Rwandan First Lady Jeannette Kagame has called for collective strength and resolve to tackle global challenges including mental health issues, gender inequalities, conflicts, and resource misallocation.

She was speaking at the annual meeting of the Segal Family Foundation, a social impact funder and advisor organisation that invests in visionary local leaders who have ideas and potential to transform society.

"Together, we have opposed the flawed notion that Africa must remain on the receiving end of aid, rather than Africa supporting itself, nurturing itself and developing itself." - First Lady Mrs Jeannette Kagame at the @SegalFoundation 10th Annual General Meeting this morning, in... pic.twitter.com/sAjjzkApQi-- First Lady of Rwanda (@FirstLadyRwanda) July 13, 2023

Held in Kigali on Thursday, July 13, the meeting brought together various people including progressive funders focusing on positive change in Sub-Saharan Africa, donors, and service providers to learn from each other and share new ideas.

Addressing the participants, Mrs. Kagame noted that as the experience of people as global citizens keeps evolving leading to invaluable progress, there are new challenges coming up as well and they need attention.

"We know mental health to be in greater need of attention and interventions; we know technological advances to pose the threat of widening the gender-gap," she said.

"We watch daily as, around the world, global warming, conflict and resource misallocation threaten food supply - even across fertile regions. This knowledge must inform decisive action, and this, sooner than tomorrow," she added.

Mrs Kagame called for efforts to "wield our collective strength and resolve, our collective determination to be a force for good, our shared creativity and diverse expertise, to overcome the challenges we face, old and new."