A week of spaces, solidarity and solutions. We know that women deliver more than babies!

I am an African Feminist leader who just returned from the first Women Deliver Conference held in Africa. In Kigali, I engaged with curiosity, intentionality, passion, and purpose to support the conference themes of Spaces, Solidarity and Solutions! It was an outstanding conference and WE Delivered on All Fronts! Gratitude to the Government of Rwanda and Women Deliver for creating Spaces that Deliver for Women and Youth. In this article, I offer both my reflections and a call to action.

I am acutely aware that there will be diverse opinions on whether a conference was a success or not, but here are my five key takeaways.

1.      We spearheaded a progressive reproductive health and rights agenda into the discourse and dialogue across the diverse agendas. There was an acknowledgement that women can’t deliver without a formidable reproductive empowerment agenda. The urgency of ensuring bodily autonomy was a powerful drumbeat. At FP2030 we work to elevate the urgency that Family Planning is a basic tool that enables individuals to decide if, when, how many and with whom they want to have children-it is all about achieving future dreams and aspirations for the world women wants.

2.      We will not achieve anything without women having a voice that matters at the decision-making table: Policy, Finance, Workforce, etc. Women leadership matters. For this to happen, we need new faces and new voices. We need to always refresh movements, including the feminist movement so we get into new spaces that will help accelerate change. With evidence that women’s leadership does more in creating the world we want this was a clear call to action from many panels.

A world with better reproductive health justice, a world with better prospects for peace and security, a world that acknowledges and solves for the unfathomable debt burden of countries; an equitable world where individuals can live to their greatest ideals. This world is possible with increased women in leadership spaces.

3.      Young people came in full force- this time it was not just about talk. They presented themselves as alternative leaders. We need to now ensure young people not only lead but are able to accelerate the transformation of the way services are designed, accessed, and delivered at every level. They have been saying “not for us without us”. If we are willing to engage with young people as leaders, they will change the trajectory of the world unfolding before us.

4.      There was a bolder move towards multisectoral approaches to problem solving. Yes, with over 6000 participants this somehow should be inevitable! I met with several individuals from climate justice movements, good governance activists, reproductive justice activists with enthusiasm to engage in equal measure as those from academia, private sector, and donors. There is strength in diversity and the world we live in requires systems thinking, navigating ambiguity, and being comfortable in programming complexity.

5.      On my journey home, I was reflecting on the simple truth that we still have a long way to go! Many people kept reminding us that we need 131 years before we can attain gender equality- ceteris paribus. Even with the advances in longevity research, none of us will see gender equality in our lifetime. This challenge will require different approaches to problem solving.

This is my call to action: We need to fall in love with these problems and not just offer simple solutions to complex challenges. The spaces created at Women Deliver were to foster solutions and solidarity. But before some solutions, we need to relentlessly work together to solve problems. Stars of the universe aligned that we find each other in such spaces as Women Deliver. We now need to solve for these uphill tasks.

I am standing up to be counted to solve some of these challenges because this is not the world I want:

·      Where in some communities it is illegal for girls to go to school.

·      Where majority of political decisions are still made by men…. we need to catch up to have more female heads of state.

·      Where we are not enraged when 10-year-olds are pregnant and become parents.

·      Where women in many parts of the world are only valued on their ability to bear and raise children.

·      Where menstruation hinders girls from accessing school.

·      Where many population policies are looking at women as reproduction agents to be closed on and off when it suits their economic growth policies.

·      Where democratic spaces are closing and denying many sexual minorities their rights to exist.

·      Where thousands of women are barred from participating in economies because it not safe for them to simply walk on the street.

·      Where gender-based violence has been normalized in policies, boardrooms and bedrooms alike.

·      Where women cannot access capital or any means of economic power.

·      Where women continue to die giving life.

·      Where women are only allowed to get to middle management but never to attain executive and board seats….

I invite you to journey, to conference beyond Kigali and Women Deliver to stand up and be counted in creating a future that delivers for women and girls.