One of the side panels of this year's Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) Conference at the United Nations was sponsored the African Citizen's Development Foundation. The session was called, "Developing Africa with Active Citizenship: Empowering Women and Girls." The group aims to foster better leadership, advocating for the empowerment of women and girls, and building a cultured society. The session was moderated by Lehigh University graduate student Kelsey Leck.

The ACDF vision reads: 

Our mission is to establish a meeting point between different educational agents from all around the world. We wish to provide new opportunities for creation, dissemination and exchange of experiences and multi, inter and transdisciplinary knowledge that serve for formulation and organization of a new, complex thinking and humanistic and philanthropic feeling to interpret the current world, respecting their cultural diversity fully, because the peace, poverty eradication and sustainable development can only be the result of equity, sprouted from the appreciation and respect for cultural diversity.

In the Session the group stressed the importance in building strong institutions. And that for society to change, we needed to work together and complement each other. This includes working with the local male population.

The point was raised that the whole society benefits when more people are brought to the table to achieve common goals. It should be looked at as a thing of pride for men to have their female counterparts empowered. And that better laws need to be in the books, but also focus has to be on implementation.