MONROVIA – At a moment when shrinking international aid, democratic uncertainty, and persistent gender barriers continue to threaten decades of progress for African women, the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development has unveiled what observers describe as one of the continent’s most ambitious investments yet in female public leadership. The announcement of fifteen new Amujae Leaders drawn from fourteen African countries signals not merely another fellowship expansion, but a deliberate political and institutional intervention into Africa’s leadership future. From ministers and senators to diplomats, scientists, regulators, and grassroots reformers, the newly selected cohort reflects a widening continental effort to position women at the center of governance, policy innovation, peacebuilding, economic transformation, and democratic renewal across Africa. THE ANALYST reports.
The Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development has officially unveiled the Fifth Cohort of its prestigious Amujae Initiative, naming fifteen accomplished African women leaders from fourteen countries in what the institution describes as the most geographically and professionally diverse class in the initiative’s history.
The announcement, released from Monrovia, comes five years after the establishment of the Amujae Initiative and arrives at a time of mounting concern across Africa over declining international development funding, persistent gender inequality, shrinking civic spaces, and the underrepresentation of women in political and public leadership.
Yet despite those challenges, the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Center appears determined to expand rather than retreat from its continental leadership agenda.
The newly announced cohort stretches across an extraordinary range of sectors and national contexts — from parliamentary politics in Kenya and Senegal to artificial intelligence research in Algeria, environmental governance in Guinea, petroleum regulation in Liberia, and grassroots local governance in Zimbabwe.
According to the Center, the latest class of leaders reflects a deliberate strategy to broaden both the geographic and professional reach of the initiative while strengthening a pan-African network of women positioned to shape decision-making across public institutions, policy systems, diplomacy, business, technology, and community leadership.
The Amujae Initiative derives its name from the Kru language of Liberia and translates roughly as “we are going up,” a phrase intentionally chosen by former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to symbolize collective advancement rather than individual competition among women leaders.
With the addition of the fifth cohort, the Amujae network now expands to seventy women leaders representing twenty-nine African countries, creating one of the continent’s most influential cross-generational leadership communities focused specifically on advancing women in governance and public service.
Former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first democratically elected female head of state and founder of the Center, framed the latest cohort as evidence of the extraordinary but often underrecognized depth of female leadership talent across Africa.
“Each cohort of Amujae Leaders reflects the extraordinary depth of talent and determination found among African women at every level of leadership,” Sirleaf declared in the release.
She emphasized that the cohort includes women operating at the highest levels of governance and policy reform, ranging from ministers transforming national health systems to scientists democratizing artificial intelligence access in underserved regions.
“This is what the Amujae Initiative was built to honour and to multiply,” Sirleaf stated.
The timing of the announcement also carries broader political significance.
Executive Director Ellen Pratt-Harris warned that the Fifth Cohort emerges amid growing international funding contractions affecting gender equality and women’s empowerment programming across Africa. According to her, the reduction of development financing threatens to reverse decades of progress made by women across the continent.
“The EJS Center believes that investing in African women’s leadership is not a peripheral concern,” Pratt-Harris stressed. “It is one of the most consequential things the continent can do for its own future.”
Unlike many traditional leadership fellowship programs, the Amujae Initiative is designed not simply as a professional training platform but as a sustained political and institutional support network.
According to the Center, members of the Fifth Cohort will receive long-term mentorship from former President Sirleaf, participate in high-level leadership convenings, engage in strategic peer exchanges, and gain access to continental and international platforms intended to amplify their policy work and public impact.
The newly selected leaders themselves represent an unusually broad cross-section of contemporary African leadership.
Among the cohort is Uganda’s Dr. Angela Nakafeero, Commissioner for Gender and Women Affairs at the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development, whose work has extended from national gender policy to leadership roles within the African Union’s gender equality structures.
South Africa’s Dr. Anneline Chetty joins the cohort after a distinguished public sector career involving industrial development, innovation systems, and economic planning. Her leadership contributions have already earned recognition through several continental and international awards focused on women’s leadership and economic empowerment.
From Senegal comes Anta Babacar Ngom Diack, a business executive, parliamentarian, and political figure who made headlines in 2024 as the only woman candidate in Senegal’s presidential election. Her inclusion signals the initiative’s increasing engagement with women attempting to break entrenched barriers within electoral politics.
Zimbabwe’s Chioniso Michelle Murinda also joins the network after years of work in peacebuilding, mediation, and local governance. Currently serving as an elected Councillor and continental youth leader within the African Women Leaders Network, Murinda has reportedly contributed directly to reforms expanding women’s political representation in Zimbabwean local governance structures.
The cohort also includes one of Central Africa’s most visible female diplomats, Ambassador Christelle Sappot of the Central African Republic, who became the first woman to serve as Dean of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to Equatorial Guinea.
Kenya’s Senator Crystal Asige enters the initiative with an already significant continental profile, having been recognized by TIME Magazine among its “Top 100 Next” honorees and gaining prominence for disability rights advocacy, legislative reform, and inclusive governance initiatives.
Another notable member of the cohort is Ghana’s Dakoa Newman, former Minister of State for Gender, Children, and Social Protection, whose tenure included leadership in passing Ghana’s landmark Affirmative Action Act promoting gender equity across public and private sectors.
Guinea’s Environment and Sustainable Development Minister Djami Diallo brings extensive international legal and governance experience to the network, having previously served in senior advisory and legal roles within Guinea’s presidency as well as international institutions abroad.
Namibia’s Dr. Esperance Luvindao, currently serving as Minister of Health and Social Services, joins the cohort as one of Africa’s youngest serving health ministers. Her work in digital health innovation and healthcare system reform has already drawn significant continental attention.
The inclusion of Algeria’s Dr. Rim Gasmi reflects another major thematic expansion within the initiative: technology and artificial intelligence leadership. Gasmi, who directs an AI Center in southern Algeria, has focused much of her work on democratizing access to artificial intelligence education for women and youth in underserved communities.
Malawi’s Julia Chimuna enters the network from the field of child rights advocacy and agribusiness development, while Madagascar’s Lalaina Randriarimanana brings a strong civic leadership and democratic participation background rooted in grassroots social transformation.
Liberia itself secured two places within the Fifth Cohort.
Marilyn Teta Logan, Director General of the Liberia Petroleum Regulatory Authority, joins the initiative after leading significant reforms within Liberia’s petroleum governance sector, including efforts aimed at restoring investor confidence and separating regulatory oversight from commercial functions in the country’s hydrocarbon industry.
Also selected is Wadei Powell, business executive and founder of UFOUND Solutions Group, whose career spans leadership roles in telecommunications, banking, energy, organizational development, and political activism.
Tanzania’s Victoria Mwanziva completes the cohort, bringing experience in district administration, political mobilization, and youth leadership development within Tanzania’s governance structures.
Beyond the individual profiles, however, the Fifth Cohort announcement reveals something broader about the strategic direction of the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Center itself.
The institution increasingly appears to be positioning the Amujae Initiative not merely as a symbolic women’s leadership platform, but as a continental political infrastructure project designed to strengthen women’s access to influence, institutional authority, and decision-making power across Africa’s governance systems.
That ambition becomes particularly significant as African democracies confront intensifying political polarization, governance crises, youth unemployment pressures, climate vulnerabilities, technological transformation, and declining confidence in public institutions.
The Center’s statement repeatedly framed women’s leadership not as a social accessory to development, but as central to Africa’s long-term democratic and economic future.
“The Center was built on a single, clear conviction,” the release emphasized, “that Africa’s greatest untapped resource is the talent, courage, and vision of its women.”
For many observers, the Fifth Cohort therefore represents more than a ceremonial announcement. It signals a widening continental contest over who will shape Africa’s future leadership architecture at a time when governance challenges across the continent are becoming increasingly complex, interconnected, and politically volatile.
And in that contest, the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Center appears determined to ensure that African women are not merely participants in leadership conversations, but central architects of the continent’s next political and developmental chapter.