Centering Pan-African Gender Economic Justice in the AFCFTA Implementation: An Evidence-Based Assessment of the AFCFTA Protocol on Women and Youth in Trade: Legal, Institutional, and Programmatic Realities in Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Senegal

Abstract

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) spans a market of 1.4 billion people with a combined GDP of over $3.4 trillion. Macroeconomic trade policies are not gender-neutral. Recognizing that trade liberalization can exacerbate structural disparities, the African Union adopted the Protocol on Women and Youth in Trade. This brief evaluates the rollout of this Protocol across four regional hubs: Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Senegal. Crucially, it integrates the latest mandates from the HerAfCFTA Regional Conference held in Abuja on 29 June 2026, which officially shifted the continental focus from policy commitments to aggressive, field-level implementation roadmaps.