Women and Girls Will Write the Future of Africa | Future of Africa, Episode 6
Africa’s future will be written by its girls and women — if they have the resources and rights to lead. Graça Machel calls for a generational shift in how girls’ education and leadership are supported, while Françoise Moudouthe challenges donors and policymakers to back feminist movements with flexible, sustained funding. Satta Sheriff brings the voice of a new generation, connecting women’s leadership to broader fights for climate justice, peace, and economic inclusion. This episode is full of hard truths about the barriers girls and women face, paired with inspiring examples of what happens when those barriers come down.
Guests
Graça Machel, women’s and children's rights advocate; former freedom fighter and first Education Minister of Mozambique; co-founder of The Elders.
Françoise Moudouthe, CEO of the African Women’s Development Fund
Satta Sheriff, Human Rights Activist & African Union Panel of the Future Member
Background Materials
Futures Africa: Trends for Women by 2030, The African Women’s Development Fund
African Young Women B+25 Manifesto, African Union
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Transcript edited for clarity
Speaker 1:
The views and opinions expressed in this episode are those of the guests and hosts, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the podcast partners. And a note on this episode — this conversation mentions incidences of violence, which some listeners might find disturbing.
Mark Leon Goldberg:
Welcome to The Future of Africa — a special series on Global Dispatches. I am Mark Leon Goldberg, the host and founder of Global Dispatches. And in several episodes over the coming weeks, we will bring you in-depth conversations designed to explore Africa’s future in the context of today’s challenges and opportunities. This series is produced in partnership with the African Union, The Elders, and the United Nations Foundation, and is hosted by the Kenyan journalist, Adelle Onyango.
I am truly thrilled to bring you this special project of Global Dispatches. We have some amazing guests in this episode and throughout the series. Enjoy!
Adelle Onyango:
Welcome to the Future of Africa podcast. I’m your host, Adelle Onyango, and this is a show where we explore the bold ideas and leaders shaping Africa’s place in the world. Across the continent, young women and girls are rising. We are breaking barriers, we challenging norms and reshaping what leadership looks like in Africa. As we approach the 30th anniversary of the historic Beijing Platform for Action, this episode spotlights the power and potential of African women and girls in shaping the continent’s priorities and global influence. Joining me are three phenomenal women from different generations and regions. First up is Ms. Graça Machel, who really needs no introduction, but she’s a global advocate for women and children’s rights and a member of The Elders. And she’s going to be bringing decades of experience advancing gender equality and social justice.
Graça Machel:
They have the power. They have the voice. What they need is the space to express themselves.
Adelle Onyango:
We’re also going to be joined by Françoise Moudouthe. She’s a Chief Executive Officer of the African Women’s Development Fund. She’s a bold feminist leader, and she’s building movements that center African women’s voices across the continent and beyond.
Françoise Moudouthe:
And what is lost then in our stories is our voice. So for me, it’s about centering our own voices in the telling of our stories.
Adelle Onyango:
Last but not least, we’re going to be joined by Satta Sheriff, a Liberian climate justice and child rights advocate, and a rising voice selected by the African Union Youth Envoy. She’s representing the next generation of African changemakers.
Satta Sheriff:
We can want all the change, but if we do not love where we come from, our roots, it’s easier for someone to come and just try to erase us.
Adelle Onyango:
Now, through their lived experiences and powerful insights, we’re going to be exploring how investing in women and girls transforms just not individual lives, but the future of Africa itself. So, first off, let’s jump right in with Ms. Graça Machel.
Adelle Onyango:
It’s such an honor to have you on this show, Graça Machel. Welcome.
Graça Machel:
Thank you very much for having me on this show.
Adelle Onyango:
Since the landmark Beijing Conference in 1995, how far do you think Africa has come since then?
Graça Machel:
We have some sectors in which we made really significant changes, and you can say it is fruits of the commands which came from Beijing. At that time, not all African governments had clear the policies, targets, institutional shaping to meet those targets on education, for instance. Today, any government on this continent has a policy on assets, retention, and success of girls in education. Some of the countries, in fact, they have reached already, I mean, 50% of enrollment in the first year of the systems. Our challenge has been now in retention and success, and even in transition from primary to secondary or to technical institutions. But it is no doubt that everybody has taken on board the importance and even put laws, regulations and, as I’m saying, institutions to make sure that education is provided to girls.
This is one thing. Today, it’s no longer a question of how do we bring women to political position. I’m talking of government, I’m talking of parliament, and even the judiciary. Policies are the… and some countries, in fact, have made very visible efforts to make sure that our governments have a gender balance. Africa has today the highest service retention of women in the judiciary. We do have also, I mean, the wonderful news of having the very first woman who was elected as a head of state. So, this is some good examples. But perhaps I should say the areas where we face much more challenge is the economy. Most of our economies on the continent, and the so-called informal sector, which means they’re not registered — these small businesses, they are not registered and they are not really acknowledged in the way of how to make them grow.
The economy, I think, it’s one of the areas where not even legislation and regulations are solid. So, the commands still haven’t been made.
Adelle Onyango:
So, to someone who’s listening, because we can push for policies to change, but policies and governance and systems are made by people. We’re the ones in there upholding them. What do you think we need to change in our mindset, as you’ve touched on, when it comes to how we view women on the continent, just as individuals, even?
Graça Machel:
I think we need very seriously to give the same value to a girl as to a boy. And that begins in the family. Girls having the same value, the same respect, and the same kind of incentives for a girl to flourish and to thrive. Some of our communities, they believe that, well, they have to promote boys, but girls, they have to remain at home to support the family. And they even go as far as to believe that they have the right to decide when she should get married, and when she’s marrying, the family she goes to believe they have the right to tell her how many children she should have. The societal norms which we have derived from the fact that it is not even the same values, the same respect, the same kind of incentive to a girl child as we do with boys.
And this is a huge impediment for us to achieve equality. So, how do we do this? I think we need to perhaps to have another coming together of the same courage, not in Beijing, but on the continent, where we discuss these things, we challenge these things. Our traditional leaders, they have to be the one to incentive to say, “In my community, I’m not going to accept that the young families which discriminate against girls. In my communities, whatever are the rituals, which they have to be performed to serve the beliefs of communities in a societal kind of relationship, but they should never violate the rights to a girl.”
I’m glad to say that girls begin to the ones who challenge this as well. It shouldn’t be defined by women alone. We need men and women to come forward, and really to recognize that between a man and a woman, there is no hierarchal of value. And they shouldn’t have even a hierarchy of power, but there should be complementarity amongst them, and bringing to the family different strengths, of course, but that enriches the family. It doesn’t make them inferior to others. And to continue also with public policy so that this education and this change of mindset has to be repeatedly reminded to all of us, particularly for those who want positions of leadership. It’s extremely important. So we have to have a movement from the grassroots, but we need to continue to have movement also in the public space.
Adelle Onyango:
When we’re looking at African women’s leadership and economic empowerment, education, as you’ve mentioned, what do you think, even international partners or regional organizations or even the work that you’re doing at Graça Machel Trust, what do you think needs to be prioritized so that we’re seeing these commitments from 30 years since, and all the commitments since then, being actualized in relation to African women in education, women’s leadership, and economic empowerment, especially?
Graça Machel:
There are already plans. There are already even networks which are working on this. They just need to do more and it will have much more results. Where I think we should prioritize this economy because you look around, you don’t find very clear commands which each government shouldn’t be compelled to implement to make sure that they bring women who are in the so-called informal sector to come into the formal economy. And the formal economy is the one which gives value, which can count, what is the contribution of women in GDP? But if their informal sector, although they provide stability to our families, millions of families, they depend on the informal sector, but this is not reflected in the GDP of the country. When the government doesn’t seem to have clear responsibilities of how to elevate this mediums to formal, and from the base, the first one we call small and medium enterprise.
What are the steps which should be taken to bring them to the big economy? And this is where the Graça Machel Trust come. We decide that because we have a privileged space in African landscape, then we should be focusing and raising these issues. So we start from what you can call the missing middle of those women who are in informal economy, but they’re so small, and they don’t manage to grow their business to be of a huge contribution to expand our economies. And we have been training women in terms of how to run properly their business and get it properly organized, how to advertise their businesses to have access to market, how they should know where to get capital to make their business grow because that’s where we feel we can bring this so-called contribution of African women in the small and medium to become the contribution in the big economy. Because it will benefit the economy, it will benefit society, it will benefit our political systems to be much more democratic, much more inclusive. And it will lead us to societies which are more stable and which are respecting the value of each one of its members.
Adelle Onyango:
What’s currently giving you hope for the future of African girls and women? What’s one place that you’re looking at and you’re like, this is great, and it’s fueling you?
Graça Machel:
When a child sees the suffering and say, “I want to be president of my country.” It is because one, she knows there’s no limit to what I can achieve? And that position, I deserve it. And I want to be the. These are not issues of giving us hope. They are giving us examples of how profound and by how high is the transformation, for example, of the mindset. And the mindset is saying there are no limits to any girl in this continent to where she can go. And I think, in my work, I have found thousands of these cases. It’s more than hope. It’s a snapshot of what is coming, what is flourishing, not in the eye of everyone. And so I will finish by saying our responsibility as those who have had, I mean so many privileges in the past, is exactly to create those so that these girls, very young ones, adolescents, and young women, they need a platform where they can express themselves.
They can assert themselves. They can exactly take control of the future they want for themselves for generations which follow them. So, it’s not going to happen. As we speak, there are millions of them. But where are they? How do we get to them? It is our responsibility to create those platforms so that they will use them. And you, we will find you, as you talk to me, you will see your sisters of your generation, which is not difficult to who are in any country, where you feel that taking control of the future is not things which are going to happen tomorrow. They are happening now, and we are the architects of that transformation.
Adelle Onyango:
I just have to say, it’s been such a pleasant experience having this conversation with you, so many tangible points you have given us, and so much value and thank you for the work you do and for making time to be with us on the show.
Graça Machel:
Well, thank you for this opportunity. And I just want to tell you that you don’t have to thank me. This is what we are here to do. For many reasons, we have been people who have been privileged. And with privilege comes responsibility. So, we are doing the responsibility we have really helping them, I mentioned to you, to create those spaces, to give you the visibility, to have the network, which will be the strength of the collective. Because you alone cannot change the world, but in a network, a big network, oh yes, the power you have, the capacity you have, the innovation you can bring together, it’s limitless. So, this is what we have to do more and more on the continent to give you the space, give you the visibility to listen to your colleagues.
And let me finalize with this. I don’t like the word of saying we are empowering girls. They have the power already. They are very powerful. It’s not for us to give them neither power, neither voice. They have the power. They have the voice. What they need is the space to express themselves, as we were saying, to network so that they will come with the strengths of working together so that, from a dozen of them, you will have hundreds, you will have thousands, thousands, hundreds of thousands. And then you have the millions taking the space which they deserve.
Adelle Onyango:
Let’s jump into the world of building movements across the continent with Françoise Moudouthe.
Françoise, thank you for taking time to be with us.
Françoise Moudouthe:
Thanks for having me.
Adelle Onyango:
When we talk about African women and girls, how can we reimagine the way their stories are told so that, yes, they’re sustainable investment, but we’re still honoring their agency, their diversity, their power and their complexity as well.?
Françoise Moudouthe:
The first thing for me is to think differently about who tells the story. The thing about our stories is that, as you said, they are often told, but very often not by us. And because of all the biases around who we are as African women, African girls, African gender diverse people, you know, that story when it is not told by us, it then becomes a story that is so layered with all the biases that people have had over decades and centuries, and what is lost in our stories is our voice. So, for me, it’s about centering our own voices in the telling of our stories. And once that is done, then the story immediately becomes a story of agency. It doesn’t become just a story of suffering or just a story of pain or anything like that. Because our lives, every single day, we look around, whether it’s an African market from Douala to Maputo, is the same agency that is buzzing.
So, I think it’s about who tells the story. And is that story focused on our voice or on other people’s perceptions? That tells the whole story for me.
Adelle Onyango:
What are your feelings around sustained investment in terms of telling our stories? How should we be careful that we are not trying to bend the story so that we get the funding, and we remain steadfast and very centered in our agency?
Françoise Moudouthe:
When it comes to our stories and how to invest in how our stories are told, I think the first thing to do is invest, as I said earlier, in who tells the story, and not come to people with the storyboard already. I think if you want the story of agency, you must invest in the agency, right? Instead of investor. Or this is a story, and who can tell that story? You look at who’s out there, give them the tools, give them the space because often you even have the tools. You don’t need to dictate the story to them. Just say, “Look, here’s a mic, just do the thing.” Theory is not always something that we have written down, but the reality is one that we’ve experienced.
And so if we look at our lived experiences, not like professional expertise, but really lived experiences, like the roots and the core of our knowledge and our learning and our movement building, that’s a very different story. So, in terms of investment, it’s investing — something investing; it’s not even money. It’s like pass the mic. Get out of the way and just pass the mic, and get out of the way and let people tell their stories. As somebody also I head the fund, I do, the African Women’s Development Fund, we are a grant maker. One of our strategic partners is really about investing in a very inclusive and agency-focused way in the narratives, the messaging, the knowledge, really the ancestral and agency-focused knowledge of African women, African girls, and Africans and diverse people. And just, again, like understanding what it takes, what they need to tell that story, making sure that is available, and literally get out of the way.
And when they’re done, give them the space and the opportunities to then amplify because it’s about telling the story. But we are in a sector where, by design, people will not listen. So, sometimes it’s about the telling of the story, but it’s fighting for the space for folks to listen. And so I think maybe being an investor in that sometimes is being a facilitator. Sometimes we don’t have the money. But what we do have, we have access, we have our own voices, we have connections. And so what we can do is use all of this to make sure that those stories are not just told, but that they are heard.
Adelle Onyango:
This is a very important year, Françoise. It’s 30 years post Beijing. This is a series of conferences that, here in Kenya, I still remember my late mom and her friends talking about it. It was even part of slang. It was such a huge event for women, especially in that generation. And now there are things we are able to do because of that. I just want to know your thoughts on how far we’ve come in the 30 years, first and foremost, and then looking forward because the show is about the future of Africa, what practical policy actions or commitments do we need to see, let’s say, African governments do, international partners do so that we shift the next 30 years and do our part?
Françoise Moudouthe:
At the Beijing Conference, the Beijing declaration, those were really groundbreaking moments. I think the main achievement for me was this spirit of we can do this for us, by us, with our own, but doing it across different regions and coming together with a collective agenda. I think that was very, very impressive. And when you speak to them now, they talk to you about the small things, the small wins, the small connections. There’s a lesson there that we tried to change the whole face of the universe, but only the small moves got done collectively made that happen. And that’s a lesson that I think we all need to continue to learn as we think about how to move the needle in this very, incredibly difficult context we are in right now.
I think some of the wins that we’ve had have been amazing in terms of policy, in terms of framing this basic concept that women’s rights are human rights, too. These are basic things that were put on the global policy scheme. I think there’s some really key issues around gender-based violence, some issues around economic empowerment is the word that was being used at the time, recognizing girls rights specifically as an area of work. I think there was some like basic recognition of the key issues as policy issues, not as personal struggle. I think that was very important, and led the way for the way governments organized national policies for this and that.
For me, the three keys for the future will be, one, coordination, you know, inspired by the spirit of our aunties. I call them the Beijing aunties. You know, like that ability to bring other forces, our thoughts together, and to coordinate. And sometimes it means not everybody is going to agree, but we need to at least agree on the core of what we’re pushing for. The second key for me is sustain the work to be able to see what’s the resources for this work is going to happen. Because I think one of the issues that we’ve dealt with since is Beijing is that we created that agenda and we made it dependent on people whose agenda is different to fund ours. Like, that is something that, as the Gen-Z said, “The math is not mathing.”
You know, like, this is not going to work. We cannot have this objective and use the platforms, use the money, use the spaces created by people who think very differently to advance our agenda. That’s just doomed to fail. It’s just doomed. It’s not going to happen. I think the third thing for me, I think something that we maybe haven’t prioritized as much, is movement building. And the only way through is together. And what does together mean? Is a question I ask myself. Together doesn’t just mean those of us who can quickly come together. We need to build movements from the margins in and think about centering the voices that we have marginalized for so long, whether because of where they are, or which languages they speak.
Maybe they don’t organize in the NGO way. And yet the feminists who are moving things in the banking industry are not part of what we call our movements. Right? I think movement building is exceptionally important. I think it’s actually the only way through and is the only way that we’re going to build the next 30 years is to come together in a very intentional, it will be difficult, I think, as well, but I think it’s going to be extremely important that we do that. Otherwise, there’s no way, and it’s not going to happen another way. So, we have to do the hard work of coming together, invest not just in the work, in the pieces of the work, but in the glue that takes all these pieces together and make it more than the sum of its parts.
Adelle Onyango:
In your experience, have you seen instances where the transformative impact of investing in women and girls in Africa worked and really even went past, only benefiting the women or the girls, but really benefiting the community?
Françoise Moudouthe:
I think there’s some work around covering the bases. There is this push for innovation, innovation, innovation. Look, I’m all for innovation, but somebody needs to hold the line, right? If we do not hold the line, we’ll still have babies dying from FGM. So, I think this holding the line work, which is sometimes seen as, not exciting, you know, like not new and shiny, but it needs to be done. I think the work there around social norms, I mean, I’m coming from also at the beginning of my career, working for a long time on ending child marriage — some of this work is grunt work, you know, going to the communities, engaging the community leaders who do the cutting, the grandmothers who cover up for the cut, like just going and doing this door to door awareness raising.
But maybe the language is different. Maybe the approach is different. But the holding the line work is very important, and it changes things because it empowers the individual, incentivizes the community. And it also like looks at the policies and the legislation, which is very critical. And then you have to look at the services, right? Because if your policy services, if your education services are not there, that’s not going to work. So, all of this, like holding the line work, very, very critical, the advocacy as well. So, I think that piece of work is very, very important. And I’m always excited to see, and from an issue to the other, I’m always excited because when the work is done, that doesn’t go away. And you will see those girls who are in those like empowerment programs that have now become the leaders… I mean, in our board, I’m very excited, we have a new board member who is from Niger and was one of those NGO your babies on family planning issues and doing this ground work.
And when I see her leadership in issues around sexual reproductive and reproductive health and rights globally, I just feel like that work that you do on the ground, you’re building up the people who will be the leaders of the tomorrow that we’re talking about. I guess the second thing I’m very excited about is to see the leadership programs. We cannot just assume leadership to be the byproduct of our work. It needs to be invested. So, I’m really excited about the feminist consciousness-building schools. We’ve seen some in East Africa as well for years and years, the AWLI, the African Women’s Leadership Institute, and some others that are coming up in West Africa, in North Africa. We’re seeing that’s coming up and up.
I think this is so critical because it gives people the basis, but not just the initial bases, like I want to say almost the feminist politics on which the work is being built. I think is very critical. So, I’m excited to see how this is building up because it’s very important that we don’t lose the core of the feminist politics as we do the work in a way that is professionalized and NGO-wise and funded and all of these things. So, I think that’s very important. And I’m always excited to see this. Because then when you see those leaders, wherever they end up in, whatever sector, whatever positions, sometimes just in their homes, I mean, the way they change the world around them, and again, I really believe in small changes coming together.
And the last thing that I’m really excited is when I see organizations thinking an entirely different future. I think a lot of us are stuck managing the day to day. And because it’s so overwhelming, it’s hard to see what is the future we are moving towards. We need to reimagine that future. I’m excited about organizations like now, for example, which is reimagining the future for economic justice and looking at trade and debt and equity issues that we often wait for because, like, hey, this looks complicated, but like, they can do it, you know, imagine a new economic order for the entire world that is rooted in the kind of values that we want to see for ourselves and for our daughters and our children in the future.
And that’s beautiful. And I think narrative is a common thread across that we have to do. But the other common thread is resources. I didn’t really understand the importance of resourcing until I joined the Africa Women Development Fund. And I realized, like, you don’t just have to mobilize resources, you have to mobilize the right kind of resources in so much more bigger amounts because there’s so much work to fund. And then you have to find a way to redistribute the resources in the way that you become the good funding that you are calling for, which means we have to transform our own ways.
And that’s been the work I’ve been doing AWDF for the past five years or so, to rethink ourselves. And sometimes we have to transform growing pains, but that is for the good of that future we’re talking about. So, we have to be willing to do the hard work of looking in the mirror and say, “How do we become what we’re calling for ourselves?” And yeah, sometimes it’s rethinking our systems, rethinking our processes, rethinking our politics, but always in a way that is in service of the people that we are here every day, that we wake up every day to serve.
Adelle Onyango:
I think in closing, what I want to know is what gives you hope for the future of African girls and young women?
Françoise Moudouthe:
I think what gives me hope, and what has been giving me hope lately, because it’s been a very difficult times, especially to be a leader in this sector and to be asked to inspire hope when you struggle to find it yourself. So I’ve been really looking around me, and like, where are the pockets of joy? Where the pockets on hope? And there’s two things that really give me hope. It gives me a lot of hope to look at the very, very young generation of African girls, African women, and diverse folks. Like my daughter is like mine, and the things she takes for granted that she doesn’t question her place in the world, you know, the things that she doesn’t have to fight.
I mean, she will encounter patriarchy in all of the ways, you know, I’m sure she already does in some ways, but her baseline is so much stronger. And I think I see this around us. I mean, I see the social media, I just see the younger partners that we have that they will not take no as the baseline. No. They will push for what they know their own, not what they hope their own. That baseline is very different. And so we have to protect that baseline from the attacks of the anti-gender and others because it’s just beautiful. It gives me so much hope to see younger people who don’t question their worth.
They don’t question whether being a woman or being African or being black is an issue of their worth. They see the issues, they’re like, “This is not my issue. Patriarchy is the issue, and I’m going to tackle it.” I love that. It gives me so much hope. Because it’s such an interesting thing to see for me to be in the middle between my daughter and my mother. And those are just generation after generation. So, I think we need to protect that baseline, and that baseline getting stronger, and stronger even as they keep moving the goalposts, but our baseline is getting stronger, and that is beautiful to see. And the second thing that really gives me a lot of hope in this year we’ve talked about Beijing, plus there has been a lot of intergenerational discussions.
We at AWDF actually hosted one in March this year, and it was beautiful to see, and the metaphor that kept coming back was the metaphor of a relay race, right? That the feminist aunties that went to Beijing, they did everything that they could. And it is upon us to take that baton. And what they did tell us that time is don’t drop the baton. Whatever happens, even if it’s only two steps that you can make, just do not drop the baton. I think this thing about seeing the baton being handed, for a long time, we saw the intergenerational dialogue space being one of confrontation. And I’m seeing this evolution. And I think the discussions around Beijing helped with that a lot, to be a place where we can be safe, even when we disagree.
But seeing the continuation rather than confrontation in this. And the intergeneration spaces, they are not easy, especially to facilitate, but I think they’re critically important because these are spaces where we realize the learning doesn’t just go one way. There’s a lot of kind of learning both ways and then learning sideways. You will learn every day from the people you didn’t even know were a carrier of knowledge. So, it goes back to the story, I think goes back to how do we use our stories to redefine who is a teacher and who is a learner, especially at a time where the entire world is facing things that our people have lived it for the longest time? So, who is a teacher now?
Adelle Onyango:
Oh, thank you so much for being on the podcast and for the work that you’re doing. We celebrate you, and I’m very sure everybody who is listening to this is super inspired. So, thank you so much.
Françoise Moudouthe:
Thank you, Adelle. Thanks so much for having me.
Adelle Onyango:
Now let’s jump into Satta Sheriff.
Satta Sheriff, it’s so great to have you on the podcast and to meet you.
Satta Sheriff:
Thank you so much. I’m really excited to be here.
Adelle Onyango:
What are some of the experiences that you hold dear to you from that moment that you saw how you could have an impact on your community in Liberia?
Satta Sheriff:
I spent a couple of years in the Georgian Parliament before I became a speaker. So the way the Georgian’s Parliament works is that is like a normal parliament. So, the Liberian government system is modeled after the United States because of our entire history. So, we have like a national parliament where we have the House of Representatives and we have the Senate as well. So, by the time I got elected as national speaker after the national elections, I was the first female for a couple of years. And then I had the opportunity, I had to move to go to the Capitol because that’s where the speaker have to reside, so it meant I had to teach my high school. I had an office at the Ministry of Gender. But just because our office was in the government, we were still protesting against the government. And that was how it happened.
So, then the parliament really helped to build my foundations in activism. We were challenging the same people who were supervising us. Like I said, we would do protests at the police station if something was wrong. If we sent letters to them, they are not listening, we will go there. And if every country in Africa could have something that allows children to learn to go, how to participate in national conversations and speak up for their rights, it will be really nice. And I think it’s one of the best gift you can give for children as well.
Adelle Onyango:
I’m completely there with you, and especially since education also allows you to see possibilities for yourself that you couldn’t see before. All of a sudden, you’re like, “Wait, so I can be president? I can be in parliament." And these are not things that you even thought were possible for you as a young girl. And so I’m there with you.
Satta Sheriff:
Some people will argue and be like, oh, too much education will make, like you and I get married, and I have the children, you won’t… I think that’s a choice for a lot of women. They get to decide what they want. You can choose, like I’m going to get all this education, and I want to have my children so that they too can have some of the opportunities so that we can continue this legacy, the African legacy and everything. So, I feel like education is the beginning of it all. And education comes in different forms. There are women like my mom who did not go to school, but they had a huge influence on who we’ve become. And so also recognizing that some of them, who did not sit in like the formal classroom, also holds so much power. And because there were things that they were able to learn and because of that form of education, they were able to pass something farther down to us as well.
So, education comes in so many form, and I think it’s important that every woman and a girl have access to one.
Adelle Onyango:
Something else that I don’t think very many people get, especially when we’re championing for women’s rights, be it we want them to be safe, we want women to have financial power, we want dignity even, a lot of times you get pushback because it’s seen as a threat. Just as you said, like, oh, now you’re not going to want to get married, you’re not going to want to have kids, that’s just like one side of the thread. What people never seem to get is that when you ensure that women and girls have these things that we’re championing for, it positively impacts everybody. It even positively impacts economies. It’s like a win-win for everyone. Have you had situations where you’ve seen that tangibly happen? You work to champion the rights of girls, the rights of women, and you’ve seen the positive impact even beyond the individual women and girls.
Satta Sheriff:
Yes, definitely. In 2020, during the heat of COVID, I was in school doing my undergraduate in the U.S. One thing about me, despite being away from home, I feel like that’s where my calling is. So, that’s where I’m doing a lot of my work. So, I’m still very engaged. So, during COVID, there was a lot of cases of domestic SGB, sexual domestic violent cases, rape and all of that because there was lockdown. People were in isolation and all of that. And there were reports from the UN and other institutions saying that if people are together, it’s common sense. If people are together, even if, like me, as someone is in the same place over and over, people start giving people side eye, and all that.
And so domestic violence, there were going to be reports. But when the government of Liberia was listing the essential institutions that should continue running during the lockdown, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection was not listed as an essential institution. What it meant was cases of sexual domestic violence was not important technically because then how do you report these cases? If the social workers and are working, if the women are children protection session at the police station, all of their staff will have to, because those are the issues they had to deal with. When I heard the news or read the list and everything, I decided to read an article, it was from Page Africa about that, expressing my concern that the Ministry of Gender is an essential institution. And just expressing like the normal concern that there were going to be issues around domestic violence. And there are already issues.
There were reports on the radio. So, I wasn’t just talking because I was just like a loud student. No. I saw the minister saw the article. She countered the ad. I don’t know. She thought it was like some kind of fight. If I say something, she says something. So the thing about the news, people, they carry the news. And so, like before you know it, we receive a case from one of the counties about, then it was it was a two-year-old. There was a case of a seven-month-old baby, and there was a case of a two-year-old that was brutally raped. And the razor blade was used on her. So, it was so graphic, like the moment you describe, like everyone in the country, there were conversations. And that was when the government have already listed, you know, the Ministry of Gender, the institution that should be dealing with the case has no essentials.
And the minister trying to defend the government. And so then other people started talking too, you know, so it wasn’t just me now that was being defiant or like trying to call out the government. And before you know it, that grew into something bigger. There was another case that came out again. So, the young people decided, no, enough is enough. A couple of my other friends, we decided to organize a protest, a three days national protest. Because of that, we founded at the Affiliation of Women and Children Rights Advocates in the country. And so what it did was it was like a conglomeration of like youth groups, women groups and children groups.
The Children’s Parliament, My Institution, the National Youth and Children Advisory Board, a couple of other institutions, we decided to come together and say enough is enough. In fact, we just did not want the Ministry of Gender to be open this time around. We said we wanted the president to declare rape as a national emergency, and so that escalated. Other people too saw the need. They said, “Yes, yes, yes.” For three days, my part of the work was writing all the… because I’m away. and my friends are mounting the pressure and everything, so for three days, the young people decided to organize a peaceful protest. So, protests were happening across the 15 counties. Because we already have this project, we already have friends in the counties for children’s parliament. That network already existed. And so, because of that three days protest, of course, some arrests happened. The police were policing, doing the things they shouldn’t do at some point. But the international media, a couple for the people, the had just joined as well. And they invited us to a national SGBV, sexual gender-based violence conference.
And by the end of the conference, the president of Liberia declared rape as a national emergency. He initially pledged 2 million USD to the fight against rape. That was not all. For the first time, they established the National Sex Offenders list, simply because we saw something the government did not list the Ministry of Gender as an essential institution, called the alarm, said we want it to be national emergency. It was not just impacting rape victims. Now, it escalated to a level where the government started taking action beyond what we were demanding. And up to now, the fight against rape is still in the national budget. There are still conversations.
Although we haven’t seen all the change in the world, but I do believe that in that was the beginning of something, and that conversation is continuing. And I want to encourage other young people when you see something wrong, no matter how small it look, no matter how far away you are from home, just be constructive, do your research, and speak up. There are people who are going to join you, and, in fact, they are going to champion that cause more than you. So, sometimes you’ve got to take the first step. It might seem scary. You might be arrested or caught as a troublemaker or say, “Oh, this person [inaudible 00:50:19]." We’re all Africans, and sometimes the elders don’t want you to speak.
But you have to try. You have to say something. Something will lead to something, and something lead to something.
Adelle Onyango:
That is so incredible. And it takes a spark to start a fire. And really, honestly, if you are listening and there is something that you’ve seen that is actually not right, that’s happening, even if you’re scared, speak up. Chances are there’s many other people watching who also want to have that same impact that you have, and that’s just such a wonderful example of how it just takes one person to be courageous enough and the impact will be felt across different communities. And so, when you look at Africa’s future, and I keep telling people, yes, it feels like there’s so much that’s happening right now that is frustrating and makes me angry, obviously in Kenya, we’re having our protests again, really led by Kenyan youth who are just so inspiring. But at the same time, in the middle of that frustration, I’m also like, this is such a wonderful time to be an African and to be an African woman.
I can’t let go of that excitement and the hope as well. What are you most hopeful and excited for when we look towards the future?
Satta Sheriff:
This generation of Africans, they know what they want. A lot of us, we are tired of being labeled as people who don’t know anything, ee don’t know how to speak English and all that. We are tired of being negatively portrayed on Google as people who are beggars and savages and all that. What I see is that this generation of Africans that are getting educated, whether some of our education is coming from the West or back home or wherever we are learning from, the thing is we want things to change for the better. When I listen to some young Africans, I’m just so inspired and it’s because we want better, you know what I mean? And it comes from what is from the educational system back home? What is from like human rights violation? What is from our government? People are demanding change. Young people are not just sitting like crossing their legs.
We are the ones holding the government accountable. We are the ones saying that, “Oh, look, gone are those days when things were happening as usual. This time around, what do you have in the budget for education? What do you have in a budget for young people?" I mean, there are issues in the youth community and all that, but that is just a part of the whole. There is a whole bigger picture. And I do think that this is going to spill over. This is going to become something big. And I do think this is going to lead to the united Africa that some of our forefathers believe. Because there will come a time, let me tell you, I am hope that one day, I don’t know how I sound, but I’m hopeful that one day the Africans will travel across the continent, we’ll not have visa restrictions, we’ll not have like colonial borders to restrict us anymore.
There will be unity, and we will see the beauty in our skin color, in our hair, in everything about us. We’ll appreciate the clothes we wear and everything. That we will not allow other people to define who we are, but the essence of us will come from where we come from because that’s who we are as a people. We are diverse. We are beautiful no matter our skin color, no matter how we speak, we respect each other, and that alone will form the kind of African that will not just go to the table to beg for it, but will bring our ideas and everything that we are. For me, that’s how I am. And I’m to note that other young Africans that are out there that are just getting educated, that are reading every day to build up their minds. They are not trying to embrace what we stand for.
That will challenge our leaders, but also love them enough to hold them accountable, and to also want to maintain some of our values. Because we can want all the change, but if we do not love where we come from, our roots, it’s easier for someone to come and just try to erase us. So for me, I have hope, I have faith in this generation and the want to come before us.
Adelle Onyango:
And you know what? Like, even as you’re talking, I’m just feeling that energy and I’m receiving it, and I hope everybody listening-
Satta Sheriff:
Our food, our music, let me tell you, it’s incredible. One day, they are going to see the beauty of it all.
Adelle Onyango:
Thank you so much for being on the podcast.
Satta Sheriff:
Thank you so much, too, as well for hosting me.
Mark Leon Goldberg:
Adelle, thank you so much for a great and really important episode. And I must say, this episode contains one of my favorite lines from this entire series, when Graça Machel said she does not like the phrase “empowering girls.” They’re already powerful. “It’s not us,” she said, “who gives them power or voice. They have the power. What they need is space.”
Adelle Onyango:
Wasn’t that something, Mark? I absolutely resonated with that. Graça is so powerful. And that point about not empowering girls is a powerful reset, if you ask me. And I think it also came up through my conversation with Françoise because she really pushed us to reimagine how we tell stories about African women. And I think they both reminded us that African women already have agency, already have power. What we need to do is center their voices, invest in their leadership, and just make sure the stories being told are filtered through external biases, which I think is what we’re doing on this show.
Mark Leon Goldberg:
So, Adelle, I’m keenly interested in your personal perspective on many of the issues raised in this episode. You are a pioneering podcaster and media entrepreneur, and have made a career using your platforms to support African women. As someone who was already deeply invested in this topic, what solution have you heard that most resonated with you here?
Adelle Onyango:
I think it’s solution and a challenge, right? That really resonated deeply with me. It’s like the acknowledgment that in order to push the needle in the next 30 years, we have to focus on movement building, on intentionally changing our mindset on how we value women, and doing all of this in a very sustainable, strategic way. And I feel like the metaphor that kept coming up was of a relay race. Right? And that really stayed with me. Each generation of African women is passing the torch and ensuring that it’s never dropped. So, that image really stayed with me. It captures the moment of both urgency and hope, and then challenged me to be like, I’ve taken on the baton. What am I doing for the next generation of African women?
Mark Leon Goldberg:
Adelle, thank you again for another great episode in this series. I love this episode.
Adelle Onyango:
Oh, me too, Mark. And if you love this one, the next episode is going to be incredible because we really look at how do we ensure that, as we’re focusing on Africa’s future, that Africans remain healthy enough to see that future?
Mark Leon Goldberg:
Well, I’m looking forward to it. Thank you, Adelle.
Adelle Onyango:
Thanks, Mark.
Mark Leon Goldberg:
Thank you for listening to The Future of Africa — a special series on Global Dispatches, produced in partnership with the African Union, The Elders, and the United Nations Foundation. I’m Mark Leon Goldberg, the host and founder of Global Dispatches. This series is hosted by Adelle Onyango. It is edited and mixed by Levi Sharpe. You can find all episodes in this series and access episode transcripts at globaldispatches.org.