Pr Ndioro Ndiaye, former Minister of the Republic of Senegal and current President of the Alliance for Migration, Leadership and Development (AMLD), has written to RFLD on behalf of the Steering Committee of the International Symposium on Feminist Diplomacy in Francophone Africa, to thank our network for its financial support to the symposium that will take place in Dakar on 24 and 25 November 2026.
In a letter dated 27 October 2026 and addressed to Ms Bathor Seck, RFLD’s Country Representative in Senegal, Pr Ndioro Ndiaye expressed, on behalf of all members of the Steering Committee (COPIL), the committee’s “deep gratitude” for the financial support that the Réseau des Femmes Leaders pour le Développement will provide to the symposium. The letter describes this financial contribution as decisive for the success of the event, and as evidence of RFLD’s constant commitment to gender equality, to women’s rights and to a stronger role for women on the international stage.
For RFLD, this letter is more than a courtesy. It recognises a partnership built over several months with Senegalese institutions, United Nations agencies, Francophone networks and civil society organisations around one question that is still too rarely asked on our continent: what would it change for women if African foreign policy were feminist?
A letter from the Steering Committee
The symposium is steered by a broad Steering Committee that brings together government ministries, international institutions, human rights bodies, Senegalese civil society organisations and networks of experts in national and international development. AMLD, chaired by Pr Ndioro Ndiaye, holds the general coordination of the committee: it leads its meetings, coordinates contributions, sets the overall calendar, proposes the themes of the symposium and will gather and synthesise its proceedings.
The letter sent to RFLD follows the information we shared with the committee about our financial support. In it, the Steering Committee explains that this financial support will allow it to offer the best possible conditions of welcome and exchange to the panellists, experts and participants who will gather in Dakar to move this advocacy forward. “Your trust honours our committee and strengthens our determination to make this event one with real impact and lasting solutions,” the letter reads.
The Steering Committee also commits to highlighting RFLD’s institutional and financial support throughout the symposium and on its communication materials. We thank Pr Ndioro Ndiaye and every member of the committee for these words, and for the confidence they place in our network.
Pr Ndioro Ndiaye and AMLD: a long commitment to women’s leadership
Pr Ndioro Ndiaye is a former Minister of the Republic of Senegal. She now chairs the Alliance pour la Migration, le Leadership et le Développement (AMLD), an organisation that works on the links between migration, women’s leadership and development, and that has been at the heart of the reflection on feminist diplomacy in the Francophone space.
It was AMLD, together with members of the Réseau francophone pour l’égalité femme-homme (RFEFH), that opened this discussion during the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) in New York. The question raised there was simple and demanding: what place does gender hold in the way member countries of the Francophonie conduct their international, economic and cultural relations? The Dakar symposium is the next step of that reflection, this time on African soil and with African voices at the centre.
Two days in Dakar to build a “Dakar Consensus”
The International Symposium on Feminist Diplomacy in Francophone Africa will be held in Dakar on 24 and 25 November 2026. Its guiding question, set out in the concept note, is: how should our African countries adopt a feminist diplomacy to accelerate progress on equality between women and men?
The symposium aims to stimulate a strategic and inclusive reflection, to promote a gender-sensitive diplomacy adapted to African and Francophone realities, and to lead to shared commitments formalised in a common declaration: the “Dakar Consensus on Feminist Diplomacy in Africa”.
To get there, the organisers have set out several specific objectives:
- clarify what an operational feminist diplomacy means for our countries, in its concepts, principles and concrete applications;
- analyse the stakes and opportunities of feminist diplomacy at international, African and Francophone levels;
- identify progress, obstacles and resistance, including cultural, religious and social resistance, to the integration of gender into national and international policies, and propose advocacy strategies adapted to the African context;
- highlight the journeys, experiences and strategies of African women diplomats and negotiators, younger and older, and begin a catalogue of pioneers;
- share good practices and successful initiatives within African and Francophone organisations;
- explore the political, institutional and social levers for a more inclusive diplomacy;
- give young researchers and civil society activists a real role in leading the reflection and implementing its conclusions;
- formulate concrete and consensual recommendations for a feminist diplomacy in our countries and in Africa as a whole.
Six thematic areas
The work of the symposium will be organised around six thematic areas, each of which speaks directly to the daily lives of African women.
1. Women’s human rights as the common foundation. Civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights are the basis of any feminist diplomacy. The discussions will look at how to use the normative instruments that already exist: the Maputo Protocol, Agenda 2063 of the African Union, United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 2242, and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.
2. Governance, economy and work. How can bilateral agreements between countries of the North and the South of the Francophonie integrate the standards of a feminist diplomacy, so that trade, investment and cooperation stop reproducing inequalities between women and men?
3. Peace, security and mediation led by women. The symposium will discuss how to apply the Women, Peace and Security agenda of the UN Security Council in practice in Africa and in the Francophone space, at a time when many of our countries face crises in which women pay a heavy price and remain largely absent from the negotiating table.
4. Climate justice and eco-feminism. Here, the aim is to move away from a vision of women only as victims of climate change, and to recognise them as actors of sustainable solutions in agriculture, water, energy and the protection of natural resources.
5. Feminist diplomacy, technology and artificial intelligence. Ethics, digital inclusion and a feminist digital sovereignty will be on the agenda. This area echoes the growing concern about technology-facilitated violence against women, which RFLD carried to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in October.
6. Cultural, religious and social pressures: advocacy strategies. The last area will look at how to equip women activists and institutions to overcome cultural and religious resistance and bring progressive ideas into public debate.
The format will combine opening and closing plenaries, thematic panels, oral testimonies from women diplomats of different generations, the presentation of the catalogue of pioneers, a map of countries that have adopted a feminist foreign policy, advocacy workshops, and a final session dedicated to the collective validation of the Dakar Consensus.
Why this symposium matters
Feminist diplomacy is a recent idea. It was formalised for the first time by Sweden in 2014, under the leadership of its then Minister for Foreign Affairs, Margot Wallström, before being taken up by Canada (2017), France (2019), Mexico (2020) and Spain (2021). It places equality, inclusion and social justice at the heart of a country’s external action, and seeks to transform the practices, priorities and power relations that shape international relations.
Africa is not starting from zero. The continent has some of the most advanced texts in the world on women’s rights. The Maputo Protocol, adopted in 2003, protects the rights of women in Africa across all areas of life. Agenda 2063 places gender equality at the centre of the continent’s vision. ECOWAS has adopted a Supplementary Act on equality between women and men, approved by Senegal, and a Gender and Elections Strategic Framework. More than 30 African countries have turned Resolutions 1325 and 2242 into national action plans on women, peace and security.
Yet, as the concept note of the symposium points out, very few African States have so far adopted a clear and explicit feminist diplomacy, written into law or into a national strategy. In the global debate on this question, African States remain largely silent. And the numbers show how much remains to be done: according to the Global Diplomacy Index 2023, fewer than 22% of ambassadors in the world are women, even though studies by UN Women and the OECD show that greater participation of women strengthens conflict prevention, improves the peaceful resolution of crises and supports more lasting cooperation.
This is why the Dakar symposium is important. It offers a space that has been missing: a strategic and political dialogue that brings together women’s rights activists, national gender equality mechanisms, diplomats, human rights institutions, parliamentarians, researchers and young women leaders. It refuses to copy models built elsewhere for other contexts. Instead, it seeks a feminist diplomacy rooted in the political, cultural and historical realities of the continent, and built on the initiatives that African women are already leading.
The symposium also matters because of what it can produce. A “Dakar Consensus” adopted by such a broad coalition would give governments, parliaments, regional institutions and international partners a shared reference. It would give women’s organisations a tool to hold their States to account. And it would send a clear message to young African women: diplomacy, negotiation and international decision-making are their spaces too.
Finally, the symposium matters because of where it takes place. Dakar has long been a crossroads of Pan-African and Francophone diplomacy. Holding this conversation in Senegal, with the involvement of the Ministry of Family, Social Action and Solidarity and the Ministry of African Integration, Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad, gives it institutional weight and a direct line to the people who shape foreign policy.
A broad and diverse coalition
One of the strengths of the symposium is the diversity of the actors around the table. The two Senegalese ministries act as co-sponsors, providing institutional leadership and diplomatic support, and helping to involve the embassies and consulates accredited in Senegal and to align the event with regional agendas, including those of the African Union and ECOWAS.
The International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) and UN Women contribute political advocacy and support, and will help make sure that the recommendations become tools for reform across the Francophone space. The Network of Women Parliamentarians of the Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie (APF) and the Network of Women Parliamentarians of Senegal will pay particular attention to the conclusions that could be turned into national bills or regional conventions. The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) provides legal and ethical oversight, so that the fundamental rights of women are respected throughout the process.
Civil society is also strongly represented: J-GEN, EQUIPOP, ActionAid Senegal, AMLD, the Network of African Women Leaders for Peace and Development (RFALPD), the West African Network of Young Women Leaders (ROAJELF), the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN) in Senegal, and Warkha TV for communication. Each brings its own expertise, from resource mobilisation to digital communication, from the mobilisation of young women to the drafting of the final texts.
RFLD’s role in the Steering Committee
Within the Steering Committee, RFLD in Senegal is responsible for resource mobilisation and communication. In practice, our team contributes to building the logistics of the event, helps steer the digital communication strategy, including online forums and social media, and supports the mobilisation of the media and the general public. RFLD also takes part in defining the themes of the symposium, in co-drafting the call for contributions and the programme, and in co-formulating and coordinating the Dakar Consensus.
This role is a natural continuation of RFLD’s work. Our network brings together more than 1,100 women’s organisations in over 35 African countries and works to strengthen women’s leadership, protect women human rights defenders and carry their voices to regional and international mechanisms. In October 2026, during the 89th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Dakar, RFLD organised and facilitated several panels on the protection of women human rights defenders and on technology-facilitated gender-based violence. Feminist diplomacy is the logical extension of this advocacy: if women are to be protected, they must also be present where foreign policy, trade agreements and peace processes are decided.
Our commitment to the symposium is led by Ms Bathor Seck, RFLD’s Country Representative in Senegal, and by the team of our Dakar office, in close cooperation with the other members of the Steering Committee.
What comes next
In the coming weeks, RFLD will continue to work with AMLD and the members of the Steering Committee on the final programme, the mobilisation of participants and the communication around the symposium. We will share regular updates on our website and social media, and we will publish a summary of the discussions and the text of the Dakar Consensus once it is adopted.
We invite our member organisations, partners and all those who care about women’s rights in Africa to follow the symposium, to share its messages and to take part in the debates. Feminist diplomacy is not a distant concept reserved for ministries and embassies. It concerns the woman farmer affected by a trade agreement, the young mediator excluded from a peace process, the activist attacked online for her opinions, and the girl who dreams of becoming an ambassador.
RFLD warmly thanks Pr Ndioro Ndiaye for her letter, and renews its gratitude to all the members of the Steering Committee for their trust. We look forward to meeting in Dakar on 24 and 25 November 2026 to build, together, a Dakar Consensus that reflects the voices and the ambitions of African women.
