From 25 November to 10 December 2026, the Réseau des Femmes Leaders pour le Développement (RFLD) and its 1,143 member organisations across Africa join the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. This year, our theme is clear: ensure justice, protect survivors, end impunity.
Strong laws, weak enforcement
Africa has the texts it needs. The Maputo Protocol has been ratified by 46 of the 55 African Union member states, and the African Union has adopted a Convention on Ending Violence against Women and Girls. Across our network, women’s rights laws are now mapped in all 55 African Union member states on our open data platform.
Yet survivors still meet closed doors. Complaints go unrecorded, cases stall before trial and perpetrators walk free. Online violence spreads faster than the law can follow. A law on paper protects no one until it is applied.
What we ask for in 2026
- Ensure justice. Every complaint recorded, investigated and judged, with legal aid that reaches women outside the capitals.
- Protect survivors. Safety, health care and psychosocial support, offline and online, with survivors deciding what happens to their story.
- End impunity. States applying the laws they adopted, lifting their reservations to the Maputo Protocol and reporting on progress to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
A campaign kit for everyone
RFLD has prepared a full campaign kit on rflgd.org/16-days. It includes:
- twelve visuals to download, in English and in French, for posts and stories;
- messages ready to copy for Facebook, LinkedIn, X and WhatsApp;
- a calendar with one theme for each of the sixteen days, from the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November to Human Rights Day on 10 December;
- free online courses from the RFLD Academy, including on the African Union Convention on Ending Violence against Women and Girls, the Maputo Protocol and the protection of human rights defenders;
- our toolkits and reports, from the Survivor Support Toolkit to the legal toolkit on cyber harassment and our 2026 report on online violence in West and Central Africa.
How to take part
Share one visual and one message each day, in French first and then in English. Take a free course with your team. Organise a community dialogue or a radio programme, and send us your photos with the consent of the people shown. Ask your authorities how they apply the Maputo Protocol and the African Union Convention. On GivingTuesday, 1 December, support the women-led organisations that care for survivors.
Tag RFLD and use the hashtags #16Days #OrangeTheWorld #EndImpunity, or #16Jours #OrangezLeMonde #FinDeLImpunité in French.
For questions about the campaign, write to programs@rflgd.org.
About RFLD. The Réseau des Femmes Leaders pour le Développement (RFLD) is a pan-African network of 1,143 member organisations in more than 35 African countries, led by African women. RFLD holds Observer Status with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (N°553).
