UNDP Calls for Women's Political Fund in West Africa

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) urged the creation of a dedicated women’s political endowment fund at the Women’s Political Leadership Forum in Abuja. The forum adopted the Abuja Action Agenda under the theme “Accelerating Gender Parity in Political Leadership in West Africa,” organized by the African Women Leaders Network with ECOWAS and Nigeria’s Ministry of Women Affairs.

UNDP’s Director of Programmes for Africa, Jide Okeke, highlighted that women hold only 18 % of parliamentary seats in the region and cited lack of financing as a key barrier. UNDP announced a Women’s Political Participation Academy that will train 40 women leaders from 28 countries in Kigali and noted its Young Women Leaders Programme has already trained about 140 young African women. The agency is working with the African Union to develop sustainable funding mechanisms, while Nigeria’s Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman‑Ibrahim, called the agenda a shift from commitments to concrete action.