The United Nations Development Programme and the African Development Bank launched a joint governance project targeting three African countries navigating political transitions, with a focus on strengthening justice institutions and increasing women’s participation in leadership.
According to a media release on March 13, the project, called BRIDGE, will operate over two years in Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia and South Sudan. All three countries have experienced prolonged institutional fragility.
The program targets a structural gap common to post-conflict and transition environments, where governance capacity, gender representation and civil society access to decision-making remain limited.
Funding comes through the African Development Bank (AfDB)’s Transition Support Facility.
BRIDGE, according to the statement, will be coordinated through a joint African Union Commission and UNDP initiative designed to support countries in complex political transitions across the continent.
Ahunna Eziakonwa, UNDP’s assistant administrator for Africa, said the program represents “an investment in women as architects of accountable and inclusive governance.”
Jemimah Njuki, who leads the Gender, Women and Civil Society Department at the AfDB, said the project would “strengthen justice systems, expand women’s participation in leadership, and empower civil society to advance accountability and equality.”
The launch came during Women’s Month. No total funding figure was disclosed in the announcement.
The initiative adds to a growing set of multilateral interventions in Africa’s fragile states, where institutional reform is increasingly framed as a precondition for economic stabilization and sustainable development.
