 Good afternoon and welcome. My name is Elise Grande and I'm the head of the United States Institute of Peace, which was established by the U.S. Congress in 1984 as a national nonpartisan public institution dedicated to helping prevent, mitigate, and resolve violent conflict abroad. USIP is delighted to host this hybrid event on the role of women leaders in the political transitions that are underway in the Horn of Africa. And we are very pleased that we're able to convene this discussion in support of the 2023 Summit for Democracy. It's an honor to welcome two wonderful women to our discussion. Philson Abdi, who is the founder of the Horn Peace Institute and the NABAD Project. And Fausia Abdi Ali, who is the president of Horn of Africa Group within women in international security and the chair of Sisters Without Borders. We're also honored to be joined by Ambassador Mike Hammer, the U.S. Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa. The role that women leaders are playing in the Horn is inspiring and deeply important. In Sudan, women were at the forefront of the historic transition in 2019 to civilian government and they remain leaders of democratic efforts to forge new agreements, to define security priorities, and to strengthen the role of communities in future transitions. In Ethiopia, women are leading country-wide calls for peace and are at the forefront of efforts to build bridges between divided communities. In South Sudan, women are leading discussions on constitutional and political reform and they're forging new ways to support survivors of violence and conflict-related sexual violence. In Kenya, women like Josephine Ikuru, who was awarded USIP's 2021 Women Building Peace Award, this is an international award that's given annually by the Institute to an exceptional woman peace builder. Women like Josephine are working at the community level to forge agreements that end violence over scarce resources. Across the whole Horn, women are joining Sisters Without Borders, the extraordinary network which started in Kenya, which Fauzia leads, that brings women together to prevent violent extremism in their communities. During today's discussion, we hope to focus on the role that women across the Horn are playing in promoting peace and democracy, but also to focus on the efforts that are still needed to ensure that women participate fully in all aspects of peace building, all aspects of decision-making, and all aspects of governance. It's now my privilege to welcome Ambassador Michael Hammer, the US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa. Ambassador Hammer served as the US Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2018 to 2022 and has held a number of distinguished posts during his three decades of public service, including Senior Vice President of the National Defense University and Deputy Commander of NDU's Eisenhower School. Ambassador Hammer also served as the US Ambassador to Chile and as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs. Ambassador Hammer, with your permission, allow me to hand the floor to you. Thank you so much. Thank you very much, Liz, Elise, and Susan for inviting me to come to this discussion, which is very important on behalf of the Biden administration, promoting the role of women in leadership in an all walks of life is a priority. And I just arrived back this morning from Addis and had seen that you were doing this event, so asked to join just very briefly. I don't want to take away from all the women who will be participating in this, but just to reflect on a couple of things. I was in Addis Ababa when Secretary Blinken was there just a week and a half ago on the 15th of March, and I heard him very clearly in his discussions with senior Ethiopian government officials as well as in his press availability talk about the importance of the role of women in the Horn, specifically in Ethiopia, in light of the horrific sexual crimes and violence that have happened during the two-year war in Northern Ethiopia, that women need to have a voice. That was an event just this past week on Thursday in Addis on demobilization and the importance of disarmament and reintegration. And there, the Irish ambassador, a woman, talked very eloquently about the role of women in the Good Friday Accords as we had 25 years since that happened. And so we know that when women are involved in all walks of life, but certainly in politics and in leadership positions, that the prospects for peace tend to be greater. Let me just highlight a couple of programs that we have. In fact, there are programs that we do with USIP to advance the role of women in the Horn. First, I would mention that through our secretary's office of Global Women's Issues, we support two projects in the Sudan. One supports women's civil society leaders and their peace-building initiatives related to women, peace and security in South Cordova and South Darfur, giving women the skills and networks needed to play an active role in preventing and mitigating violence and conflict in their communities. The second builds the capacity of women-led organizations to provide access to justice and holistic services for survivors of gender-based violence. With this knowledge and skills, women leaders are well positioned to lead community-driven initiatives that mitigate drivers of violent extremism and prevent and respond to gender-based violence. Also, GIWI, as we fondly know them, have partnered with USIP to implement, as Lisa just mentioned, the Women Preventing Violence Extremism in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. In South Sudan, our program focuses on gender-based violence and inclusion of women in political processes. For instance, our Human Rights Bureau supports human rights documentation in South Sudan, including documentation of gender-based violence. As for their inclusion in the political process, the US government financed the travel of women's South Sudanese civil society leaders to Washington for the African Leaders Summit that President Biden hosted in December of 2022. And also where they participate, again, in a USIP-hosted event in civil society and met with our Undersecretary, Azra Seya to discuss the challenges of civil society faces operating in South Sudan. And in further partnership with USIP, we have an ongoing project called Unlearning Violence in South Sudan. In Somalia, USAID is also increasing women's participation in leadership in national dialogue processes to address conflict and violent extremism in their communities. And in the lead-up to Kenya's election last year, USAID, US Agency for International Development, helped increase the participation and representation of women in democratic processes and help prevent and mitigate violence against women. So, I, again, don't want to take time away from the women who are going to be speaking today, but rest assured that on behalf of the Biden administration, certainly as I carry on my duties as a special envoy for the Horn of Africa, we highlight the role of women. I recall in doing the negotiations in Pretoria that both the government of Ethiopia's delegation and the degrade delegation had no women representatives. And a point was made of it, a point was made of it. My colleague, Hannah Tete, the special envoy for the UN, as well as my former vice president of South Africa, Madame Pumzile. But it's not only women that need to speak out about the importance of the role of women, we men have a responsibility to do the same, and we shall. So, again, thank you very much for including me just to give some brief remarks. And I wish you a very productive afternoon and session. I know that these meetings are invaluable, again, to encourage and to support and to promote women's leadership on key issues like peace and conciliation. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ambassador Hammer, for your leadership and your words of encouragement and the continued support of the administration in the Horn of Africa and also on women's leadership. And thank you for being here today. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Susan Stigant. I'm director of the Africa program here at USIP. And I am delighted to have the opportunity to sit on the stage with Philson Abdi and to be joined by Fosia Abdi joining us from Kenya to have a conversation today about the Horn of Africa. These two individuals are extraordinary leaders. They're extraordinary women, and they're extraordinary women leaders. And I hope our conversation today will cover all of those aspects of the work that they are doing in their communities, in their countries, in this terribly important region and the implications not just in the Horn of Africa or for Africa, but truly around the globe. And as we're thinking about broader themes of connections during this week, leading up to the Summit for Democracy. So thank you for those who joined us in person. Thank you for those who are joining us online. You can follow us with the Twitter handle, Democracy Summit USIP. And we look forward to bringing everybody into the conversation today. So Philson, Fosia, I wanted to start with a conversation about the Horn of Africa broadly. It's been a terribly turbulent set of years with political transitions where there has been great hope, where there has been great struggle, where there has been great courage, and also where there has been terrible violence. And I'd love to hear a bit from each of you. What do you think are some of the most important and powerful developments related to peace and security in the Horn? Fosia, I'm going to turn to you first. Thank you very much, Susan. I hope you can all hear me clearly. And thank you to USIP for convening, really, and we start discussion around women leadership. I think it's critical as we go through the Summit on Democracy. To respond to your question around the Horn and some of the pressing issues we see, I think the Horn is one of the most complex and diverse regions. We have diversity when it comes to culture, religion, security. If you look at politics, we have countries that are somewhat requiring a lot of stabilisation. And then you have those that are really pursuing democratic principles and really trying to cherish the freedom within their countries. The concerns, I think, for me, that is really, really pressing is the issue of food insecurity. Despite the Horn over the last, I think, couple of years being a space where we see economic growth. I think there was a time we talked about Ethiopia as a country having, like, a six percent Jibouti per capita. That's India growth was really, really tremendous. And we saw countries like Jibouti, the same Ethiopian here in Kenya, really tackling poverty. And we saw reduction from 40 percent to 33 percent. Right now with the food insecurity, the fear is we are going to go back to the challenges we used to have a couple of years ago. Food insecurity is really, really a big challenge. We are facing a huge drought. This is the fifth consecutive season where we've had poor rainfall. And the persons who actually are most affected are women, children and even the elderly. When I go into communities that I serve, one of the stories I will share is there was a time a lady somewhere in Kuala and this was actually even televised who actually took a pot and put in stones and was cooking stones for a long period of time so that her children could not ask for food and they would fall asleep. The level of famine, the death of livestock that we are facing, the displacement that is happening is really, really dire. And I think it's the most critical thing that we really need to look into and find ways to have discussions around promoting how we can support the horn, especially during this drought and famine season. And in particular, ensuring women are part of these conversations because conversations are happening, but not enough of these conversations are including women, yet they are the ones who are affected the most. Thank you, Sen. Thanks, Hosea. Phil Sun, let me turn to you. You recently served as Minister of Women and Youth in the Ethiopian government and saw first hand and upfront the policy challenges and priorities. What do you see as some of the most critical developments across the horn? Thank you. Thank you and good afternoon, everyone. And thank you so much for USIP for hosting this very timely and very important event. Thank you, Ambassador Mike, for coming and sharing this platform with us as well. Hosea, I'm very pleased to virtually meet you, such an inspiration. To actually go back to your question, there are many challenges and also opportunities in the Horn of Africa. The challenges are actually excluding 50 percent of the population in the process of the development, which are women, and excluding them from decision making, excluding them from taking leadership positions, excluding them from actually being visual is a challenge. And as Hosea mentioned, we have the challenge of the drought. We have the challenge of instability and security. We have also an ethnic tension between groups and rivals and politicians, but those are rooted into a generational conflicts. If you can see through the history of conflicts, we see ethnic divisions and ethnic politics changes every 10 years. One group becomes dominant over the other. And the generation that is coming next will come with a grievance and hate towards a specific group. So they wait for their time to take that revenge. And coming from Ethiopia, which is the second largest populated African country, being also the youngest populace. We have one of the youngest populations. And also, in fact, the second, if I'm not wrong, ethnic wise division, we have 88 ethnic groups in the country, each have their unique vibrant culture, unique languages. Each one of them wants respect, each one of them to be equally represented in the political space. And what we've seen is neglection among parties who lead in the previous times of the country's leadership roles that each group had their own power struggle, their own political want to be in position. And when we talk about that specific ethnic element to this whole challenges in the country, we also forget minorities, which are young people, which are women. So we tend to think about the male dominance into figures of leading this ethnic powers. As Mike, Ambassador Mike mentioned, we've seen the total deliberation of exclusion of women in the peace process between the two parties that were agreeing into a process. And that is an emergence. That is something we should all be concerned about. So the ethnic element is one, but also making sure minorities are represented, not just minority ethnically, but minority when it comes to women, when it comes to young people to have that voice of inclusion in peace processes in the development of the country. We're talking about democracy. And when we talk about democracy, it's very important to have the Democrats in a non-democratic society to have a sustainable democracy to be empowered, especially when we're talking about ethnic divisions, ethnic struggles in a political atmosphere like Ethiopia or in the Horn of Africa to bring that democratization. It's equally important to recognize minorities within the society. Now, I say opportunity, not to take too many minutes. I will go for technology, digital technology is an opportunity that's giving women the voice that they need. Woman to be seen, to be heard, because without the transformation of digital platforms, we would have not seen the work, incredible work of women out there. And we would have not shared platforms because we would not be seen, especially in countries like ours, Horn of Africa and the region in general, not just Horn of Africa, but in Africa as well. So that visibility to see women out there and then help support them to actually be a voice, be a leader within their society, I believe, is an opportunity for Africa and Horn of Africa. So they get the platform that they aspire. And I believe women are the future aspiration leaders. In fact, not just future, but if we want to lead within the society now, we have to put a long-term and a short-term plan to our programs. And I hope this is something I will be able to see in the progress of developments with the ambassadors programs he mentioned, with USIP and other development organizations as well. Thank you. Allow me to pick up on this point of inclusion. And in the context of the Summit for Democracy, I think some people hear democracy and they assume we're talking about elections. But we know that the summit is multi-dimensional. We know that the realities of building a healthy, accountable, inclusive democracy is elections and much more. And both of you have played really central roles in founding and leading organizations that are serving as connective tissue, as fabric, working to connect together communities and countries and a region. And I was wondering, Phil Sanham, I'm going to turn to you first for this one. If you could talk a little bit about your work with the Horn Peace Institute and what types of priorities are emerging and how are you approaching your work with that long-term perspective of what it takes to build a healthy democracy and a healthy future for all men, women, young and old across the Horn of Africa? Thank you. The Horn Peace Institute is an organization that's action, advocacy and research-oriented. We also focus on policy, because I believe the fundamental core issue as Africans, we face is a lack of policy implementation. So we focus on policy and the gaps between implementation. We talk about women participation. We talk about women leadership, but those are lack of policies. And the reasons institutions fail is because of strong policies and implementing. We do have policies, but the way we implement them. So making sure there are no gaps between policy and implementation. Now, we are actually engaging in two different programs within the initiatives that we are taking. Also, we have the NABAT Project, which is a project prior to Horn Peace. We found it previously in Ethiopia prior to becoming a minister. This was engaging between communities. I believe it's always important to start from the ground. When we want peace initiatives to work, it has to be the community-led initiatives. So we started an initiative between Oromo and Somali to tension down the 2017-2018 tensions, which led us to a momentum, a peace agreement between the community within the Oromo and Somali. And that kind of reverberated to opening the NABAT TV at that point. Now, we're trying to merge those two because NABAT is more focusing on humanitarian aspects of doing the work. While Horn Peace Institute is dealing with the crisis of policies and research-based institutionalizing and helping governments and intergovernmental and grassroots levels to understand the gaps between policy and implementation. And I am privileged to have that opportunity and experience to go as a minister, especially in charge of policies, of young people, youth, women, and children, which I say that's 90% of our population. So that gave me the access and knowledge to actually understand what is the core problem we are facing as Ethiopians. So we're doing two initiatives. One is we're trying to bring male aspect of this woman participation. Women leadership, as Ambassador said it rightly, without the male figure we're not going to achieve what we are looking for. So we need to empower a young male at a very young age. And to do that, they need to see young women in also participations but also importantly, not role models they see at home, a mother, a teacher in school, in health when they visit the clinics but also to see actually women in leadership positions in other roles. So what we're doing is mentorship program. We're bringing young male and prominent women to link up. So young male from a very young age can see women leadership. They can see women can lead in positions as well. We're also doing 110 young women to come to specifically the peace initiative that the country is undergoing. Most of the time we hear specifically in this condition where we had a lot of engagement with the government and also the other political parties, where are the women? And the answer we get is, where are the women? They ask you back. So in order to say, well, here are women trained, ready, prepared. I don't like the word trained because it sort of sounds like they're not ready. So we use the word capacity building, making sure women are equipped in the right way that they can take their positions. We're not only making sure women are ready, but there are energized women who are ready to take the roles. And those are the specific initiatives we are looking into. Thank you. Jose, I'd like to turn to you to talk a little bit more about your work with sisters without borders. And particularly this historic peace caravan that sisters undertook. And I would like to invite you to tell those who are joining us today a little bit about the peace caravan. And what did you hear over that journey? And what did you pull forward in terms of priorities and communities? And then the interests of those who are making decisions to hear from women across the region. Fuzzy, I think your mic might be muted. Thank you. It was. So just picking up on the peace caravan and also picking up on what Fuzzy talked about, policy gaps and inclusion in particular. The peace caravan was actually an activity that was done with sisters without borders and network of really amazing women and men that I chair that work every single day around gender equity, gender equality and in particular looking at transforming the communities, special communities that are facing violent extremism. The peace caravan was an opportunity to have our women led. His process that was very unique. When you look at borders in particular, when you look at borders in different countries, whether it's the Horn or anywhere in Africa, borders are places where sometimes you find policy gaps. It's places where the policy gaps are affected because not enough information is coming from the borderlands into formation of policy. It's places where statehood and diplomacy sometimes does not reach. So for us as women, we sat back and looked at how do we go out and continue to voice the importance of peace, the importance of cohesion, the importance of collaboration and transformative thinking in what we do as we look at broadly peace and security interventions. And so the caravan brought together women, leaders and men coming from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. And we spent 11 days in a bus going to various places, both rural and urban, stopping at market places, stopping at spaces that you do not sometimes find, pass on stopping and asking questions around, how do you as a woman and a man want to be included when it comes to broader peace and security interventions in your country and in your community? It was really a very interesting experience over the 11 days because this was purely done by women who would actually engage in each stock and work and talk to various segments of society, including the elderly. And what was striking to me is across the board, everyone wants to be included. And I think that's the cornerstone of democracy, that feeling that you want to be able to exert influence and you want to be able to have power around the decisions that are being made on your behalf. And this resonated across all the countries. The women in particular really stood out and said we want to be included in peace committees. Sometimes we forget that when we look at leadership, it doesn't just necessarily mean really high up at the political processes, but even the spaces within our communities that are really at the lower levels that really need also to have more women being engaged is also critical. And so having women come out clearly and say, we really need to be included. The second thing was the transformative thinking that was coming across. I think sometimes the perception is men do not want necessarily to step up and support women interventions at the grassroots level. And this was not the case. When we went to spaces like Zanzibar, the men were asking, how can we do better to support women at that level? And I actually echo what Philson said when they asked about where the women, and then that is echoed back. Because they too want to be included and sometimes you find that information is not getting to them for them to feel a sense of including themselves in conversations around gender more broadly. But I think that stood out was the question around equality. And equality in terms of ensuring that there's economic support that is reaching women, especially at the rural spaces. We group women sometimes and say that women in the urban setting and women in the rural setting and women within conflict zones and women where these more parity all require the same things, not necessarily. It was interesting to see how women keep stepping up and saying here at the rural level, our challenges are different from those at the urban setting. They want to be able to have better economic support within the rural spaces. They're asking why is the technology still remaining at the urban places? We're not able to access communication even from that should actually be here at the rural spaces. So it was a very diverse and very interesting activity which we hope we can continue to broaden and do more as we transverse from Uganda, commencing from Kampala all the way to crossing the ocean and going into Zanzibar. Back to you, Susan. Fazia, I'm so struck when I had the opportunity to sit with you and other women who were part of that, that in the face of violence, in the face of violent extremism, it is normal for humans to be fearful and to go to their corners and to isolate themselves. And I think with the magic that has happened in the work that you are leading and that I think you're involved with too, Filsan, is that people are opening, they're connecting, they're creating spaces and they're reaching out. And I think I'd love to hear, if you have any thoughts on, how do people move from that normal human reaction of fear to something that extends a conversation, a dialogue, a visit, a connection between a community and a decision maker that I think is absolutely the basis of not just peace, but the type of democracy that you're both talking about? Fazia, would you like to start us off here? Your mic has muted again. So, how people are moved from a space of fear to one where they're bold enough to speak? Because when you look at social contracts, for one, for a long time, when you look at even the political transitions more broadly, the social contracts within our communities are broken. With weak institutions and with no social contracts in place, I would actually say in some spaces, there are no social contracts in space. You find that these are opportunities for people to actually have the security challenges such as terrorism and so on. And this actually propagates the fear. But for communities and for persons living within these spaces, not all of them ascribed to, I would say, the ideologies that are found within these spaces. Most people are hopeful. When people wake up every single day, they don't wake up saying that they are waking up to conflict, per se. They wake up hopeful and then something happens that makes them feel that they need to step up and ask for their rights and ask for that social contract that was supposed to be there between citizens and governments, need to be honoured. And that comes about especially when people finally understand what human rights, their human rights are. When people understand the importance of collective bargaining, for one, and when people truly step up and want a better life for themselves, that actually takes away most of the fear that you find at the end of the day. And I'll answer it that way. Thank you. I think Fuzia put it beautifully. But I would like to add a little bit on that one because I have an experience of it, fear. I remember when I was serving and I was tasked to report about rape, it was about a decision to make. It was about speaking up your values and the conscious or believing in yourself or actually being muted in a system that you were part of. And if I was muted, it would kill me inside. And if I took away that fear and if I spoke for that woman, then I will be at peace with myself. Now, that didn't come without a cost because then you lose your... That's what fear is because you're losing a job that you loved, a work that you really wanted to contribute, your safety. So there are many factors people relate to fear and they would feel, if I do this, what are the consequences? But if we are lost with values, and this is where I'm coming with the American values, what makes it a bit different from many countries is that with your diplomacy, you add values, human values, which comes first. And we see that in different terms with other countries that you might have rival in economic-wise. What distinguishes America will be the values. And that, for us, is important, especially when we are at a stage of modernity. We're trying to come out of our way of living. And young people are fearless, but we, as humans, are fearful. So making sure we invest in young people, making sure young people are the center because they are a generation to take over and empowering them and making sure they get away with the fear that it is okay to speak out, it is okay to dare, to take a challenge would be very important, but also listening, you know? With conflicts, we see parties who are engaging with them either dictating or ordering. So to take away the fear, you have to listen. You have to listen both sides because each side expects you to understand them and respect them equally in a conflict. So listening and respecting their views, killing each other is not respectful, but listening to what they have to say shows them respect and that can lead to more opening up the space and clearing away people to not shy away and take the fear away, in my view. Wilson, I'd like to pick up on this thread about the courage of young generations and then also the acknowledgement that there's fear, right? And those two things can coexist. And, Fosya, it strikes me that we talk a lot about the large young population on the continent, the youth bulge, which is kind of a terrible term and some people for a long time talked about it as a threat. Now people are talking about the great opportunity. And it strikes me that there's important dynamics related to technology, related to people's identity, related to how they interact with culture and arts. And I know that there are intergenerational realities that impact on movements towards peace and democracy and also specifically with women. And I wonder, Fosya, can I turn to you for a moment to hear a little bit about how you see these intergenerational dynamics and how you're grappling it with it in the work that you're leading. And thank you, Susan. So the intergenerational dynamics, I think one of the first things that always crops up is technology and the way they're embracing technology and young people are amazing because they are embracing technology. And I think a digitalization and looking at this is the month of women and our theme was on digitalization, I think it's really critical. And I think from even what Philson said, it allows for a wider voice and a wider contribution from different people stepping away from digitalization and looking at the youth bulge and the positivities and the negativities we talk about, especially in Africa. I think one of the critical things when we step back is to look at beyond digitalization. Despite there being a larger number of young people and the fact that I think by 2050, we should have like 25% of the world's population being in Africa, our identities are becoming smaller and smaller despite the globalization. You find we are now grouping into smaller and smaller groups and we're trying to make our identity within the same. When you put in the element of digitalization, the issue of social media and how persons are interacting with social media, this is really taking away from our social, cultural way of living as well. People are interacting lives because when we engage, for instance, to give an example within communities and you bring parents to sit in a room with their children, they will tell you, I cannot talk to my child, they are always online, they are going into social media spaces and I cannot connect with them anymore. They are taking away that space even during the dinner table from us to conversing and I have to force my child to stop looking at their mobile phone. But when you ask a young person, when you're on that social media space, how do you feel when you're on that space? They feel a sense of connection. They tell you, I have a thousand friends but there are no people they have met with and are engaging with on a day to day because they have really lowered their identity to be one that is only within the space which is online. So within Sisters Without Borders, we embrace the intergenerational aspect and we bring in, yes, the young people to be able to also have an impact more broadly on peace and security and the interventions we do. And they also step away from just the digitalization space and the challenges it causes or the great stuff that it does. Into one where we are promoting a space for what I would call mental fitness, this is the mental health issue. Because we have those who were actually impacted by Garisa University, we have those who are survivors of Garisa University. This is their opportunity to step up and talk about their stages of healing so that people can learn the importance of healing. People can learn the importance of trauma in itself, facing that and being resilient enough to come out of it or work towards healing and how we can use that within the space that we live in, especially within the conflict spaces that we sometimes find in ourselves. And so the generation that we have is one that is open to talking about healing and not just talking about identities around digital, the digital movement. Yes, they're embracing and I have to really be clear about that, but we want to step away from just one, I would say, binary look when it comes to young people. Secondly, it's also we take away from the step that the young people are our future and so we work with them because they are our future. No, they are here now and their contributions are really, really critical. They see things in a different way, from a different generation, which is a much older generation. And so they can be able to contribute in a different way. To give an example on gender-based violence alone, on the issue of gender-based violence, gender-based violence is not one that only affects the elderly, it also affects young people. And so having them being participating, creating knowledge about the implications of gender-based violence, also talking about if they are victims of gender-based violence and they're comfortable about talking about it, it helps with healing and also enabling people in the community to see someone who looks like them, who's their age-mate, talking about these issues and maybe opening up themselves and sharing their own challenges, be it from whether it is in a school setting or within the community itself or within the household. So it's really, really critical to make sure that we have the intergenerational aspect. I want to add in the issue of the balance between the elders or what I call a young adult and the youth. And I think it's really, really critical. When you go into communities now, there's a really big disbalance. And when you talk about really sensitive topics, that disbalance is even seen even more. And so when you come back to the discussion around democracy and having young people's voices included, it is important for those who are actually much older to step back and also allow the young people to come in and speak their truth and speak about what they want to see within their communities because social contracts include also young people. Inclusivity means not just the gender aspect, but also the age aspect as well. And so it's a critical cornerstone of when we look at democracy more broadly. Thank you. Thanks, Fuzia. I think in Washington, often if we're talking about competition in the horn, we're thinking of global competition or strategic rivalry. And you've brought a whole other dimension of what's taking place in communities, in countries, and in cultures, both to divide people but also connect them in together. I'd like to bring in those who are following us online and those in the audience as just as a reminder, you can use the hashtag Democracy Summit USIP. And there are some question cards being circulated around, so we want to involve you in this conversation as democratically as possible. Before we open it up, though, I wanted to turn to this theme of the Summit for Democracy. This is really a time for recommitment by the United States, a recommitment for partnership with other countries, and an activation of organizations that are working on various dimensions of democracy. And as two leaders from the Horn of Africa, I wonder if you have some advice for how the United States should be thinking about its partnership towards peace and towards democracy. Phil Sanau turned to you first. Thank you. That's a very important question. Because when we talk about democracy, it's about inclusion. And without the inclusion and participation of groups, young people, women, we cannot address much. We have crisis, crisis of food insecurity as a world. We have crisis of climate change. We have crisis of democracy. Because what we're seeing in the world is the process of oligarchy, the process of dictators trying to create their own parts within the world, or create their own friends or allies within the world. So that's a very fundamental part of I believe the Summit for Democracy and engaging and bringing countries that align with the democracy values. Now, when we say democracy, it's not just the United States concept or just all excluded to the United States. It's a universal language. It should be something we all speak as a universe, something we all communicate equally. Those come under human values, those come under respecting humanity itself within diplomacy and not forgetting we all are humans. Because as I mentioned earlier, what makes the United States, the United States is the values it stands for. Regardless of the diplomacy, regardless of how it interacts with countries, those values always come first. And those are the values of the American people, the taxpayers. So coming to the concept of Africans or in the Horn of Africa, we hope, and I don't have the solutions or all the answers, but I'm trying to contribute my understanding, is that we have a generation that is already taken by China or Russia due to influences, countries I don't believe that have values. They stand for it in their way, they have their values. But when it comes to humanity and when it comes to suffering of people, I believe those values are important. So when we are aligning ourselves as a nation, we have to go for value. So if we're going to stand with the United States, how are we going to stand with the United States? And how is the United States also approaching us? So to create that difference, which is the generation that exists and the coming generation of young Africans or young leaders emerging, what are the steps that needs to be taken by the United States? And what can they support the young generation? Not just the United States, but the international community as well as the Europeans. I believe, personally, it has to be opening the doors and not closing those doors, engaging with the future young leaders, listening to them. Creating that balance between those existing and those emerging is very crucial and very important. Thank you. Thanks, Philsan. You remind me that Afrobarometer that does public opinion research across Africa consistently finds that African citizens want accountable government, right? So this isn't something that's external, it's something that is owned. It may not look exactly the same, but there is that clear demand for it. Fosia, your advice to the United States as people are thinking about the summit for democracy and the U.S. role in peace and democracy and supporting democracy in the Horn of Africa. Thank you. So my advice, I will start with an African proverb. It says, however long the night, dawn will break. And it's a very interesting proverb to me, because for a long time, we have engagements around a push towards women inclusion in political process, broadly gender equity and equality. We've seen various leaders stepping up and saying, I am a feminist and really coming out in global spaces and saying they are feminists. But when you come down to, at the end of it, after all the rhetoric that has been put across, there's still not enough that is going into ensuring that we are pushing for more women in political spaces. We are looking at leadership more broadly to include women. So as the U.S., I move towards what I would call development diplomacy because we see a lot of scaling up or financing. We are seeing a lot of discussions around policy dialogues and harmonization. As we push for those inclusive politics, is to ask that critical question, where are the women and not just any women, where are the women who are rightfully supposed to be in the spaces of development if we're talking about anything related to development interventions? Where are women, when we're working within the horn in countries that are conflict-ridden and we're looking towards peace processes? Where are the women? How can we better engage with them? When we're broadly even looking at security in itself, where are the women? It's something that we keep needing to ask so that we don't have to continuously wait for that dawn and to have that dawn happen now. Thank you. Thanks, Fosia. We have some great questions from those joining us in the room and those joining us online. And with your permission, I'd like to read out a few of them and then turn back, Phil San and Fosia, to both of you to share your thoughts. So I think there's a set of questions that are really around the dynamics that are impacting on women's leadership. And one which poses what are some of the social norms that might hinder women's leadership and participation in peace processes and democracy. From maybe the other side of the coin, how can the visibility of women peace champions be enhanced in conflict and polarizing environments? What advice would you have for that? And then similarly, if you're thinking about political transitions, what are the entry points in very concrete sorts of ways, locally, nationally or regionally, where women's leadership can best be plugged in and shape those decisions? I know that's a big grouping. So, Fosia, would you like to start us off? Okay, so I will look at the political transitions and entry points, but locally, regionally, to shape some of these decisions. I think it actually has to start from the political level of those who are even sent in to have discussions during the political transitions and the conflicts that probably arise after. If you look at all the envoys, including Ambassador Hammer here, they're all men. We now have an ambassador from China as well, who is also male. And I think I'm looking forward to a day when we're looking at the horn and anywhere as well in the future, that we have ambassadors who are also people who are coming in to discuss within our communities. That, I think, would give us role models that we look up to. But we are thankful of Ambassador Hammer how he too is championing women in most of the conversations he's having. The other entry point, I think, which is critical, is to always step back and ask, do the people within the spaces that we are engaging, are they really persons we want to have within those spaces that we're engaging, do they qualify to be in those spaces? Because sometimes tokenism happens quite a bit and you don't necessarily have the right voices and the right personalities within the spaces that are going through transitions. Consequently, it's also important to look at the institutions themselves. Because with weak institutions, you will end up having challenges in the long run, where you have citizens and persons who then step out and say that they're not necessarily favouring what was the result, if it is an issue of elections, if it's an issue of discussions around any transformation that is happening. If they don't trust in that institution and the persons within those institutions, it becomes really, really hard. And the bottom line at the end of the day is to look at the main driver, which is the social contract. And I keep pushing this because it really is the main driver of why we have so many challenges within the region. If we are able to really aggressively sit back and say we really want to address this social contract and ensure that we are making sure that trust is being rebuilt and ensuring the voices of civil society is still respected because we've seen within this region that these dim, dwindling voices of civil society and combining this with a question around visibility of peace champions is the fact that even women peace builders themselves face a lot of challenges, including threats to their lives. And so making sure that we're working actively to protect the women peace builders and of course the men peace builders as well in order for us to have transitions and discussions that actually can transcend into a region that is less fragile into one that is really stable and prosperous at the end. Any other questions? Please, yes, welcome. I'll just add a few points on, I think Fuzia answered all of the questions. But I'll try to add on championing the women that are actually championing. And not just, this is not just in Africa but anywhere. We are facing conflicts everywhere and there are courageous women out there who are effortlessly trying to contribute to their communities as well as each continent they're part of peacefully and bringing communities together and they face so many challenges as Fuzia put it rightly. And this challenge is the priority number one is having lack of security, making sure they have the space to feel safe that they can raise their voice for peace. Peace is a universal language and if you feel threatened for speaking up for what is right it becomes a challenge for others to follow suit. So making sure those women can create a network and not just an organization but a chain of network among different women across continents so they can become their each other's shoulder, a supporter, a sister, just like sisters without borders, to make sure they are echoing if anything happens to one of their sisters who's out there to promote peace. So that network of women champions is very crucial and very important. The other is political transition and accountability. If we want a genuine peace and sustainable peace there must be in any process accountable to their part in engaging in conflict as well as making sure there's a justice delivered and without women's participation there's no justice. So oftentimes men push women away from decision making or peace process tables because they are afraid for the commitment that I'm not saying all men we have many wonderful men who champion for transitional justice but quite few would actually prefer male figures in those spaces because they are afraid to be held accountable. They are afraid to be asked those serious questions in the table who is accountable for those crimes. So women dare to ask those questions. They understand and relate to the pain of other women. Women bear the burdens of any conflict in any society and that should be recognized by all not just by giving a political tokenism of a space but actually making sure they have the space because they are actually genuinely serious about delivering justice and if we want to see justice women's voice must be included. Thank you. So there's a really interesting set of questions about women in leadership roles and I think reflect an acknowledgement of how difficult it can be to be holding a senior level position and the expectations that are set and perhaps some of the unfair expectations and the challenges that often arise where there becomes a divide between or the perception of a divide between women who sit in high level positions and women who are in communities and I wonder if either of you would be willing to share any of your perspectives, your insights or your experiences on this question. Fosia, Filsan is deferring to you to start us off. Okay. I thought she was going to start but it's okay, I'll try. Women in leadership and the difficulties and expectations between the two, I think it comes about... Number one, because we don't understand women and where women lie. I could say this from the beginning, we sometimes group all women into one box and say women from urban, rural, etc. are all into one and so their leadership style will be the same, what they care about will be the same and what expectations they have within various roles will also be the same. Women are very diverse in nature. The second reason is perceptions that we carry. They are conscious biases and the conscious biases we carry be it from our cultural perspective, be it from the interactions we had in our lives that we bring forth when we are looking at the perception of women in leadership. I think this then makes it so difficult for women sometimes when they step up and say, I want to be part of a political process, you find they end up getting the most... I would say if it is online, they would get the most hate online and messages coming online of hate but this is built from perceptions of someone else through their own lens of what they see, be it from a cultural perspective or the environment they are in and so it makes it even difficult for the woman to step into her role as a woman leader and we see this often. What I normally say is at the end of the day, yes, the challenges exist but you have to give the opportunity for women to be in these political processes to be part of peace-building, to be part of community committees that exist because at the end of the day, they bring in a different perspective. They will talk about education, they will talk about the necessity of healthcare, issues such as maternal healthcare for instance. So they will bring up some of the issues that sometimes you will not necessarily get if you only have one set of gender that is part of that leadership process. So it's not to say that, yes, there are difficulties but it doesn't mean we have to stop and not include women. I will actually be categorical here. We have actually improved, we have more, I would say interest in having more women in political processes. I see a lot more conversation pushing for women within political processes. I think when it comes to leadership more broadly, there are other nuances that also need to be looked into such as the financing aspect. You may want women to be at least better represented but if you're not putting in the financing to support, to have more women within your political parties, to support women within institutions to go higher up in ranking, especially if you look at security sphere, then you're just putting out a rhetoric that we are here to support women and women in leadership but we are not necessarily coming out and putting in the money and even that political goodwill at the end of the day to push for this to happen. And so it's a delicate balance that we need to make sure that we have as we look at whether it's at the community level or at much higher levels. Thank you. Well, from my experience, becoming the first Ethiopian woman to establish the first television station and becoming the first Somali Ethiopian to become a minister as a female, you can imagine the heavy weight on your shoulders and at the age of 28. So you have the age element, you have the woman element and you have the ethnic element because I come from a region that has been marginalised for decades. I come from a region that was not able to participate fully politically and engage due to conflicts. So representing all that and coming to the political table or reaching to that position by itself was an invigorating moment and the challenges I faced would come from the ethnic element of it. Oh, she's a Somali, is she even an Ethiopian to actually be undermined because of your ethnic background? You would face the element of age because you're young and as a nation, like my country, it's very rare to see people like me coming to position. So when you hold all those ticking bars of is it right to appoint by itself as a challenge, to overcome that by itself as a challenge. And on top of that, when you are in a position, in too difficult position, to stand out and actually work for what you stand for because when you're a minister of agriculture and there's a climate crisis, you deal with those crises. When you're a minister of finance, you deal with the economical crisis but when you're a minister of women, you deal with the women issues. So doing my job would have, I didn't realise, would cost me a lot. By engaging, speaking up for those I represented in the table. So the challenges for women are very, very broader, but putting it in my context. And also communities, especially when you don't see many communities coming forward, when you're not used to communities like myself coming to the table and leading from those perspectives is by itself a challenge. But I'll come to the point, which is also amazingly striking and touched me was my community. Now, like I said, I'm the first female minister from my community and the way they received me was absolutely amazing to actually acknowledge me, accept me as their leader, to respectfully listen. I was in Minnesota last week and I would be sitting with a room of 50 male representatives and they're all male and I'm the only female sitting there and it feels awkward. But the respect they're giving you, men of culture, men of religion, men of hierarchy as we have as a community, but all to come and to listen to your perspective and understanding to actually gain that and give you back, to actually give a platform for women was an eye-opening and to see that they are actually changing to somewhat, to understand women are important and women should take the lead was very eye-opening and then later I met almost 500 men which was even more than the 50, so you can imagine how I felt. But that is all adding up to the work that has been done, adding up to your values, adding up to the leadership you show and not just women coming to the front, but what kind of women are we bringing to the forefront? It's very important as well. Thank you. Thank you both for sharing those experiences and it strikes me that it emits incredibly complex and complicated challenges and realities. Some of the most simple things can translate into that sense of support and encouragement that is absolutely needed. I'd like to close us out with a set of questions that relate to policy. So we're focused this week on the Summit for Democracy, but just a few months ago the United States hosted the U.S. Africa Leaders Summit and we have a set of questions about what can be done to really hold leaders accountable for the commitments that they made during that U.S. Africa Leaders Summit, particularly around women's leadership and sustaining women's leadership in this peace and security conversation. Phil Sanam, we're going to turn to you first for this one. Thank you. Policies, the initial start or engagement of building institutions, if we want to see stronger institutions, we need policies in place. Now, I'm not saying countries don't have policies, but are they implementing those policies? And this is where the relationship comes in, this is where your relationship with the country comes in. I'm sure the United States' support comes from the country's taxpayers, so they have their values and those values drive the policies of the United States and those policies are what makes you want to contribute to countries you believe you align your values with and contribution within the society. So when we are doing policies, and I'm a very proud African, is that we have our own unique way of doing things. We do not expect to be dictated, we do not expect to be brought ideas because our people are very curious about things, but also understanding, and this comes to the listening part, and understanding what each country can bring to the table and what their policies are lacking through experience, through your own experiences and what can be gained through that exchange and how can that support be sort of aligned with the ideologies that you are trying to bring and promote. And that brings to policy because without policy you cannot enforce anything, you cannot educate anything, you cannot have a partnership in a country. So with interactions, policy is crucial, but how are those policies going to implement it and what are those policies as well should be clear to the community because those are again coming back to them. So if you're saying woman leadership should be a crucial among these specific areas, and we expect to see women inclusion in those areas, and a country says, of course, but how are you going to do it? How are you going to implement in your policies? Because if it's not institutionalized, then it's not going to be implemented. And to institutionalize it, we need a strong set of policies to start with. And this brings us to, for example, I could be a minister of a specific area, let's say the minister of women, and there's a policy we're talking about, but we're not institutionalizing that policy yet. It's just a talk. If I leave the position you come in, you're still in that position of policy talk, the new person that comes in will not understand what policy you are trying to talk about because there's no framework, there's no laying foundation to that specific topic, institutionalizing that topic. So it's very important to make policies implemented and also making sure the gap between implementation and policy are interlinked, looked at, starting from a grassroots level. Thank you. Thanks, Wilson. I think an important message to those who support peace in the United States as well, and who are watching the implementation of those commitments. Fazia, over to you. So policy, post the Africa Leaders Summit and how we can hold leaders accountable. One of the key messages that, even while in the US, that was coming through is it was about the voices of people and making sure that what is actually going to be implemented is what the voice of the people and what people want. It wasn't about what would be imposed, and that was very clear as the message coming from the US to the African leaders, that it was about partnership and listening to each other. I think to bring it down to the practicalities of it, as we move towards the development diplomacy that we see more and more happening, especially within the Horn, is to remember actions speak louder than words at the end of the day. Policies are sometimes very theoretical. They have statements of things that need to be done. At the end of the day, they must be done. There must be some actions around what is envisioned to be happening in the different spheres, whether it is on economics, whether it is in political, even on environmental. At the end of the day, what is critical is the action. Here is where it's really critical to broaden the stakeholders and in particular ensuring voices of civil society and women leaders, where the peace builders or women leaders within the civil society space are also included to become part of that accountability and transparency process, because civil society would end up providing that monitor, that critical voice that is needed to make sure that the leaders are being held accountable at the end of the day. And so, for me, the next push is to see how to widen the different stakeholders and ensure civil societies are still critical in every conversation that is happening when it is brought down per country as the financial discussions are happening, as the policy harmonisation is happening, how are constantly asking the question, who is involved, who are the stakeholders and in particular, where are the women and the categories of women we have in order to be able to ensure that the end of the day there is implementation happening. Fosia, Phil Sun, thank you so much for taking the time and for the conversation that we've had today. I have to say, when we were thinking about the title for this event, there was some debate about whether it should just be about peace and security and democracy amidst political transitions in the Horn and not necessarily a specific reference to women and women's leadership. Because today we've covered a whole range of topics and I think it's worth making the point that these aren't women's issues, right? These are issues that matter for the future of the Horn of Africa, that matter more broadly in the global context, whether it's the questions of technology and connection, whether it's the questions of global power competition, whether it's questions about food and security, these are all interconnected. And your voices, your work on this is incredibly important. So thank you for your generosity. Thank you to everybody who joined us today in person, online. Ambassador Hammer, thank you for being with us here. We're really delighted to do this in support of this week's Summit for Democracy. We're also grateful to the Global Coalition for Democracy for coordinating all of the Summit side events. We hope you'll continue to join and follow over the week. Phil Sanfazia, wishing you courage in your leadership. And we look forward to listening to what you're continuing to say and to watching the work that you're continuing to do and to being good partners and taking that forward. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.