Nairobi: A resounding call for inclusive governance reverberated out at the Evidence for Development Conference held in Nairobi this week, where delegates urged that Africa’s future under Agenda 2063 must be anchored in equity.
According to Kenya News Agency, policymakers, researchers, and civil society leaders gathered under the theme ‘Strengthening Evidence-Informed Policymaking in Africa,’ warning that despite progress, vast segments of the population-women, youth, persons with disabilities, rural communities, and informal workers-remain systematically excluded from decisions shaping their lives.
‘We cannot talk about development while millions are locked out of education, healthcare, land, capital, and leadership,’ said Dr. Ann Ninsiime, Lecturer at Makerere University’s School of Women and Gender Studies.
Agenda 2063, the African Union’s development blueprint, envisions a people-driven continent that unlocks the potential of youth and women. But experts said that vision will remain hollow unless governance systems shift from rhetoric to structural reform.
A central concern was the underrepresentation of young people. Despite comprising over 60% of Africa’s population, youth remain largely absent from policy-making platforms.
‘If we want a future-focused Agenda 2063, we must empower young people now-not later,’ said Ugandan youth advocate Peter Kasadha. ‘Gender equity is not a power struggle. It’s a call for opportunity.’
Panelists also highlighted data gaps, especially around youth and women’s inclusion. ‘Even in equity-focused spaces, youth and women are often invisible. We must ask why-and what systems enable their exclusion,’ said Isabella Schmidt, a research and policy analyst.
The session titled ‘Advancing Inclusive Development in Africa’ emphasized gender equity as a cornerstone of sustainable policy. Speakers called for gender-disaggregated data, community-driven research, and genuine power-sharing-not token representation.
‘Gender equality isn’t about a woman heading the gender desk or replacing men. It’s about rewriting rules so everyone can thrive,’ said Dr. Anna B. Ninsiima of the LEEPS Project. ‘If we don’t disaggregate data by gender, location, age, and ability, we miss the full picture. Evidence must reflect the people it’s meant to serve.’
Experts advocated for bottom-up approaches that elevate community voices and realities into the heart of policy design, expressed Dr. Violet Murunga of the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP). ‘Inclusion isn’t a workshop topic-it must be embedded from research design to implementation,’ said Dr. Ismael Kawooya, Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Rapid Evidence Synthesis (ACRES).
The conference is expected to conclude with a roadmap reinforcing inclusion as a core strategy-not a tick-box-in policymaking. As one panelist concluded, ‘Equity is not a side issue. It is the accelerator of everything-growth, innovation, and trust. Agenda 2063 cannot be realized for Africa if it is not realized by all Africans.’