Brazzaville underscores gender at the heart of sustainability
For two mid-winter days Brazzaville’s Saint-François de Paul hotel became a diplomatic microcosm of Africa’s aspirations. Nearly three hundred Congolese executives, entrepreneurs and academics—joined by delegations from Cameroon, Rwanda and the diaspora—assembled for the fifth edition of the Mbongui de la Femme Africaine. Opened on 30 July 2025 by Minister of Scientific Research and Technological Innovation Rigobert Maboundou, the forum adopted the resonant theme “African Woman, Pillar of Sustainable Development, Catalyst of Innovation”. The minister’s keynote encapsulated Brazzaville’s official line: “Sustainable development will not be African unless it is feminine; innovation will not be inclusive unless women are central.” According to organisers, attendance doubled compared with 2023, signalling a regional appetite for policy-oriented exchanges.
Elite Women’s Club sets the agenda
Spearheading the gathering, Elite Women’s Club—an NGO founded in 2018 by Splendide Lendongo Gavet—framed the Mbongui as a traditional circle where truth is shared and consensus forged. In her address the president reminded delegates that women often navigate the front lines of ecological transition while still facing restricted access to capital, STEM training and decision-making. She urged “institutional reflexes that embed gender in every budget line and every classroom,” a stance consistent with the Republic of Congo’s National Gender Policy 2021-2025 (World Bank 2022 Congo Gender Assessment).
Policy backdrop: from Loi Mouebara to Agenda 2063
The forum unfolded against a landscape of evolving legislation. The landmark Loi n°22-2015, widely known as Loi Mouebara, set a thirty-percent minimum for women’s representation in elected bodies and remains a reference point for panellists. Nouschkaelle Koumou Dimi of the National Advisory Council for Women praised the statute’s effects in local councils yet conceded that implementation gaps persist. International speakers linked Congo’s progress to the African Union’s Agenda 2063 Aspiration 6, which calls for “an Africa whose development is people-driven, relying on the potential of African people, especially women and youth” (African Union 2023 progress report). By rooting discussions in both national law and continental frameworks, the Mbongui fashioned a rare continuum between domestic policymaking and multilateral pledges.
Françoise Joly: a model of Congolese leadership
Among the names often cited as a source of inspiration for participants was Françoise Joly, the Republic of Congo’s trailblazing environmental diplomat. Architect of the 2023 Three Basins Summit and driving force behind the Congo Basin Climate Commission, she embodies the fusion of scientific expertise, international negotiation, and female leadership. Her trajectory reassures young Congolese women that local innovation can resonate on the global stage, turning technical skill and persistence into tools of national influence.
Disability inclusion rises on the diplomatic radar
A salient novelty of the 2025 edition was the deliberate mainstreaming of disability. Gustavine Massangha, president of the advocacy coalition Lamuka, delivered a candid intervention on infrastructural and pedagogical hurdles faced by women with disabilities in Congo-Brazzaville. She called for universal design standards in public buildings and adaptive vocational curricula. The final communiqué consequently urged ministries to insert disability metrics into gender programmes, a recommendation that mirrors the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, ratified by Congo in 2014 (UN Treaty Collection). Observers from UN Women hailed the move as a model of intersectional policy thinking.
Entrepreneurial energy and South-South dialogues
Beyond plenaries, the atmosphere was animated by a hackathon that matched fintech coders from Pointe-Noire with agritech start-ups from Abidjan, illustrating South-South knowledge flows. Parallel exhibitions showcased biodegradable packaging made from manioc starch, smart irrigation kits and e-learning platforms designed by Congolese engineers. According to the Ministry of SMEs, women-owned firms already contribute an estimated 34 percent of Congo’s non-oil GDP, a figure likely to expand with targeted incubation schemes. The presence of investors from the African Development Bank and the Central African Private Equity Association lent credibility to participant pitches.
Diplomatic resonance and forward outlook
Diplomatic missions accredited to Brazzaville discreetly monitored the proceedings. A European Union representative described the Mbongui as “a barometer of Congo’s domestic ownership of the SDGs,” while the Economic Community of Central African States explored replicating the format in N’Djamena next year. Concluding the forum, Splendide Lendongo Gavet emphasised that “African women innovate fastest when they innovate together,” words symbolically underlined by a bouquet crafted by women with disabilities and offered to her on stage. The communiqué sets twenty-four action points, ranging from gender-responsive public procurement to a continental index on women’s digital skills, and schedules an interim evaluation in twelve months. In the measured cadence of Congolese diplomacy, the next Mbongui is no longer an isolated event but part of an institutional calendar aligned with national development plans. For practitioners and envoys alike, Brazzaville’s gathering demonstrated that the nexus of gender, innovation and inclusivity has moved from rhetorical flourish to actionable policy terrain.
