From Nairobi to Naarm (Melbourne): young people from WCA on the road to Women Deliver 2026

As the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals approaches, African feminist movements, youth-led organisations, and other civil society actors are increasingly coming together in a more constrained environment: shrinking civic space, a rise in anti-rights rhetoric, and major pressure on funding for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

It is against this backdrop that an African regional convening ahead of Women Deliver 2026 took place in Nairobi (24–26 November 2025). Its purpose was to align continental priorities, strengthen intergenerational alliances, and shape a shared advocacy roadmap towards Women Deliver 2026, scheduled for Naarm (Melbourne), on 27–30 April 2026.

A continental moment… with a clear focus on West and Central Africa

Beyond its pan-African scope, the convening reinforced the importance of regional coalitions that can articulate common messages while staying grounded in local realities. For West and Central Africa (WCA), the challenge is twofold:

• to carry a coherent regional voice on SRHR and the prevention of gender-based violence (including online);
• to bring ambition back to implementation, where the gap between commitments, budgets, and outcomes remains most costly for girls, adolescent girls, and young women.

In this context, the participation of young people from WCA, including members of the Community of Committed Young People of WCA (CJE-AOC), aimed to ensure that youth are not only represented, but positioned as accountability actors: documenting lived realities, challenging gaps between commitments and delivery, and helping shape the advocacy roadmap towards Women Deliver 2026.

This participation was made possible with the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which facilitated the engagement of two CJE-AOC youth leaders: Aida Brun (Regional Coordinator) and Dr Sawadogo Djamilla (National Coordinator for Burkina Faso), who ensured that the perspectives of WCA youth were powerfully represented.

Given persistent inequalities in representation across this highly vulnerable region, strong advocacy was required to enable participation. This convening is therefore a key opportunity to ensure that the WCA Engagement is visible and that the voices of young people from WCA inform the lead-up to Women Deliver 2026.

“Budgets, not promises”: setting the bar for Women Deliver 2026

In an article published after the convening, Jude Thaddeus Njikem (Sonke Gender Justice) stresses the need to avoid a familiar pattern: strong declarations followed by limited follow-through. He calls for a clear and demanding African position, centred on financing, protection of civic space, and genuine implementation of commitments — summed up in the phrase “budgets, not promises”.

This framing intentionally shifts the discussion towards verifiable elements: time-bound financing, public accountability mechanisms, protection for rights defenders, and measurable delivery.

The press release announcing the convening highlights the scale of risks linked to aid withdrawals or reductions, including potential impacts on access to contraception, increases in unintended pregnancies, and maternal mortality.[2] It also underscores the need for stronger domestic financing solutions at a time when needs are rising and resources are contracting.

For WCA, CJE-AOC engagement in spaces like this is especially strategic: as resources tighten, competition for political attention intensifies — and young people’s ability to document real-life impacts, demand accountability, and propose pragmatic pathways becomes a decisive lever.

What WCA (and the CJE-AOC) want to shift between now and 2026

The convening points to highly practical avenues that echo priorities already pursued across several WCA countries:

• a shared African position paper setting out SRHR and gender justice priorities for Women Deliver 2026 ; 
• advocacy tools and national action plans to support ratification and implementation of the AU Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls ;
• a youth-led accountability mechanism and engagement framework to track progress and sustain pressure beyond international milestones ;
• measures to enable meaningful youth participation in decision-making processes.

During the discussions, Dr Sawadogo underscored a recurrent challenge: ratification alone is no longer sufficient without credible monitoring and enforcement mechanisms.

Looking towards Women Deliver 2026, the CJE-AOC’s added value can lie precisely here: bridging international commitments to on-the-ground realities (schools, services, access to information, violence prevention), and supporting two-way accountability — towards decision-makers, and towards communities.

Noting the limited representation of young people from WCA in global convenings, CJE-AOC continued to amplify underrepresented voices by advocating for an online regional consultation to widen participation ahead of Women Deliver 2026. This is precisely the kind of outcome that helps turn presence into progress: anchoring international advocacy in broader consultation, and linking global moments to concrete accountability steps. 

A key objection to anticipate

A common criticism is that major international conferences absorb time and energy yet ultimately produce mostly statements. The response articulated in Nairobi is to tie participation to concrete deliverables: public, time-bound pledges; tracking mechanisms; transparency on financing; and a genuine redistribution of power — including to young people and grassroots organisations. In this spirit, CJE-AOC is focused on translating convening moments into accountable follow-through, with youth leadership and community-driven priorities shaping what happens next.

References 

AllAfrica — Melody Chironda, “Africa Demands Sexual, Reproductive Rights Action, Not Promises, at Women Deliver 2026”, 2 December 2025.

Sonke Gender Justice — Press release, “African regional convening towards Women Deliver 2026…”, November 2025 (“Issued by Sonke Gender Justice”).

Women Deliver — Official page “Women Deliver 2026 Conference (WD2026)” (dates and location for WD2026).

YouTube — Panel featuring interventions from young people from WCA (including youth voices from AOC), video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuGmEz1aiyA.