As the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) concluded in Seville, Spain in early July 2025, global leaders adopted the “Seville Commitment,” reaffirming the urgent need to reform the international financial architecture, expand fiscal space, and advance gender equality. These commitments are timely and necessary. But without actionable and enforceable reforms, African countries—and African women in particular—will remain caught in cycles of debt, underinvestment, and exclusion.
Across Africa, debt is not just a macroeconomic statistic. It is a lived reality that shapes who has access to education, healthcare, and opportunity. When governments are forced to prioritize debt service over social investment, it is women who bear the hidden costs -caring for sick relatives, pulling children out of school, and filling the gaps in shrinking public services. The Seville Commitment rightly recognizes that “the feminization of poverty persists,” and that unpaid care work must be valued and redistributed. But those goals will remain aspirational unless fiscal space is created to act on them.
To achieve meaningful change, reforms must address both the global and local systems that have failed women. While international institutions and capital flows must be reoriented toward equity, African governments and institutions also have a critical role to play. The task of delivering gender-responsive development cannot be outsourced. National budgets must prioritize women’s health, education, and entrepreneurship. Legal reforms and cultural shifts must dismantle the barriers that have too often kept women at the margins of economic life. African women are drivers of development – and they deserve to be recognized and resourced as such.
The shortcomings of the current global debt framework underscore the urgency of reform. The G20’s Common Framework has demonstrated the limits of a voluntary, creditor-led approach. Even for countries that qualify, debt restructuring is slow and fragmented. Private creditors—who now hold a growing share of African sovereign debt—often avoid participating in relief, delaying recovery and compounding inequality. Yet calls for debt relief must be made responsibly. History offers lessons: the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative succeeded not because of blanket forgiveness, but because of negotiated frameworks that required shared responsibility—between donors, multilaterals, and borrowing countries alike.
Debt relief must be designed in ways that create fiscal space for highly indebted countries to sustain critical social programs, while also avoiding moral hazards and protecting continued access to capital markets. This means embedding fiscal accountability, transparency, and governance reform as part of restructuring efforts. It also means acknowledging that today’s geopolitical environment is far less conducive to sweeping multilateral support than the one that enabled HIPC. Nevertheless, creative solutions are possible. For instance, standstill mechanisms and climate- or shock-responsive clauses can offer predictable breathing room in times of crisis without undermining investor confidence.
Equity must be at the centre of this reform agenda—not as an afterthought, but as a strategic priority. We cannot afford to maintain financial systems that remain blind to gendered outcomes. Most financial data is still not disaggregated by gender, making it difficult to track whether women benefit from reforms. Even the strongest policy declarations fall short if they lack timelines, enforcement tools, or accountability mechanisms. If we don’t measure it—and we don’t enforce it—we can’t fix it.
Furthermore, Africa’s capital ecosystem—whether through debt, equity, or blended finance—must be intentionally restructured to serve women. Development finance institutions and private investors should collaborate to de-risk investments in women-led businesses through blended finance models that offer guarantees, first-loss capital, and innovative structures. Financial products must reflect the realities of women entrepreneurs, including smaller ticket sizes, flexible collateral requirements, and mobile-enabled platforms. Supporting women fund managers is equally critical, because women tend to reinvest in their communities and in other women.
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FfD4 must be more than a moment—it must be a turning point. Reforming the global financial architecture cannot be measured solely by market access or ratings. It must be judged by its ability to empower governments to invest in inclusive growth and build resilience. Africa is not asking for charity. We are calling for fair systems that deliver results, and actively considers and includes African women who are drivers of economic activity and critical to social progress. When African women thrive, entire economies rise.
By Yeabsira Zewdie, Director and Head of Development Finance Services, MiDA Advisors