Your Excellency, the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Kenya,
• Your Excellency, the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development of the Republic of Kenya,
• Distinguished Women Parliamentarians and Honourable Members of Parliament from IGAD Member States,
• The Deputy Regional Director of UN Women, East and Southern Africa Regional Office,
• The GIZ SLGA Project Representative in the IGAD Region,
• Colleagues from the United Nations Agencies, the African Union, Civil Society Organizations, Development Partners, and Grassroots Women Leaders,
• Ladies and Gentlemen,
Standing Together for Transformation
1. This morning, I see more than delegates in this room. I see the voices of millions of women who rise before dawn to cultivate land they cannot own. Women who feed our nations yet remain hungry for justice.
2. Women who hold solutions to our climate crisis in their weathered hands, yet are excluded from the rooms where decisions about their future are made. We gather today not for another meeting, but for a reckoning with reality.
The Mathematics of Injustice
3. Here’s what keeps me awake at night: Women produce 70% of Africa’s food but own less than 20% of our land. In our IGAD region, while 70 to 90% of all wealth flows from land, less than 10% belongs to women. This isn’t just unfair; it’s economically devastating.
4. When climate shocks hit, and they’re hitting harder and more frequently, women bear the heaviest burden. They walk further for water. They watch their daughters leave school to help struggling families. Yet research proves that if we gave women equal access to land and resources, they could increase farm yields by 20-30% and reduce global hunger by up to 17%. The solution isn’t complicated. It’s right here in this room.
From Aspiration to Action
5. Since 2021, our IGAD Women’s Land Rights Agenda has moved from paper to practice. This year alone, through national dialogues across six countries, we’ve engaged 260 parliamentarians like yourselves. In Uganda, this work has already produced six national policy briefs and established cross-border collaboration networks. But we need more than policies, we need champions.
Your Power as Change-Makers
6. To the women parliamentarians here: You aren’t just legislators. You’re architects of the future. Your votes can shatter centuries-old barriers. Your budgets can prioritize justice. Your voices can amplify millions who have been silenced too long.
7. In Uganda, the Parliamentary Forum on Land Management transformed women’s land rights from a side issue to a central priority. You can do the same in your countries.
8. To our government representatives: Gender-responsive land policies aren’t costs, they’re investments that pay dividends in food security, economic growth, and climate resilience.
9. To our development partners: We need you to amplify grassroots innovations and hold us accountable to our promises.
Our Commitment Today
10. Over the next three days, we will forge two concrete outcomes: First, a permanent Regional Platform for Women Parliamentarians that will outlast political cycles. Second, actionable policy roadmaps you can implement immediately when you return home.
11. But here’s what I need from each of you: Don’t let this become another beautiful document gathering dust on a shelf. The women tending fields across our region can’t afford our good intentions; they need our action.
The Moment is Now
12. I want to thank our partners; Sweden, Germany through GIZ, the African Development Bank, and Switzerland who believed in this vision when others saw only obstacles.
13. But ultimately, transformation rests with us. The climate crisis won’t wait. The women of our region have waited long enough. History is watching. Our people are counting on us.
14. Let’s leave here not just with renewed hope, but with renewed determination to make women’s land rights a daily reality, not a distant dream. The future begins now. Let’s make it count.
Thank you.
Download the attached speech in PDF.
