I think in the short term, as you will have seen in the last six months, the African Union (AU) and the United Nations have defined their frameworks … - Amina J. Mohammed

First of all, I think Africa is trying to make those strides that are necessary to achieving SDG 5 (Gender Equality). But the approach to development in Africa has always been ad hoc, and I think we have been pitting some of our greatest challenges against each other in terms of making choices. For example, we will say, Well we have to make a choice between a woman and health. Or a woman and an education budget. And I think this is where we have got it wrong. The fact is that women are an integral part of any investment, be it in health, in education, in agriculture, etc. Africa needs to recognise that our human resources are the biggest asset base that we have, and to ignore investing in 50% of it, is just foolhardy and affects results, as well as the rights that women have in their lives.

As human beings, what we look to is what they stood for.

And I think that we have to think and listen to what the leader is saying and doing, rather than judge what’s in the closet.