{"id":11103,"date":"2026-08-18T23:26:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:26:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marchemondiale.org\/?p=11103"},"modified":"2026-08-18T23:26:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:26:39","slug":"cotonou-declaration-2026-world-march-of-women-africa-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marchemondiale.org\/?p=11103","title":{"rendered":"Cotonou Declaration 2026 \u2013 World March of Women Africa Region"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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1st \u2013 4th August 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We, the participants in the Africa Regional meeting of the World March of Women representing some 13 African countries, gathered from 1 to 4 August 2026 in the city of Cotonou, Benin,<\/strong> This Cotonou meeting brought together National coordinating bodies (NCBs) from West, East, Southern and North Africa with the aim of discussing the political agenda of the World March of Women \u2013 African Region and strengthening the coordination and solidarity amongst women\u2019s movements across the continent, and to develop a common strategy for coordination through grassroots feminist communication. We recognize the historic and fundamental role of African women in transforming our societies. Our diversity is our source of strength and thus reaffirm our commitment to building stronger connections and solidarity in the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our reality is marked by profound social, economic and political inequalities. The war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the political and military conflict in northern Mozambique, the occupation of Western Sahara, the continued wars in Sudan, Instability in the Sahel, the forced migration of people, Afro phobic  and xenophobic violence in parts of Southern Africa,  the plundering of resources, and the shrinking and weakening of civic space for social movements, as well as climate change, have a particularly significant impact on women and rural communities. Global militarization has posed a challenge to the region\u2019s cohesion in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We reaffirm our commitment to food sovereignty, Agroecology, Feminist economies, demilitarization, grassroots feminist organizing and communication, and to building a world based on justice, dignity equality, respect and solidarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This meeting served to draw up our action plan for the coming period, based on key pillars for strengthening our movement while focusing on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • The creation of a joint strategic plan for advocacy and political action in the region.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Strengthening solidarity mechanisms in the face of crises and human rights violations in the region and around the world<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Joint resource mobilization efforts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Coordinating actions at local level, where we revive processes of resistance and regional organization based on this repositioning of the WMW.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Mapping, raising the profile of, and forging alliances and dialogues with\/between genuine alternatives and our regional allies connected at the global levels (LVC -Africa, FOE-Africa, JASS Associates Rural Women\u2019s Assembly) among others.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Strengthening the movement through training in feminist, anti-capitalist and anti-patriarchal popular political education with the aim of building with our political and strategic allies regionally and internationally.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Our commitment to invest in feminist grassroots communication and consolidation of feminist alternatives including feminist economy as a strategic pillar of our collective power, resistance and transformation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Advancing the right of peoples to self-determination, sovereignty and liberation from colonialism and occupation and strengthening our collective solidarity with peoples resisting all forms of domination, dispassion and oppression.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    With these points, we, as the World March of Women Africa wish to reaffirm that we remain steadfast in the struggle for food sovereignty, Agroecology and the promotion of a feminist economy to transform the world, for we believe that another world is possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We also welcome with humility and love that Africa will host the 14th<\/sup> International meeting of the world Mrach of women as proposed to be held from October 16th<\/sup> \u2013 23th<\/sup><\/strong> in  Nairobi, Kenya .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Our collective commitment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We believe that Africa\u2019s transformation will also be built by women, communities and the strongest social movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We reaffirm our commitment to Pan- African solidarity, dignity and freedom of movement<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We are committed to strengthening our grassroots women\u2019s organizations, overcoming fragmentation, building strategic alliances and transforming our various struggles into a collective African and global force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We advocate for collaboration based on solidarity, trust, respect for diversity, shared leadership, transparency and collective responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We reaffirm our collective commitment to work together to support, strengthen and make the 14th<\/sup> International meeting which is an important moment in our history a success for our global movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We want an Africa where women and girls can live free from violence, take part in decision-making, have control over the resources that sustain their lives, have access to economic opportunities and fully exercise their rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Another Africa is possible! Another world is possible and we will continue building it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    1st \u2013 4th August 2026 We, the participants in the Africa Regional meeting of the World March of Women representing some 13 African countries, gathered from [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":232346172,"featured_media":11110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[944,55,18,516,33,518],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-posts","category-africa","category-declaration","category-media-and-publications","category-news-eng","category-regions"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peCWNi-2T5","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1635,"url":"https:\/\/marchemondiale.org\/?p=1635","url_meta":{"origin":11103,"position":0},"title":"Congratulations to the women of Sudan!","author":"communicationwmw","date":"21 July 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"We, women of the World March of Women of the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, congratulate the Sudanese women following the declaration by the Sudanese Justice the approval and adoption by the Transitional Council of the law criminalizing female genital mutilation in the country, including the removal of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Declarations"","block_context":{"text":"Declarations","link":"https:\/\/marchemondiale.org\/?cat=18"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/marchemondiale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image-143.png?fit=600%2C378&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/marchemondiale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image-143.png?fit=600%2C378&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/marchemondiale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image-143.png?fit=600%2C378&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1213,"url":"https:\/\/marchemondiale.org\/?p=1213","url_meta":{"origin":11103,"position":1},"title":"New WMW International Secretariat and Committee holds its first face-to-face meeting in Turkey","author":"communicationwmw","date":"8 May 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, May 7, began in Turkey the face-to-face meeting with the members of the International Committee (IC) of the World March of Women representing the five regions in which we are present: Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, MENA - Middle East and North Africa. 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