In her speech as she spoke of the situation of Africa with their 53 member states, she shared the perspective of women NGOs in the African region, of the crucial task of staying focused on the critical areas as a way of safeguarding women's interests and rights. While she acknowledged that much has been achieved over the past 15 years, particularly in the last 5 years, significant development has 
occurred in the African region in the domain of gender equality and equity, and human rights. However, she shared the sad reality that these success stories are greatly outweighed by the harsh realities for women that prevailed 15 years ago, continue to exist now. She closes her speech by reiterating the challenges faced by the women's movement in Africa is to ensure that systems supportive of the women's empowerment and achieving the goals of the Beijing +15 are in place and strengthened through the years.