From the grassroots to the continental level, AfWID women are mapping a shared future

 African Women from the continent’s 55 countries successfully convened in Johannesburg from 24 to 27 January 2026 for the African Women in Dialogue (AfWID) Review Session, convening to take stock of AfWID’s seven-year journey and collectively shape its future as a Pan-African women’s movement.

The Review Session marks a strategic pause in the life of AfWID to critically reflect on its impact and interrogate its organising model. It is also to determine how it must evolve to remain relevant, inclusive, and sustainable in a rapidly changing global and continental context.

“Our journey to build the AfWID platform continues. We are committed to embedding practical ways for African women to organise, resource, and sustain themselves from the grassroots to the continental stage,” says Riah Phiyega, CEO of the Women’s Development Business Trust (WDB Trust).

“We want to see its footprint taking root in different regions and countries. For the movement to be strong, it must be anchored locally, so that whatever is agreed at continental level is actively promoted, owned, and implemented at community, village level,” she adds.

Ms Phiyega says the immense task is to bring forth the voices of African women and ensure that, in every sphere of society, women are meaningfully heard, participate as decision-makers and actively drive the gender inclusivity agenda.

“Just as importantly, we must ask how we can translate our own organisational building lessons into practical support for our sisters across the continent,” she explains.

The Review Session comes at a time of profound uncertainty, shrinking aid budgets, and increasing pressure on donor-funded organisations across the continent. In this context, WDB Trust, through the AfWID platform, is intentionally opening conversations about diverse pathways to sustainability, including how African women-led initiatives can navigate relationships with a wider ecosystem of actors while remaining accountable to women across board.

Founded in 2018 by the WDB Trust, AfWID was created to respond to a long-standing gap on the continent: the absence of women-led, Pan-African spaces, convened by African women for African women to shape narratives, influence agendas, and co-create solutions grounded in their lived realities. Since then, AfWID has convened more than 3600 women through three major dialogues and grown into a trusted continental platform that centres feminist leadership, solidarity, and collective action across generations, sectors, and geographies.

More than a dialogue forum, AfWID has become a critical feminist infrastructure: a space that holds memory, builds movement, and enables African women to engage power on their own terms creating a humane world we all want.

The 2026 Review Session brought together over 200 women who have built, stewarded, and lived AfWID, including members of the AfWID Secretariat, Steering Committee, Country Coordinators, Content Curators and Feminist Advisors, SA Women in Dialogue, and AfWID participants.

This intergenerational and Pan-African convening ensures that AfWID’s future is shaped collectively by African women themselves.

Insights from the Review Session will inform the refinement of AfWID’s collective narrative and guide the development of the AfWID Toolkit: a practical, adaptable resource documenting the AfWID model and offering guidance to women-led initiatives across the continent seeking to build inclusive, feminist spaces for dialogue and action.

Ultimately, the AfWID Review Session reaffirms the WDB Trust’s enduring commitment to women-led development and feminist leadership, while recognising that AfWID belongs to a broader ecosystem of African women who continue to shape social, political, and economic transformation across the continent.