On World Youth Skills Day, I was delighted to join the African Women Leaders Network Nigeria and the Citizenship and Leadership Training Centre as a mentor for the second session of the Young Women’s Leadership Mentorship Programme, dedicated to women in politics and governance, alongside fellow mentors Dr Felicia Onibon, Founding President and CEO of Change Managers International Network, and Ms Hansatu Adegbite, National Consultant on Private Sector Partnerships with UN Women and immediate past Executive Director of Women in Management, Business & Public Service (WimBiz)

The United Nations has dedicated this year’s observance to the theme Skills for a Shared Future, and our session brought that theme to life by equipping young women to lead with empathy, bridge cultural divides, build resilience and help shape a more sustainable and inclusive future.

Skills development is essential to shared prosperity, social cohesion, peace and sustainable development, and nowhere is that investment more urgent than in politics. The Inter-Parliamentary Union’s Women in Parliament 2025 report shows that women hold just 27.5% of national parliamentary seats globally, following the slowest rate of progress since 2017, while 76% of women parliamentarians surveyed reported experiencing intimidation or abuse from the public.

Our session discussed women’s lived experiences in public office, barriers to political participation, and the funding, resource mobilisation and networks needed to sustain political careers. Mentorship is one of the strongest investments we can make in future leaders, a conviction reinforced through my work with the Wellbeing Foundation Africa and my service as a Counsellor to One Young World, where I have witnessed young leaders demonstrate innovation, cross-cultural and intergenerational fluency.

I call on governments, political parties and funders to match the ambition of these remarkable young women with quota frameworks that deliver, financing for first-time candidates, and institutions that protect women in public life so that women have a seat at every decision-making table.

 

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