SUMMARY REPORT OF THE WOMEN LEADERS FORUM FOR AFRICA TRANSFORMATION

NEW YORK, 31 May to 2 June 2017

Background
The African Union Commission, UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and
the Empowerment of Women, and the Federal Republic of Germany organized a high-level
“Women Leaders Forum for Africa’s Transformation”, at the United Nations Headquarters in
New York, from Wednesday 31st May to Friday 2nd June 2017. The three-day forum brought
together over 80 women leaders including former Presidents, Vice Presidents and Prime
Ministers, Members and a Speaker of Parliament, political party leaders and presidential
candidates, Cabinet Ministers, local government leaders, private sector representatives, civil
society activists and young women leaders.

The forum saw the participation of the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Ms. Amina J.
Mohammed; AU Commissioner for Political Affairs Her Excellency Ms. Minata Samate
Cessouma; Director-General for International Order, United Nations and Arms Control at the
German Federal Foreign Office, Ambassador Patricia Flor; AU Special Envoy on Women, Peace
and Security, Ms. Bineta Diop; UN Women Executive Director, Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka;
and AU Permanent Observer to the United Nations, His Excellency Ambassador Téte António.

The three-day forum culminated in the launch of the African Women Leaders Network, a new
initiative that seeks to enhance the leadership of women in the transformation of Africa with a
focus on governance, peace and stability.
During the forum participants discussed the following areas:

 Women’s leadership in Africa: Status and prospects;

 The role of women in the transformation of Africa, through the realization of Africa
Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals – from agriculture to the
digital economy;
 Preparing Women for political leadership: Influence, Action and Accountability; and
 The Network of African Women Leaders: establishment, coordination and sustainability.
Outcomes:
In the course of the three-day forum, the women leaders agreed to do the following:

- Establish and nurture an inclusive network comprising a diversity of women and young
women in leadership from all sectors of society, including political, public, and private
sectors; civil society, grassroots women, and traditional women leaders;
- Enhance ownership of the network amongst the women leaders through membership
and mobilization of women from all sectors to advance women’s rights at the
community and society levels;
- Promote solidarity amongst African women and cultivate strategic partnerships
amongst existing and emerging networks, including global Networks with similar
objectives to encourage women to make Africa’s transformation their agenda;
- Nurture women’s leadership through exchange and documenting of lessons learnt and
experiences and mentoring of young women leaders, through intergenerational
dialogues and platforms.
- Convene the next meeting of the Forum in Addis Ababa, in February 2018.

Action Points:
- A detailed action plan will be developed to reflect the goals identified by the African
women leaders in the Call to Action adopted at the end of the Forum.
- The action plan will present short-, medium- and long-term activities for the African
Women Leaders Network to undertake in the areas of peace, security and governance
across the continent, highlighting political, economic, social and technological priorities.

New York, 6 June 2017