Published: April 8, 2026
Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast – The 2026 Africa Girls Summit (AGS) officially kicks off today in Côte d’Ivoire’s political capital, bringing together approximately 250 adolescents from 13 countries across the continent for a landmark gathering focused on leadership, rights, and social change.
The summit, supported by Global Fund for Children and its partners, aims to empower young people especially adolescent girls to take on leadership roles in their communities while equipping them with practical tools for advocacy and action.
“What I hope to see after the summit is life-changing solutions, how we’re going to take practical solutions back to our communities.” Said Alaaya Fauziyyah, Adolescent Leader of Safe the Future Children Initiative-Nigeria.
This year’s summit follows the success of the 2024 edition, where participants highlighted the importance of language justice and called for the next gathering to be hosted in a French-speaking country. Côte d’Ivoire was selected, reflecting both that demand and the presence of four partner organizations actively implementing leadership and empowerment programs for adolescent girls, with boys also engaged as allies.
In the next few days, adolescents themselves are leading the planning and execution of the summit, serving as speakers, moderators, and facilitators. Organizers say this model ensures that discussions remain grounded in the lived experiences of young people.
“Adolescent have all the vision and all the motivation. All they need is support because youth are not just the future, but are the present.” Precious Ngafua a young Liberian adolescent leaders intering with the AGS told this paper at the start of the summit.
The summit also places a strong emphasis on inclusion, prioritizing participation from underrepresented and marginalized groups, including rural girls, girls with disabilities, teenage mothers, and girls living with HIV.
Over the coming days, participants will engage in sessions covering a wide range of critical topics, including gender justice and rights, healthy masculinities and challenging harmful social norms, and adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Other focus areas include preventing and ending sexual and gender-based violence, building confident youth leaders, promoting intersectionality and inclusion, advancing girls’ participation in STEM education and technology, supporting youth-led climate action, and exploring entrepreneurship and non-traditional career paths.
Unlike previous editions, the 2026 summit will move beyond general declarations. Participants are expected to develop a structured and actionable plan to guide advocacy efforts through 2028, with a focus on measurable progress.
Organizers say the goal is to ensure that adolescents not only share their ideas but leave with concrete strategies to influence policies, drive community change, and increase their participation in national and global dialogues.
For Precious and other adolescents at the summit, they say they believe that youth possess so much potential to be at the decision-making table to speak and find solutions to the issues that concern and affect their lives across the continent.
“We are talking about teenage pregnancy, Female Genital Cutting, and I am looking forward to have proper understanding to be able to speak out more about these issues that affect young people.” Precious added.
Expected outcomes from the summit include increased confidence among adolescent girls, enhanced advocacy skills, and improved access to knowledge and tools that enable young people to exercise agency over their lives.
The summit also seeks to raise the visibility of youth-led movements across Africa and strengthen awareness of their impact within the international community.
For the first time, the summit will feature the Adolescent Leadership and Innovation Awards, recognizing outstanding contributions by young people who are already making a difference in their communities.
As the summit begins, participants and organizers alike express optimism that the gathering will not only inspire but also produce tangible outcomes marking a new chapter in youth-led advocacy across Africa.
At the close of the summit, adolescents from across Africa will present a blue print of the Actions plan that would clearly set the road map through 2028 of the things they want to see be address for them across Africa.
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