Ministers, parliamentarians, political party leaders and women’s networks from across West Africa today adopted the Abuja Regional Action Agenda, setting out concrete, time-bound steps to advance the vision embodied in the Presidential Declaration on Advancing Gender Parity in Political Representation, adopted by the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.

The Agenda was adopted at the close of the West Africa Women’s Political Leadership Forum, convened in Abuja on 30-31 July 2026 under the theme “Accelerating Women’s Political Participation and Leadership in West Africa: From Commitment to Action” by the ECOWAS Commission, the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development of the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the African Union, the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Women hold 18.4 percent of parliamentary seats across West Africa, the lowest share of any region on the continent. Representation is even lower in executive positions and political party leadership.

The Forum was the first regional convening since ECOWAS Heads of State and Government adopted the Declaration on Advancing Gender Parity in Political Representation in the ECOWAS Region at the 69th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, held in Freetown, Sierra Leone on 19 July 2026. Conceived as a legacy initiative of the Community’s fiftieth anniversary, the Declaration expresses the commitment of Member States to work progressively towards full gender parity in elective positions by 2035.

The Declaration calls on Member States to strengthen the constitutional, legal and policy frameworks that enable women’s political participation and leadership. It encourages political parties to reform their candidate nomination processes, internal structures and leadership practices so that women can genuinely compete for office. It calls for greater investment in leadership development, mentorship and networks of support for women seeking public office, and recognizes political financing as a barrier, calling for measures that improve women’s access to campaign resources. It further emphasizes the need to address restrictive social norms through education, advocacy and engagement with civil society, academia and the media, and assigns the ECOWAS Commission a central role in supporting implementation through regional coordination, technical assistance, peer learning and the monitoring of progress.

“The Declaration is poised to stand as an enduring legacy of ECOWAS at Fifty and as an important foundation for the Community we are building under Vision 2050: an ECOWAS of the people, of all our people,” said H.E. Mme Damtien L. TCHINTCHIBIDJA, Vice President of the ECOWAS Commission, in her keynote address. “History seldom remembers those who merely recognised the need for change; instead, it remembers those who had the courage to make it happen. The ECOWAS Heads of State and Government have given decisive impetus to that change and created a strong foundation upon which our region can now build,” she added.

“Women’s political leadership is no longer a matter of fairness to women. For me, it is a matter of competence for nations. This is because a democracy that governs with half its talent is not simply unjust. It is underperforming,” said H.E. Hon. Imaan Sulaiman- Ibrahim, Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“Africa has no shortage of women with the ability, ambition and commitment to lead,” said Ms Ahunna Eziakonwa, UN Assistant Secretary-General, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Africa, in a keynote video message to the Forum. “Our task is not to ask women to adapt to unequal political systems, but to transform those systems.”

Addressing the women leaders gathered in Abuja, Dr Jide Okeke, Director of UNDP’s Regional Programme for Africa, said: “You are not the problem to be solved. You are the evidence that the problem is solvable. The question is not whether women can govern in West Africa. It is how much longer this region intends to govern without them.”

“Gender equality is not merely a social aspiration; it is a democratic imperative and a strategic investment for peace, prosperity and resilient institutions,” said H.E. Mme Bineta Diop, Co-Convener of the African Women Leaders Network, in a statement delivered on her behalf by Mme Marie Louise Mwange, AWLN Global Co-Chair.

The Abuja Regional Action Agenda sets out nine commitments to give effect to the Declaration. These include translating it into appropriate laws based on National realities, adequately financed programmes and measurable targets; addressing the monetization and escalating cost of politics that systematically disadvantage women; guaranteeing women’s safety and dignity in political life, with zero tolerance for physical, psychological, sexual and technology-facilitated violence; prioritizing young women and women facing intersecting forms of exclusion; supporting women’s meaningful participation in political transitions, including interim institutions and constitutional review bodies; building a cross-party and cross-generational network of women leaders across the region; promoting the engagement of men and boys as allies in advancing gender parity; and establishing regional accountability for results, supported by comparable data and reporting.

The Forum was supported by UNDP through the Africa Facility to Support Inclusive Transitions (AFSIT) and the Africa Facility for Women in Political Leadership, established in partnership with the African Union Commission and AWLN to strengthen the ecosystem women need to enter political life, remain in leadership and exercise meaningful influence. The Facility’s flagship African Academy for Women in Political Leadership launches in Kigali from 3 – 7 August 2026.