Jaha Dukureh, a Gambian activist, earlier today addressed the World Youth Forum in Egypt where she made a push for allocation of greater resources to women issues and harnessing of home-grown solutions.

Speaking on her address at the global gathering, she elucidated: “I spoke at the world youth forum today on Agenda 2063: The Africa we want. I spoke on the need to have home grown solutions to our problems. The president of Egypt sat through my panel. He will be taking over the chairmanship of the Africa Union. I urged him to allocate more funding to women issues through the AU and that we shouldn’t be relying on western aid to tackle our problems. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was so impressed with my comments that he committed to not wait until he takes over at the AU but will take everything I said as recommendations from this forum and will start implementing right away. President El-Sisi agreed to provision of funds and possibilities to enable women to work and invest. He also urged young people to dream and never loose hope”. Jaha believes that with determination “we can achieve everything we want”. She further declared: “The Africa I want is where our leaders believe in us and our human potential. So glad I was able to represent my country The Gambia and the young people of the continent. Shout out to Momodou Sabally and other Gambians that were in the room”.