Your Excellency Fatima Maada Bio, First Lady of Sierra Leone and President of OAFLAD,
Your Excellency Selma Malika Haddadi, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission,
Your Excellency Liberata Mulamula, AU Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security,
Dr. Senait Fisseha, VP of International Programs, the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation,
Distinguished First Ladies,
Dear partners, colleagues and young people,
Good morning,
It is an honour to join you for the launch of OAFLAD’s new campaign.
I commend the First Ladies of Africa for their vocal and visible advocacy, and for issuing a strong call of unity to build resilience for women and girls.
Your leadership is a beacon of hope.
As the new Executive Director of UNFPA, I look forward to working with you towards the achievement of Agenda 2063 and Agenda 2030.
Together, we can create an Africa where women and girls can enjoy equal opportunities, can live free from harm and can actively contribute to a more inclusive and sustainable society.
As the mothers of your nations, you are in a unique and powerful position to influence national agendas, champion legal reforms, and mobilize public support for the protection and the empowerment of women, girls and young people.
Empowering them is key to strengthening the resilience of communities. When a climate disaster or conflict emerges, they often shoulder the greatest burden.
Health and education systems are often the first to collapse. Women and girls lose access to education, healthcare, and essential reproductive health and protection services. They lose their livelihoods and support networks, just when they need them most.
While women and girls are often hardest hit during times of crisis, they are also agents of change. Their voices matter. Their perspectives and inclusion in decision-making processes are key to developing solutions to the challenges we face.
As First Ladies, your platform is crucial to bringing attention to the issues we care about.
Your collective leadership has been transformational in rolling out important campaigns on the continent. This includes The Campaign for the Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa (CARMMA Plus) and the Free to Shine campaign to reduce HIV transmission.
Meanwhile, your efforts to eliminate gender-based violence and harmful practices, such as FGM and child marriage, have helped shape national policies while driving systemic change.
UNFPA is proud to build on the successes we see in your countries and ensure that every woman and girl has the ability to safeguard their health and live in dignity, even in crisis settings.
In 2024, our humanitarian response spanned 59 crisis-affected countries, reaching nearly 10 million people with reproductive health services and providing gender-based violence protection and psychosocial treatment to nearly 4 million more.
When crisis strikes, UNFPA stands with women and girls.
Together with our partners, we run safe spaces, and one-stop GBV and sexual and reproductive health centers for women and girls; and we deploy mobile clinics in hard-to-reach areas.
Our approach to resilience is guided by the ICPD agenda, which places the rights and dignity of women and girls at the center of sustainable development. This means prioritizing their sexual and reproductive health and rights, and protecting them harm.
Our approach to resilience also involves education and skills training as a lifeline and source of empowerment. This support gives the women, girls and young people we serve the ability to chart their own futures, while lifting up entire communities.
UNFPA is proud to partner with you in supporting the power of women and young people to transform their lives and lay the foundation for a more peaceful, prosperous and sustainable Africa. To paraphrase an African saying:
Elders sit in the shade because they planted a tree years before.
Let us plant a tree now to bring hope and peace to women and girls caught in crisis and to help them build a life full of equality and opportunity.
Thank you. Merci.
