countries, African economies, resource mobilization and African peoples beyond COVID-19. We would like an audience with you to discuss this further, including through a webinar. There are more crises coming our way and we want to support co-creative futures thinking. Below is a set of recommendations we want to put forward as the first step in our engagement.

Recommendations

Acknowledge that all African constitutions guarantee the fundamental right to equality – and that this needs to underpin the vision and direction of any policy including economic and social policy around COVID-19 response and recovery. This necessarily means policy interventions and budgetary allocations that seek to reinforce rights for those most marginalized by current policies and thus more heavily affected by COVID-19 impacts including women broadly but also intersecting axes of structural marginalization including economic status/class, disability, HIV status, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Localized food supply chains should be bolstered with monetary and resource support going directly to support small-holder farmers across Africa, the guardians of biodiversity, Indigenous seed, and land. Ministries of Agriculture across the continent should collaborate with the economic, climate, and food sovereignty movements across Africa to divest from industrialized agriculture and to support the implementation of agroecology, including the right of farmers to to save and share seed, in communal, national, regional and pan-African spaces. Additionally, the colonial legacy of resource extraction from Africa through export facing trade practices needs to be upended. In terms of food the insistence on monocropping for the export market has decreased the diversity of crops necessary for a balanced and nutritional diet in our own communities and has displaced Africans from their lands by giving millions of hectares of land to private enterprises by incentivizing the implementation of corporate-backed initiatives. This is despite the fact that it is small-holder and subsistence farmers across Africa who feed the majority of people in Africa and not corporations.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has demonstrated the clear link between health and environment. Thus, maintaining the integrity of Africa’s ecosystem while enabling communities to derive livelihoods and benefit from natural resources should be part of any economic recovery plan. Rather than focus on market based interventions to conservation, African governments need to prioritize conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity for the benefit of communities who are custodians of the resources and whose livelihoods are directly dependent on natural resources.

The role of the State has been consistently hollowed out since the introduction of structural adjustment programmes and requires reinvigoration, through the direct participation of African peoples charting the way, to be the guarantor of rights, and arbiter of socio-economic distribution and equitable access to social infrastructure. This necessitates the decommodification of, and institution of, basic universal access to land, water, food, healthcare, education, housing, sanitation, electricity and information technologies. Public-Private Partnerships have dangerously obscured the role of states and created undemocratic hierarchies of access resulting from user fees. Access to energy, education, transport and healthcare for example facilitate the social reproduction and survival of unemployed, working class and agrarian households in the absence of adequate state provisioning.

According to the ILO, “informal employment is the main source of employment in Africa, accounting for 85.8 per cent of all employment” with “almost all of the agricultural sector in Africa [being] informal [at] 97.9 per cent”. The informal economy, or rather the popular or horizon economy, is the engine of African markets. States must use this opportunity to re-orientate economic models and protections to recognise that African economies are predicated on this invisibilized work. This economy is treated as ‘adjacent’ or ‘informal’ primarily because it is largely driven by the labour of women. Measures like GDP and GNP are ineffective measures of the enterprise that occurs in this sector. Accordingly, all workers must be guaranteed a dignified wage, safety protections in their work space, and paid sick leave.

No turnaround in Africa’s socio-economic fortunes will happen without recognizing the economic, social, political and cultural value of the care economy–where the provisioning of care goods and services to households and the economy is predominantly through women’s invisibilized, unpaid and domestic labour, but also in many forms of popular/horizon sector, migrant and public sector jobs that are precarious, badly paid and without labour protections. Governments have increased the burden on women by increasing reproductive care and domestic work, because they have consistently withdrawn from their internationally recognized human rights obligations to promote social rights and equity. The time is well overdue for policies that recognize the centrality of care work for health systems and the economy, meaning governments must roll out various support measures for a resilient care sector that does not rely on the exploitation of women in the home and in the workplace.

It is vital to reinforce prioritization of government budgetary investment in social protections including quality and accessible social services for all populations. This is a decisive moment and opportunity for African states to not only rebuild their administrative and resource capacity to deliver social services, but also recover their standing in the eyes of African people.

It is necessary to consider responses that do not just seek to address direct impacts of COVID-19 but build the broader strength of health and social protection systems horizontally, acknowledging that this is fundamentally political, and about designing and sustaining systems for the wellbeing of the majority. There have been several epidemics and pandemics affecting the African continent and COVID-19 won’t be the last. In fact, the lack of health and research infrastructure for others, like HIV/AIDS and malaria, have become worryingly normalized. Furthermore, it needs to be stated clearly that outsourcing this work to philanthrocapitalists is a failed strategy and perpetuates a narrative that the African state is incapable of providing for African peoples. It further privileges white male philanthrocapitalists, vesting a few western voices with far more volume than entire African nations. They do not have an interest in systemic solutions because to achieve those solutions would require dislodging them from the centers of power they are invested in fortifying.

Patent protections and other intellectual property laws have further consolidated a commodified approach to health care in Africa. In recent memory is the fight for African peoples to be able to access ARVs, a fight that took millions of lives because the profit margins of corporations were put ahead of saving the lives of African peoples. We cannot afford to keep repeating the same mistakes perpetually. Knowledge cannot be a commodity, all vaccines and medicines related to COVID-19 and beyond must be universally accessible for all people, as should the related knowledge.

Beyond the request for debt moratoriums in response to COVID-19, debt cancellation should be a priority. Conditionalities surrounding financial assistance to the continent must also be rejected by African governments. Conditionalities will impact on the ability of states to deploy socially responsive policies such as those recommended above, and in particular terms that push for increased privatization of key services (including further deregulations of private sector engagement), should be thoroughly critiqued and fought against by a united African front.

Increased Foreign Direct Investment should be solicited without the promise of tax breaks that effectively act as loopholes; multi / transnational companies making profits on African soil need to pay their dues for the needs of African people first, before their shareholders. Only by pursuing and enforcing a progressive tax policy that targets transnational corporations in particular will the African tax deficit be addressed. This will be critical for African revenue raising if economic recovery from COVID-19 beyond the short and medium term is to be realized, and our external debt reliance is to be decreased.

One of the impulses of neo-liberal economics is to treat African peoples as collateral in economic processes and negotiations. The needs of African communities and the sustainable use of natural resources (ever more important in this rapidly deepening climate crises) continue to be subordinated to make way for development plans that prioritize short term gain at the expense of the earth and African peoples well-being in the short, medium, and longer term. Because African communities are the custodians of the land and environment, those same communities must be able to veto any finance or development projects being proposed. Indeed all Africans should be informed and provide prior consent to any consultation or large scale policy process.

Sincerely,

Lebohang Liepollo Pheko, Senior Research Fellow at Trade Collective, Afrikan Feminist, South Africa/Lesotho

Fatimah Ya-Fanah Kelleher, Women’s economic justice technical and strategic adviser (independent) / Writer, Nigeria / UK
Luam Kidane, Eritrea/Pan-African
Hakima Abbas
Lyn Ossome
Nancy Kachingwe, Gender and Public Policy Advisor, Independent, Malawi/Zimbabwe
Masego Madzwamuse, Chief Executive Officer-Southern Africa Trust
Âurea Mouzinho, Economist and Feminist Activist, Angola
Felogene Anumo
Mwanahamisi Singano
Sibongile Ndashe, Executive Director-Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa, South Africa
Wangari Kinoti, Feminist activist and policy advisor, Kenya
Olabukunola Williams
Coumba Toure, Coordinatrice-Africans Rising, Senegal
Dzodzi Tsikata, University of Ghana, Ghana
Amina Mama, Feminist Africa journal, Nigeria
Crystal Simeoni, Pan African Feminist Economic Justice Activist, Nairobi, Kenya
Memory Zonde Kachambwa, Executive Director, African Women’s Development and Communication Network- FEMNET- Pan-African
Leopoldina Fekayamãle, Ondjango Feminista, Angola
Isabel Gavião, Ondjango Feminista, Angola
Sizaltina Cutaia, Ondjango Feminista, Angola
Rosimira Quitombe
Cecília Kitombe, OF, Angola
Laurinda, Ondjango Feminista, Angola
Fikile Vilakazi, Young Women with Vision of South Africa, South Africa
Wunpini Mohammed, Penn State, United States
Nada Ali, Sudan/USA/UK
Esther Ajayi-Lowo , PhD Candidate, Texas Woman’s University, Nigeria
Lilian Lem Atanga, Proffesor at University of Bamenda, Cameroon, Cameroon
Beatrice Ndefon, Administrator, Cameroon
Ousseina Alidou, Dept. African, Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Literatures, Niger and USA
Esther Omam, Reach Out, Cameroon
Sharon Omotoso, Women’s Research and Documentation Center(WORDOC), Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Hope Chigudu, Hopeafrica, Zimbabwe
Samuel Orovwuje, Humanitarian Care for Displaced Persons, Nigeria
Zuleika Sheik, Erasmus University Rotterdam, South Africa and the Netherlands
Philile Ntuli, Miss, South Africa
Sybil Nandi Msezane, Black Tower Foundation, South Africa
Xeenarh Mohammed, The Initiative for Equal Rights, Nigeria
Leonora Breedt, Ezabangoma healers, South Africa
Bunmi Dipo-Salami, Executive Director, Nigeria
Anne Adidu-Lawal, Baobab for Women’s Human Rights, Nigeria
Jill Bradbury, South Africa
Njoki Njehu, Daughters of Mumbi Global Resource Center, Kenya
Kirsten Pearson, Budget Justice Coalition, South Africa
Lindiwe Mkhize, South Africa
Catherine Gatundu, ActionAid International, Kenya
Iheoma Obibi, Alliances for Africa, Nigeria
Korto Williams, Liberia Feminist Forum, Liberia/Kenya
Charlotte Malonda, Women Lawyers Association Malawi, Malawi
Xana McCauley, Rev, South Africa
Saydoon Nisa Sayed, South Africa
Laura Pereira, Senior lecturer/ Centre for Complex Systems in Transition, South Africa
Vanessa MAVILA, Fondation Eboko, France and Congo
Jessica Oluoch, KELIN Kenya, Kenya
Unathi Ndiki, The Totalshutdown movement, South Africa
Patricia Blankson Akakpo, Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT), Ghana
Deborah, Senior Research Fellow/Insitute of African Studies-University of Ghana, Ghana
Maybe Zengenene, Graduate Student, Airlangga University, Indonesia, Zimbabwe
Nadia Ahidjo, Program Coordinator, Open Society Initiative for West Africa, Cameroon/Senegal
AdeolaAwogbemi , ED, First Future Leadership, Nigeria
Taiwo Adetunji, Strong Enough Girls’ Empowerment Initiative, Nigeria
Ngozi NwosuJuba, Vision Spring Initiatives, Nigeria
Dee Smythe, Centre for Law & Society UCT, South Africa
Chenai Chair, African feminist, South Africa/Zimbabwe
Abosede George, Barnard College, United States
Peruth Nabirye, Director Child Youth Health Initiative, Uganda
Nuru Kondo, Hospital, Tanzania
Adjaratou Fatou Ndiaye
Joanna Forster, ACDHRS, Gambia
Teresa Mugadza, Zimbabwe
Zabib Musa Loro, Founder and Director/ Islamic Development and Relief Agency, South Sudan

Lakshmi N. Moore, Liberia Feminist Forum, Liberia
Fikile Pato, Miss, South Africa
AGUEH Gloria, Chairperson / Réseau des Femmes Leaders pour le Développement, Benin
Rachel Kagoiya, FEMNET, Kenya
Leopoldina Fekayamãle, Ondjango Feminista, Angola
Tilder Kumichii, CEO, Gender Empowerment and Development – GeED, Caneroon
Emma Mogak, Akili Dada, Program Lead – Feminist Movement Building and Advocacy, Kenya
Cynthia Ny, Cameroon
Adanma Otuonye, Sparks Consults, Nigeria
Michelle Hakata, Zimbabwe
Zoneziwoh Mbondgulo-Wondieh, Women for a Change, Cameroon, Cameroon
Angelina Canguenha, Ondjango Feminista, Angola
Navonine Agnes Kuoh N., CEO/Founder Agui Foundation, Cameroun
Shailja Patel, Research Associate, Five College Women’s Studies Research Center, Kenya, USA
Zainab Abdullahi, Daraja reube mbororo development association, Cameroon
Fatime Faye, Société civile, Forum Féministe Sénégalais, Sénégal
Rethabile Mosese
Monica Ndunge, Do It With Boldness Foundation/Volunteer, Kenya
Facia B. Harris, Member/ Liberia Feminist Forum, Liberia
Antonia Musunga, Fight inequality Alliance, Kenya
Marieme Kane, Senegal
Aisha Kamara, ActionAid, Liberia
Sokari Ekine, Republic of Spirit Desire, Nigeria, UK, USA
Isatu Ville Cheeks , Liberia Feminist Forum, Liberia
Isatu Ville Cheeks , Liberia Feminist Forum, Liberia
Nkaleu Lydienne, Comité d’Assistance à la Femme Nécessiteuses du Cameroun (CAFENEC), Cameroun
Caroline Bowah, Liberia Feminist Forum, Liberia
Pauline Kenmogne Matchim, Association Femmes Et Enfants, membre de la plateforme de BEIJING+25 CAR, Cameroun

Gradiah Walker Bou Hussein, Liberia
Gloria Yancy, Liberia Feminist Forumlol, Liberia
Fatoumata Adelle Barry, Medical Doctor / Writer / LivresNiger, Niger
Naadira Munshi, PSI, South Africa
Chue Goah Roberts, Program officer, Actionaid Luberia, Liberia
Abyan Mama-Farah, UCSD School of Medicine, United States
Clemence Leonie Yanke, Fondation Nyb Shalom, Cameroon
Rossanna Carvo, Angola
Tuduetso Mooketsi, Botswana
Naomi Tulay-Solanke \, Executive Director/ Community Healthcare Initiative, Liberia
Endouh Anna Yerimah, Building Together Consulting, Cameroon
Linda Kunje
Njenu Veronica, CEO of women as Agents of Transformation (WAAT), Cameroon
Minna Salami, MsAfropolitan, United Kingdom
Pumla Dineo Gqola, Proffesor, Nelson Mandela University, South Africa
Simamkele Dlakavu, University of Cape Town , South Africa
Janepher Taaka, Frelance, Uganda
Balkissa Daouda Diallo, PhD Student, Niger
Corinne Knowles, Rhodes University, South Africa
Mamadi, Director of postgraduate studies. University of Fort Hare, South Africa
Aisha Ahmed, Covid19: Feminist Space, Nigeria
Saida Ali, Kenya
Mpumi Mathabela, Coordinator – One in Nine Campaign, South Africa
Tracy Jean-Pierre, Enza, South Africa
Sophie Otiende, Kenya
Patricia Servant, Founder / Congo Love , United States of America
Cynthia Akueya Nchaw, Mbonweh Woman Development Association (MWDA), Cameroon

Gabriel Hoosain Khan, Office for Inclusivity and Change at the University of Cape Town, South Africa
Sheila Ramirez
Thando Gumede, Chief Executive Officer, South Africa
Mariama Sonko, Nous Sommes la Solution, Sénégal
Tunu Ramtu, Kenya
Linda Magano Baumann, National CSO, Namibia
Anneeth Kaur Hundle, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of California Irvine, USA/Uganda
Everjoice Jeketa Win, Zimbabwe
Kavira Linda, Action de protection Mère et Enfant “APME”, République Démocratique du Congo
Julia Matimolane, South Africa
Akosua Adomako Ampofo, Universty of Ghana, Ghana
Cebile Dlamini, Secretary General for Swaziland Rural Women’s Assembly, Swaziland
Shirley Walters, Professor Emerita, University of the Western Cape, South Africa
Irene, Namibia
Mufuliat Fijabi, Nigerian Women Trust Fund, Nigeria
Eniyan Development Initiative For Gender Justice, Eniyan Development Initiative, Nigeria
Astrid von Kotze, Proffesor, UWC, South Africa
Ruth Mattison, Training for Transformation, South Africa
Gertrude Dzifa Torvikey, Feminist Africa, Ghana
Mariam Kirollos
Rike Sitas, African Centre for Cities, South Africa
herschelle milford, South Africa
جوهرة مدكور
Pontso Mafethe, Lead Consultant, HoBWE
Keamogetswe Seipato, South Africa
Annette Wangongu, Feminist Litigation Network Manager/Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa, Kenya
Ronel Stevens, South Africa
Kamy Lara, Ondjango Feminista, Angola
Stacey Sutton, Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago, United States
Okeke Ngozi J., WIPGG Nigeria, Nigeria
Fatou Sow, African Feminist Forum, Sénégal
Solome Lemma
Mariam Dia, Cofulef, Convergence Des Femmes Universitaires Versitaires Pour Le Leadership Feminin, Senegal
Pamela Nwakanma, PhD Candidate, Harvard University, United States/Nigeria
Debaye Mornan, Colombia
Yannia Sofía Garzón Valencia, Asociación de Economistas Negras, Colombia
Duru Blessing, ALLIANCES FOR AFRICA, NFF, Nigeria
Colette Solomon, Women on Farms Project, South Africa
Mahlet H. Seifu, Development practitioner , Ethiopia
Nkoli Aniekwu, University of Benin, Nigeria
Amie Joof Cole, FAMEDEV- Inter Africa Network for Women, Media, Gender and Development
Purity Kagwiria, Kenya
Rama Salla Dienf, Senegal
Nokwanda Maseko, South Africa
Fatma Oussedik, Université d’Alger 2, Algérie
Rose Ndengue, Université de Rouen, Cameroun
Rokhaya Daba FALL, CEO, Sénégal
Roseli Finscue Chavaco, Consejo Regional Indigena Del Cauca Programa Mujeres, Colombia
Cynthia Ny, Cameroon
African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), Africa Regional
Maria Paula Meneses, Doctor, Moçambique
Ophelia Kemigisha, Uganda
BVDA, Rwanda
Colleen Lowe Morna, Gender Links, South Africa
Evernice Munando, Female Students Network Trust (FSNT), Zimbabwe
Elizabeth Kayanga , Integrated Disabled Women Activities, Uganda
Mrs Theresa Ukeme, Ini Creative Centre For Development, Nigeria
Phelister Abdalla , National Coordinator – Kenya sex workers Alliance (KESWA), Kenya
Hannah Kigamba, Secretary of Board of Trustee/Director Diabetes Awareness Trust, Kenya
Annet Lekuru, Feminature Uganda, Uganda
Marie-Pierre Mbaye, Senegal
Lesley Ann Foster, Masimanyane Women’s Rights International, South Africa
Juliet Kushaba, ArtVism, Uganda
Massan dAlmeida, XOESE, Le Fonds pour les Femmes Francophones, Togo
Joyce Nangobi , Executive Director, Uganda
Naomi Tulay Solanke, Community Healthcare Initiative, Liberia
Mawulawoe Anato-Dumelo , Executive Director, Network of Women In Growth, Ghana
Musu Bakoto Sawo, National Coordinator, Think Young Women, The Gambia
Ruth Kihiu, Pastoral Women’s Council (PWC), Tanzania
Rachael Muhindo, Twase women development trust, Uganda
Nasilele Limbali, Executive Director – Ndola Nutrition Org. Women’s League, Zambia
Esther Harawa, Gender and Protection Coordinator, Malawi
Naana Abena Afadi, Program Manager, Women and Youth Forum for SustainableDevelopment, Ghana
Diana Mary Agabi, ABANTU FOR DEVELOPMENT, Nigeria
Fatima Suleiman, Executive Director, lslamic Counseling Initiatives or Nigeria(ICIN) Nigeria
Mageda Esolyo, Communications and campaign officer, Women Global Network for Reproductive Rights, Kenya
Evodius Gervas, Tanzania
Edah Gondwe Chimya, Executive Director/ Zambia Alliance of Women, Zambia
Edith Ssali, Executive Director Women Leadership Development – WLEDE, Uganda
Sybil Nmezi, Generation Initiative for Women and Youth Network (Giwyn), Nigeria
Cécile Thiombiano, Présidente, Burkina Faso
Milka Wahu, Amka Africa Justice Initiative, Kenya
Tina Thiart, 1000 Women Trust/WomensNet, South Africa
Stigmata Tenga, Executive Director, Africa Philanthropy Network (APN), Tanzania
Elizabeth Ddungu, Nnabagereka Development organisation, Uganda
Régine T Zombra, Présidente de l’Association Catholique pour le Développement Socio-économique (ACDS), Burkina Faso
Hala Al Karib, SIHA, Sudan
Hansatu Adegbite, Executive Director, WIMBIZ, Nigeria
Sofia Cassimo, FEMME-National Federation Business Women, Mozambique
Sylvie BAHATI KABEYA, Réseau Associatif pour la Psychologie Intégrale, RAPI Asbl, République Démocratique du Congo
Emang Basadi Association, Botswana
Charity Afio Nketiah, Iseguri Initiative, Ghana
Ida Mokereitane, Botswana
Larissa Kojoué, Researcher in political science, Cameroon
Tracy Jean-Pierre, Enza , South Africa
Advocate Tarisai Mchuchu-MacMillan, MOSAIC Training Services and Healing Centre for Women, South Africa
Doreen Mwobobia, Team Lead- Education and Socio-Economic Empowerment Initiative, Kenya
Edna Tembo, Executive Director. Coalition of Women Living with HIV and AIDS (COWLHA), Malawi
Sikhathele Matambo, Emthonjeni Women’s Forum, Zimbabwe
Marie-Pierre Sarr, Présidente d’honneur association sénégalaise des femmes diplômées des universités, Sénégal
Florence Awir, Chairperson/Human Rights Activist-Club Humanitarian Outreach Ministries (CBO), Uganda
Huguette RUSABIKA, Directrice Exécutive de l’organisation Focus Droits et Accès République Démocratique du Congo
Everlyne Khaemba, Pambazuko La Wanawake Magharibi, Kenya
Amina Salihu, Habiba Dangana Foundation – Team Lead, Nigeria
Farida Myburgh, Masimanyane Women’s Rights International, South Africa
Alexandra Asamoah, Ghana
Aziza Khalidi, Executive Director/Collective for Research and Training on Development Action – CRTDA, Lebanon
Marilyn Aitken, Women’s Leadership and Training Programme, South Africa
Bashiratu Kamal, General Agricultural Workers Union of TUC-Gh, Ghana
Haruna Yoda, Executive Director/Centre for Community Livelihood Development (CCLD), Ghana
Aumo Christine, Executive Director Of Isore Women Initiative For Sustainable Devt, Uganda
Kikiope Oluwarore, Head of Programs/Education as a Vaccine ((EVA), Nigeria
Michael Dagadu
Zeinabou Hadari
Lillian Mworeko, Executive Director, International Community Of Women Living With HIV Eastern Africa (ICWEA), Uganda
Inocência Mata, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
Cherifa Kheddar, Présidente de l’association Djazairouna des familles victimes du terrorisme islamiste Algérie
Mackins Pajibo, Program Officer/ Women Solidarity Incorporated, Liberia
Nina Hendricks, The Grail, South Africa
Wairimu Wahome, Executive Director, Coalition on Violence Against Women-COVAW, Kenya
Nnaceesay Marenah, Moonflower Montessori/CEO, Gambia
Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe, Womens Coalition of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe
Ummi Bukar, PAGED Initiative, Nigeria
Sarah Adeyinka, Nigeria/Belgium
gertrude fester, Aboriginal/Xarra Restorative Justice Forum, South Africa
Nadiatu Ali Dawud , Civil Society and Institutional Foundation /Acting Director, Ghana
Isabel Shawel, USA
Margaret Adhiambo, Pendeza Weaving Project, Kenya
Angela Gwaro, Programs Officer; Gender Violence Recovery Centre, Kenya
Prisca Tanui, Women Empowerment Group (WEG), Kenya
Shereen Usdin, Soul City Institute for Social Justice, South Africa
Carine Bahanag, Cameroun
Gorette NAKUNDI, Action De Solidarite Des Femmes Pour Le Developpement En Milieu Rural, ASOFED-MR asbl, République Démocratique du Congo
Donald Deya, Pan African Lawyers Union, Tanzania
Louise Nyota, Réseau Femme et Développement (REFED.NK) secrétaire Exécutive, RDCongo
Godelive Lugambo, Coordinatrice, Union Pour La Promotion Des Femmes, UPF asbl, République Démocratique du Congo
Viviene Taylor, Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), South Africa
Cynthia Eyakuze, Tanzania
Kiza Endani Rosette, Coordinatrice, SOS Secours A La Femme En Detresse, SOS SFD asbl, République Démocratique du Congo
Claire Mathonsi
Lana Razafimanantsoa, Madagascar
Beyonce Karungi, Executive Director; Transgender Equality Uganda (TEU), Uganda
Glanis Changachirere, Institute for Young Women Development, Zimbabwe
Nancy Akanbombire, African Women’s Development Fund, Ghana
Comfort Arms of Needy Children, Rights Organization, Malawi
Zenabou SEGDA, Women Environmental Programme Burkina, Burkina Faso
Prime Nkezumukama, Non Profit Organisation, Burundi
Titilope Akosa, Centre for 21st century Issues, Nigeria
Giscard MUKUCHA, YOUNG MEN ENGAGE FOR EQUALITY 2030, RDC
Judith MUKEINA, Solidarite Des Jeunes Filles Pour L’education Et L’integration Socioprofessionnelle, SOJFEP, RDC
Jeanne MUKUCHA, SOS Femmes Indigenes De Concessions Minieres (SOS FICOM), RDC
Alice FATUMA, Univers Des Filles, RDC
Rosebell Kagumire, Editor, African Feminism, Uganda
Fatimata SAVADOGO, Presidente/Groupement Feminin Pag-La-Naam, Burkina Faso
Ruth Mulenga , Coordinator /Twampane womens club, Zambia
Ntirampeba Espérance, sfbsp, Burundi
Nizigiyimana Francine, TDJ, Burundi
Patience Kemigisha, Communications Officer/Institute for Social Transformation, Uganda
Justine Riziki Marceline, PACOPA (Partenaires Contre La Pauvrete), RD CONGO
Samukeliso Khumalo, Executive Director, Zimbabwe
Yobana Millán Bustos, Red nacional de mujeres Afrocolombianas Kambirí, Colombianos
Ntomboxolo Makhutshi, Mothertongue Project Programme Manager, South Africa
Mercia Andrews, Southern Africa Rural Women’s Assembly, South Africa
Ndeye Marie Diedhiou Thiam, Plateforme des femmes pour la paix en Casamance, Sénégal
Alice Akoth Omondi, Director – Bethzatha HIV/AIDS Community Center, Kenya
ATEBA medjo Carine Michelle, Mengbwa actions jeunes, Cameroun
Cécile Thiombiano, Organisation pour de Nouvelles Initiatives en Developpement et Santé, Burkina Faso
Isatu Dumbuya, Center for Differently Abled Women (CDAW), Sierra Leone
Rokhaya Sy Gaye, Association Tournesol, Sénégal
Yenziwe Masuku
Perez Abeka, YWCAA – Co-Founder & Advisor, Kenya
Elizabeth N Ddungu, Nnabagereka Development Foundation, Uganda
Lindiwe Malindi, South Africa
Sara Bissrat Mersha, Director of Grantmaking and Advocacy, Grassroots International, US
Rose Mensah-Kutin, Abantu For Development, Ghana
Teopista Nakkungu, Chief Coordinator IWCA Uganda Chapter, Uganda
Aida Ndiaye, International consultant/Agrieconomist, Senegal
Peggy Otieno, Ag CEO- Young Women Campaign Against Aids, Kenya
Susan Atayo, Program Manager-Hesawa Foundation(HEFO), Uganda
Atia Apusigah , Netright Ghana , Ghana
Inviolata Mmbwavi, Executive Director- International Community of Women Living with HIV – Kenya Chapter ( ICWK), Kenya
الاستاذة/ وداد الصوراني
Siatta Scott Johnson, President Female Journalists Association of Liberia, Liberia
Eunice Mwende, Young Women Campaign against AIDS (YWCAA), Kenya
Volahery Andriamanantenasoa, CRAAD-OI, Madagascar
Robert Akeche, Young Women Campaign Against AIDS (AIDS), Kenya
Sherine Okong’o, Young Women Campaign Against AIDS (YWCAA), Kenya
Pemphero Chingamtolo, National Coordinator, Malawi
Emmaculate Mutheu, Young Women Campaign Against AIDS (YWCAA), Kenya
Pamela Elizabeth, Young Women Campaign Against AIDS (YWCAA), Kenya
Sarah Nalyanya, Grail international movement of Women, Kenya
Kafui ADJAMAGBO-JOHNSON, WiLDAF-AO, Togo
Pauline Makwaka, Senior Women Citizens for Change, Kenya
Dorothy Otieno, FEMNET, Kenya
Panashe Chigumadzi, Author, South Africa
Ndèye Gnilane FAYE, Présidente Association Actions pour le Développement du Sénégal (AADS), Sénégal
Christie Banda, Foundation for Civic Education and Social Empowerment, Malawi
Nicole Maloba, Program Officer- Economic Justice- FEMNET, Kenya
Toluwanimi Jaiyebo, Nigeria
Fatou Diouf, ENSEIGNANTE-CHERCHEURE/COFULEF
Josephine A. Brenda , Programme Coordinator Kared Fod Women Development Programme (KAWODEP), Kenya
Katherine Asuncion, Project Manager for Donor Engagement/ Grassroots International, United States
Marcela Riascos Arrechea , PCN – Proceso de comunidades negras , Colombia
Mina Remy, Grassroots International, United States
Sophie Efange, Policy Manager – Gender and Development Network, United Kingdom, Ethiopia, Cameroon
Vera Addo, Fellow, Moremi initiative for Women’s Leadership in Africa, Ghana
Mariama Jalloh, Executive Director//Polio Women & Girls Development Organisation//Ministry of Social Welfare Gender & Childrens Affairs, Sierra Leone Union on Disability, National Commission for Persons with Disability and Women Groups, Sierra Leone
Priscilla Usiobaifo, Executive Director, BraveHeart Initiative, Nigeria
Benitha Uwamahoro, Women’s Health and Equal Rights Association Rwanda – WHERAR, Rwanda
Althea Anderson, US
Florence Akullo , Youth and Women for Opportunities Uganda, Uganda
Wangechi L Wachira
Rudo Chigudu, Feminist Action Campaign, Zimbabwe

Portuguese, Swahili, French and Spanish below. Statement in Arabic can be found here // Kireno, Kiswahili, Kifaransa na Kihispania hapa chini. Taarifa katika Kiarabu inaweza kupatikana hapa // Portugais, swahili, français et espagnol ci-dessous. La déclaration en arabe est disponible ici // Portugués, swahili, francés y español a continuación. Declaración en árabe se puede encontrar aquí // البرتغالية والسواحيلية والفرنسية والإسبانية أدناه. يمكن الاطلاع على البيان باللغة العربية هنا