Banjul, The Gambia — The Executive Director of the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS), Mrs. Hannah Forster, was on Friday, 28th November 2025, honoured as the Women’s Rights Advocate of the Year at the 5th Edition of the Gambia Women Chamber of Commerce (GWCC) Women in Business Forum and Awards. The prestigious recognition celebrates her decades-long leadership, commitment, and transformative impact in advancing women’s rights, peacebuilding, and human rights across Africa.
For more than 35 years, Mrs. Forster has been a towering figure in human rights advocacy, governance, and gender equality on the continent. Her work at the helm of ACDHRS, one of Africa’s leading human rights institutions, has strengthened civic participation, supported human rights defenders, and enhanced women’s leadership across national, regional, and international platforms.
A respected human rights and peace advocate, Mrs. Forster is also an election observer trained at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Centre; a trained mediator; and a beneficiary of specialised training for Women in Electoral Mediation in Africa. She is a founding member of key continental women’s rights coalitions, including GIMAC and SOAWR, and an active contributor to Women Mediators across the Commonwealth.
Mrs. Forster is a proud mentor to many young people, both in The Gambia and abroad, a journey that began during her early years at the Gambia National Library Services under the Ministry of Education. This lifelong passion for nurturing the next generation continues today through the institutionalized internship and youth empowerment programmes of ACDHRS.
Her influence extends across multiple global mechanisms. Mrs. Forster serves on the Working Group on Women and Democracy of the Community of Democracies, the Working Group on Women, Youth, Peace and Security in West Africa coordinated by UNOWAS, and similar initiatives in Senegal, The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau focused on peace and stability in the Casamance region. She facilitates training on UNSCR 1325 and 2250, equipping women and youth leaders with tools to participate meaningfully in peace and security processes.
Before her transition into full-time human rights advocacy, Mrs. Forster served for over a decade in The Gambia’s Ministry of Education. She holds academic qualifications from the University of Ghana, Loughborough University, Loughborough Technical College, and an MA in Human Rights and Conflict Management from the Scuola Superieur Sant’Anna in Pisa, Italy.
Her latest award from the GWCC adds to a distinguished list of honours, including the Kairaba Peace Award, recognising her outstanding contributions to peace and security, the Resilience Award for advocating for the ratification, domestication and implementation of the Maputo Protocol; 1st Gambian to receive the Woman of Courage from the US Department of State; HRD of the Year by REDHAC and more.
Mrs. Forster dedicated the award to women human rights defenders and community advocates across Africa, reaffirming her commitment to championing gender equality, civic freedoms, and inclusive development. She cherished GWCC as it was the first time her contribution was recognized by a Gambian institution in The Gambia.
The ACDHRS family joins partners and stakeholders across the region in congratulating Mrs. Forster on this well-deserved honour and in celebrating her unwavering dedication to protecting and empowering women and communities across the continent.
