Center for Women's Rights and Leadership

19/05/2026

May her soul rest in peace 🙏🏾

We are deeply saddened by the passing of Aida Alassane Ndiaye Riddick, a distinguished public servant from Côte d’Ivoire and a member of the inaugural cohort of our Amujae Initiative.

Aida brought to public service a background shaped by international experience and national engagement. Over the course of her career, she worked across diplomacy, development, and public administration, contributing to efforts that strengthened governance and regional cooperation. Her work reflected a commitment to service within Côte d’Ivoire and across the continent.

She joined the Amujae Initiative in 2020 as part of its first cohort, contributing to the early foundation of what has become a growing network of trailblazing African women in public leadership.

On behalf of our Founder, Former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, our Board of Directors, the Amujae Leaders, and the EJS Center team, we extend our heartfelt condolences to her family, colleagues, and loved ones during this difficult time.

Her life and leadership remain part of the legacy we continue to build.
We honor her service and her sisterhood within the Amujae community.

May her soul rest in peace.

19/05/2026

Announcing our 2026 Amujae Leaders!

We are thrilled to announce the 5th Cohort of the Amujae Initiative, 15 women from 14 African countries leading in AI, health, diplomacy, energy, peacebuilding, parliament, and beyond. This cohort becomes the most geographically and sectorally diverse selection in the Initiative’s history.

Welcome to Dr. Angela Nakafeero, Dr Anneline Chetty, Anta Babacar Ngom Diack, Chioniso Michelle Murinda, Christelle SAPPOT, Senator Crystal Asige, Djami Diallo, Dr. Esperance Luvindao, Julia Chimuna, Lalaina Randriarimanana, Marilyn Teta Logan, Victoria Mwanziva, Dakoa Newman, Dr. Rim Gasmi, Wadei Powell.

Discover their profiles here: https://ejscenter.org/fifteen-women-fourteen-countries-one-shared-mission-meet-our-fifth-cohort-of-amujae-leaders/

Every cohort, the network grows, and the proof deepens: that African women are not just ready to lead , they already are. We now count 70 Amujae Leaders in total across 5 cohorts from 29 African countries in the Amujae Initiative. Meet them all: https://ejscenter.org/our-work/amujae-initiative/

19/05/2026

Profiling our 5th Cohort of Amujae Leaders.

Anta Babacar Ngom Diack: CEO. Entrepreneur. Political Leader. Member of Parliament, Senegalese National Assembly.

In 2024, Anta Babacar Ngom Diack became the only woman to run for President of Senegal. She knew the road would not be easy but she walked it anyway, because at least one woman had to do it.

Today, she sits on both the Law and Finance Committees of Senegal's National Assembly, pushing on jobs, education, industrial policy, and the everyday realities of women and youth.

Before she entered the chamber, she built an empire. Anta Babacar spent over a decade modernising and expanding SEDIMA GROUP, one of West Africa's leading agro-industrial groups before deciding that business alone was not enough. Her country needed her in a different room.

In 2023, she founded ARC (Alternative pour la Relève Citoyenne), a citizen movement turned political party built around one conviction: that youth and women belong at the center of nation-building, not the margins.

Beyond the chamber, she is mentoring the next generation of young women who dare to imagine themselves in public life.

You can read her full profile here: https://ejscenter.org/ejs-amujae-leaders/anta-babacar-ngom-diack/

19/05/2026

Profiling our 5th Cohort of Amujae Leaders: Crystal Asige, Parliament of Kenya. Voted Kenya's Top Performing Senator for two consecutive years, Crystal Asige has built one of the most consequential legislative careers in Kenya's Senate.

Nominated to Kenya's 13th Parliament to represent persons with disabilities, women, and youth, Crystal Asige made history as the first and only Senator to span all three special interest groups. And she has done it all by faith, not by sight.

With the landmark Persons with Disabilities Act 2025 and five other Bills to her name, Senator Asige is dismantling the structural and societal barriers that she, like too many persons with disabilities, knows firsthand.

A University of the West of England graduate and Harvard Law School fellow, she is also a TIME Magazine Top 100 Next honoree, Vice Chair of the Senate Labour and Social Welfare Committee, Secretary General of the Kenya Disabled Parliamentarians Association, and founder of The Crystal Asige Foundation. Beyond the chamber, she is an inclusive mobility expert, accessibility auditor, and award-winning musician who has addressed the UN, the World Bank, the Swiss Economic Forum, and parliaments across the world.

Her full profile is available here: https://ejscenter.org/ejs-amujae-leaders/senator-crystal-asige/

19/05/2026

Profiling our 5th Cohort of Amujae Leaders: Djami Diallo, Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Government of Guinea. From the courtrooms of New York to the cabinet of Guinea, Djami Diallo has never taken the short road.

Trained as a lawyer at Penn State Law and the American University of Paris, and admitted to the bar in both New York and New Jersey, Djami Diallo built her early career across continents, practicing as an associate attorney in New York and working with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) before returning home to Guinea with a depth of international expertise.

Back on home soil, she spent seven years at the heart of the Presidency of the Republic of Guinea, serving as Director of Legal Affairs, Legal Advisor, and Deputy Chief of Staff, shaping the policy and legal architecture of a nation. She also served as Chairwoman of the Board of the Société Nationale des Pétroles (SONAP).

Today, as Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, she brings that same rigour to one of the most consequential challenges of our time, advancing Guinea's environmental policy and sustainable development agenda with the authority of someone who has worked at every level of law, governance, and international affairs. Read more about her here: https://ejscenter.org/ejs-amujae-leaders/minister-djami-diallo/

03/05/2026

2May World Press Freedom Day

01/05/2026

Happy Workers’ Day to all
Bonne Fêtes du Travail à toutes et à tous

20/04/2026

Our founder Fatou Jagne Senghore served as facilitator of the FIRST LADIES’s FORUM on ZERO TOLERANCE For GENDER BASED VIOLENCE. She also moderated the Experts and Ministerial preparatory meetings and First Ladies’ Forum that adopted landmark’s decisions:

-A Regional Road Map
-A scorecard
-The Banjul Joint Declaration on Zero Tolerance for GBV

-And the Launch of the FL Alliance.

A marathon, three rewarding days of deep learning and multi approach conversations.

Grateful to Ecowas - Cedeao Ccdg_egdc and all + africa + partners for their trust in her leadership and expertise, to the Ministry of Gender, Children & Social Welfare and staff, the Office of the First Lady Fatoumata Barrow of the , State House of The Gambia, our team and partner Center for Research and Policy Development -CRPD, survivors, CSO, women leaders for their insights and for their tireless and courageous service within the communities across the region: supporting, protecting women and girls and speaking out against GBV

The fight to end GBV needs the involvement of all, particularly men and young boys, the media….
The work continues, with more multi-stakeholders partnerships and collaboration. 🙏🏾
Let us all work together to implement the decisions taken (8-10 April in Banjul)

14/04/2026

08/04/2026