KIGALI,RWANDA- First lady Rachel Ruto has emphasised the importance of empowering African women in becoming drivers of the Africa economy.

The First lady said women can become the architects of Africa’s renaissance.

She was speaking during the African Young Women Leaders(AfYWL) fellowship programme 2025 at the Africa School of Governance Campus Kigali.

“Let us build an Africa where every girl knows that her voice matters, her dreams are valid, and her potential is limitless,”she said.

Mrs Ruto urged Africa government to support women through economic empowerment and capacity building.

“Every time we empower a woman, we are not just changing her life; we are multiplying the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), stabilizing our communities, and strengthening our democracy,”she said

Back in Kenya Mrs Ruto said this transformation has been driven by intentional efforts to elevate women into leadership roles across the Judiciary, diplomacy, security, and other key sectors of public service.

She said president Ruto has consistently demonstrated his commitment to advancing women’s empowerment and inclusion in leadership as a central pillar of his administration’s agenda.

Mrs Ruto has been supporting women empowerment through The Joyful Women Organization that she started in 2009.

“This organization was not born from policy, but from proximity, from walking beside women who simply wanted what all of us desire: dignity, opportunity, and agency over their own lives,”she added.

“When I became the First Lady of Kenya, in September 2022, I knew I needed to continue amplifying these voices to the center of our national vision, because where a woman’s potential is unlocked, a nation’s prosperity is inevitable.

Mrs Ruto urged the young leadership graduands to live up to the African women dream wherever they will serve.

“The journey has just begun; we are aiming to build the next generation of captains of industries and the leaders of businesses across the continent,”she said.

Mrs Ruto said gender equality is not an act of generosity but an an act of justice, a moral favor and an economic imperative.

“All that women need is a chance, not sympathy, just a chance like the one you have recieved,”she said.

Ms. Ahunna Eziakonwa, UN Assistant Secretary-General, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Africa (RBA) said the graduads have the necessary skills to take Africa to the next level.

“We are creating opportunities for intergenerational space not only by training them but also letting them give out their own ideas,”she said

She urged them to be good leaders who serves others rather than themselves.

“Leadership is not about proximity to power but proximity to the people,this is what Fits Lady Rachel Ruto represents,”she noted.

Also present was Ms. Prudence Ngwenya, Director Women, Gender and Youth Directorate, African Union Commission,
Partners, Faculty, and champions of African Young Women Leaders Fellowship Programme,

Ms.Ngwenya said First lady Rachel Ruto has been a proponent of women empowerment and transformation accross the Africa continent.

She urged the young leaders to be in the frontline in quenching the continent’s thirst for inclusive leadership.

Established in 2019, the African Young Women Leaders (AfYWL) Fellowship Programme seeks to cultivate a new generation of young African women leaders to serve Africa and the world through the design and implementation of development programmes in the context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Africa’s Agenda 2063.

The Fellowship Programme, a joint initiative between the African Union Commission (AUC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), aims to advance gender equality by investing in global women leadership.