First Pan-African women’s leadership hub to be established in Monrovia

The African Women’s House, described as a landmark investment in the future of women’s leadership, will be the first Presidential Center for a woman leader anywhere in the world. The facility is designed to provide training, convening, and research spaces that will nurture a new generation of African women leaders while supporting feminist organising and cross-border movement building.

“With the African Women’s House, we are building the place that women’s leadership deserves,” said Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, founder of the EJS Center and Africa’s first democratically elected woman president. “African women are the backbone of our societies, and this House will be where they come together to learn, to lead, and to shape the future of our continent.”

Backed by a growing coalition of supporters, construction of the African Women’s House is set to begin in Monrovia, Liberia. The project forms part of the EJS Center’s #GapZero agenda, which pushes for closing the gender gap in public leadership through evidence-based action and advocacy.

The initiative builds on the success of the EJS Center’s flagship Amujae Initiative, which has already supported more than 50 African women leaders in breaking barriers across politics, civil society, and business. The House will expand this work by creating infrastructure, networks, and opportunities for the next generation of women in public service and leadership.

Through the USD30 million Commitment to Action, the EJS Center is calling on philanthropists, governments, development institutions, and the private sector to partner in accelerating gender parity in leadership across Africa.

Founded in 2018, the EJS Center has become a catalyst for change by championing women’s leadership and social development. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and a trailblazer for women in politics, continues to use her platform to create lasting opportunities for women and girls across the continent.