There is a wealth of African feminist academic and activist research and knowledge on neoliberalism and its impacts in the majority world. Yet, this knowledge has, for the most part, been excised from conversations on neoliberalism and its ideological and policy tenets. Despite more than a decade of the crisis of neoliberalism, the myth that ‘there is no alternative’ persists outside of progressive circles. Nevertheless, African feminists continue to produce new knowledge, weaving new stories away from the Western gaze and challenging the ever-changing manifestations of neoliberalism and its implications for African feminist agendas.
The Jacaranda Paper is a powerful synthesis of African feminist thought leadership, emerging from a feminist convening held in Nairobi in February 2025. Co-organized by Akina Mama wa Afrika, The Nawi Collective, and ActionAid International, the paper captures the collective reflections, critiques, and visionary propositions of African feminists seeking alternatives to neoliberalism and its entrenched impacts on the continent.
The paper outlines three key strategies:
- Disruption: Exposing the violence of neoliberalism—from austerity-induced deaths to the commodification of care and labor—and challenging the atomization of society.
- World Building: Creating new economic realities through solidarity, critical mass, and visionary planning. This includes embedding feminist economics in academia, policy, and governance, and reclaiming African value systems.
- Reparative Justice as a Framework: Central to the paper is a call for reparative justice—not just financial compensation, but holistic healing from colonial and neoliberal harm. This includes restitution, rehabilitation, and guarantees of non-repetition, with a pan-African and transnational lens.
The paper outlines ten practical actions, including:
- Mapping existing feminist economic frameworks.
- Establishing feminist media and digital infrastructures.
- Embedding feminist economics in academic and policy spaces.
- Creating observatories to track neoliberal violence.
The Jacaranda Paper is both a call to action and a blueprint for transformation. It urges African feminists to disrupt, reimagine, and build a future beyond neoliberalism: one that is just, communal, and rooted in African feminist values.