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