By Mandere Onyinkwa
The East African Community (EAC) has adopted a landmark declaration and a three-year roadmap aimed at strengthening women’s leadership in the digital era, marking a major step towards gender-inclusive regional integration.
The resolutions were adopted at the conclusion of the 2nd Women’s Intergenerational Dialogue held at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, where women legislators, civil society leaders, technology experts, youth representatives and policymakers from across the region gathered to chart the future of women’s participation in the digital economy.
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The meeting culminated in the adoption of the Arusha Statement of Commitment on Women’s Leadership into the Future and the 2026–2028 EAC Women’s Leadership Roadmap, which outline measures to increase women’s participation in technology, artificial intelligence (AI), innovation, governance and entrepreneurship.
Participants declared that women must become active architects of East Africa’s digital transformation rather than passive beneficiaries of technological change.
The dialogue further resolved that gender considerations should be embedded in the development of the EAC Artificial Intelligence Strategy and the EAC Digital Transformation Strategy to prevent existing inequalities from being replicated in emerging technologies.
One of the key outcomes was a call for the development of a regional protocol on digital governance, digital safety and technology-facilitated harm. The proposed framework would establish common standards across Partner States on issues including cybercrime, online abuse, data protection and digital safety.
The forum also proposed the establishment of a Regional Digital Safety Observatory to monitor online abuse, collect regional data and support evidence-based policymaking, particularly in addressing technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
Participants committed to strengthening mentorship and leadership pathways for women and girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), artificial intelligence, law, policy and innovation. They also called for the establishment of regional STEM and AI innovation centres to support women and girls across East Africa.
The dialogue further reaffirmed the EAC Treaty provision requiring that at least one-third of elected members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) from each Partner State be women, while urging governments and political parties to adopt measures that protect women leaders and candidates from online attacks, misinformation and AI-generated disinformation.
Speaking at the close of the forum, EAC Council of Ministers Chairperson Rt. Hon. Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga urged leaders to move swiftly to ensure women are not left behind by technological change.
“Time is moving fast. Technology is advancing rapidly. If women lag behind, they will be excluded from the opportunities of the future. We must therefore act with urgency,” she said.
EAC Secretary-General Amb. Stephen Mbundi said women’s empowerment and leadership remain central to the regional bloc’s development agenda.
“Gender equality, the empowerment of women, and women’s leadership in the digital era sit at the heart of the Treaty, the Vision 2050, the Common Market Protocol, and the institutional mandate of every Organ and Institution of the Community,” he said.
EALA Women’s Caucus Chairperson Amb. Fatuma Ndangiza stressed that women’s inclusion in the digital economy would require deliberate policy choices.
“Inclusion in the digital economy does not happen on its own; it has to be designed,” she said, noting that decisions about artificial intelligence, digital platforms and data governance being made today will shape the future of the region’s economy.
To ensure implementation of the commitments, the dialogue established an EAC Women’s Intergenerational Dialogue Steering Committee that will oversee progress and report biennially through the EAC’s gender monitoring mechanisms.
The dialogue was convened by the EALA Women’s Caucus in partnership with the EAC Secretariat and several regional and international organisations, building on commitments adopted during the inaugural forum held in 2024.
