Nairobi, 14 August 2025 — The She Leads Africa Summit 2025, organized with leadership from the Horn of Africa Youth Network (HoAYN) and partner organizations, concluded after four days of strategic dialogue, skills workshops and action planning focused on strengthening girls’ and young women’s leadership across Africa.
The Summit gathered young women leaders, feminist activists, policymakers, funding partners, and civil society from across the continent to advance a post-2030 feminist action agenda. Sessions ranged from leadership masterclasses and advocacy clinics to sectoral roundtables on political participation, economic empowerment, gender-based violence prevention, and climate justice.
Highlights and achievements:
• Leadership and capacity-building workshops equipped participants with practical tools for political engagement, organizational governance and fundraising strategy.
• Policy roundtables engaged national and regional policymakers to explore concrete pathways to increase young women’s representation in decision-making fora, including local government and intergovernmental bodies.
• The Summit launched an action framework for girls’ leadership that sets measurable commitments across partner organizations, with clear targets for mentorship programmes, safe civic spaces, and advocacy campaigns.
Partnerships and collaboration were central to the Summit’s approach. HoAYN worked closely with women-led civil society groups, youth networks and international partners to ensure regional representation and practical follow-through. The Summit produced a set of shared commitments and a coordination mechanism to track progress on agreed activities.
Impact and follow-up:
• Participating organizations agreed to integrate the Summit’s action framework into existing programmes and to report progress at quarterly check-ins coordinated by HoAYN.
• A mentorship cohort was established to link young leaders with senior women in public service and civil society across the Horn and East Africa region.
• Funders and partners signaled interest in supporting pilot projects that operationalize the Summit’s commitments at community and national levels.
The She Leads Africa Summit 2025 closed with a call to sustain momentum, deepen cross-border collaboration, and ensure that girls and young women are meaningfully included in policymaking processes at every level.