AfDB, Partners Champion Gender, Child Statistics

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• As Cameroon hosts Africa’s first continental forum

The first African Forum on Gender and Child Statistics (AGCSF 2026) concluded on 10 July in Yaoundé with a renewed commitment from African governments and development partners to strengthen statistical systems in order to produce more reliable, harmonised and disaggregated information to guide public policies in favour of women and children.

The Forum was organised by the African Development Bank Group, the African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), UN Women and UNICEF, in collaboration with the National Institute of Statistics of Cameroon (INS). Over five days, participants engaged in discussions, in a hybrid format, on the theme: “Statistics that matter: rights, justice and opportunities for all”.

This inaugural edition of the Forum brought together government officials, heads of national statistical institutes, technical and financial partners, researchers, and representatives of civil society and the private sector from across the continent.

At the opening of the conference on 6 July, the Director-General of the INS, Joseph Tedou, emphasised the crucial role of data in transforming policy. “There can be no inclusive development, no social justice, and no equality of opportunity without reliable data that enables us to measure the progress made and to identify, with precision, those populations left behind. “What we do not count, we eventually cease to see. And what we do not see, we do not protect, we do not fund, and we do not govern,” said Mr Tedou.

This inaugural edition marked a major development for this platform, which was established in 2017 under the name African Forum on Gender Statistics. For the first time, data relating to children were fully integrated into gender statistics, reflecting a more inclusive approach to issues relating to rights, justice and development.

The African Development Bank Group’s Director General for the Central Africa region, Léandre Bassolé, emphasised the importance of having reliable statistics to inform development decisions in Africa: “The theme of this first African Forum on Gender and Child Statistics (…) reminds us of a fundamental truth: what is measured is what changes.” He added: “The African Development Bank remains fully committed to strengthening this ecosystem through the African Gender Equality Index, statistical capacity-building and support for member states to ensure that data effectively informs decision-making.”

Over the course of five days, participants examined solutions aimed at strengthening the production, harmonisation and use of gender and child statistics to inform public policy.

Discussions focused on violence against women and children, access to justice, legal identity, migration, the effects of climate change, women’s leadership, and the use of administrative data, digital technologies and artificial intelligence to modernise African statistical systems.

The Forum also helped to advance preparations for the African Gender Index (AGI) 2027, a joint initiative of the African Development Bank Group and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.