When world leaders convened in New York in March for the 70th session of the United Nations (UN) Commission on the Status of Women, the usual consensus gave way to an unprecedented vote.
For the first time in the Commission’s 70-year history, member states were forced to vote on a declaration affirming women’s access to justice — a measure that secured the support of 37 countries with no objections.
For the African Development Bank, the gathering offered more than diplomacy: it became a platform to deepen partnerships and translate commitments into concrete action, priorities that later took centre stage at the Bank’s 2026 Annual Meetings in Brazzaville under the theme “Mobilizing Africa’s Development Financing at Scale in a Fragmented World.”Across the Bank’s engagements in New York, one message remained consistent, investing in women delivers economic and social returns and is central to the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy and its priorities, from expanding access to capital and harnessing Africa’s demographic potential to building climate-resilient economies.
Dr. Jemimah Njuki, the African Development Bank’s Director for Gender, Women and Civil Society, attended the session to make the case that on a continent where women make up half the population, they also face a $42 billion gap in access to finance.
“Investing in women is not just the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do for Africa’s growth and resilience,” Njuki said.
The Bank’s collaboration with the African Women Leaders Network at the African Union’s Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations was a key moment of the week.
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The conversation focused on the Bank’s upcoming Gender Action Plan, which aims to shift its gender work from individual projects to broader, systemic approaches. Once operational, the plan will guide the Bank in tackling the barriers women face across labor markets, infrastructure and economic policy.
The Gender Action Plan is being shaped by the people it aims to serve. The Commission on the Status of Women brought together African women leaders and partners to share priorities and feed them directly into the design process, reinforcing the need to move from dialogue to action.
The Bank advanced its partnership with UN Women, discussing ways to work together on capital mobilization, infrastructure and support for countries affected by conflict.
The goal is to make sure the Bank and UN Women are pulling in the same direction, so that financing and technical support reach the women who need them, rather than being absorbed by parallel processes.
The Bank also joined a UN Women event focused on a practical challenge on how to get money to women’s organizations working in conflict zones and fragile states, where standard banking and lending simply do not reach.
The discussion centered on the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund and how its instruments could be better adapted to work at the grassroots level.
The Bank drew on its own experience, pointing to the Crisis Response for Women and Affected Communities in Sudan project, which has reached more than 95,000 women through cash support, livelihood assistance and access to essential services. The project links economic empowerment, protection and access to justice.
The Bank’s flagship initiative, Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), was a recurring topic of conversation during the week-long conference in New York.
AFAWA is designed to help close that $42 billion financing gap facing women-owned businesses and is central to the Bank’s goal of expanding access to capital across the continent.
AFAWA is well on its way toward unlocking up to $5 billion by combining capital, policy reform, mentorship and skills development for Africa’s women entrepreneurs. AFAWA has secured partnerships with more than 200 financial institutions and channeled more than $3.1 billion to women-led businesses, making it a tested model for how the Bank intends to scale capital flows.
