At a glance
Project summary.
AIHRDFWA is RFLD's flagship project under our institutional partnership with Germany's BMZ and GIZ. The project addresses one of the most consequential challenges in the region: the simultaneous narrowing of civic space and the increasing exposure of women human rights defenders to political, digital, and physical threat.
Duration
30 months
2025 – 2028
Region
Francophone
West Africa
Eight countries
Lead implementer
RFLD
With member organisations across the region
About AIHRDFWA
An Afrofeminist initiative, built on continental ground.
AIHRDFWA proposes a coordinated, regional response to the narrowing of civic space and the rising threats to women human rights defenders across francophone West Africa. The project is grounded in three principles: that civil society must lead the agenda, that participatory methods are essential to durable change, and that intersectional Afrofeminist analysis is the framework most capable of describing how women's rights are constrained and advanced in this region.
What AIHRDFWA strengthens
The project focuses on three intersecting capacities of feminist civil society: institutional strengthening, advocacy reach, and the protection of those who do the work.
- Capacity of francophone West African feminist CSOs at local and regional levels
- Advocacy that reaches both national parliaments and supranational forums (ECOWAS, AU, UPR)
- Protection mechanisms for women human rights defenders facing persecution
- Cross-border coordination among feminist movements that share political contexts
- Inclusive participation of marginalised groups in policy-shaping processes
How AIHRDFWA differs from RFLD's other regional work
AIHRDFWA sits within RFLD's broader institutional portfolio but is distinguishable by its specific scope, funder, and methodology. It is one of RFLD's flagship projects — not the entirety of our work in the region.
- BMZ-funded with GIZ partnership support — bilateral German cooperation framework
- RFLD-led — RFLD is the lead implementer, not a sub-grantee
- Francophone West African focus — 8 countries, Sahel and coastal states
- Civil society-led methodology — Afrofeminist participatory methods
- Anchored in the Maputo Protocol, ACDEG, and ECOWAS Supplementary Act
The five measures
Key activities of AIHRDFWA.
The project's activities cluster into five mutually-reinforcing measures, each addressing a distinct dimension of the regional challenge — from policy advocacy through to digital security through to grassroots democratic participation.
01
Inclusive policy advocacy
Engagement with national parliaments, regional bodies, and continental mechanisms to advance inclusive policy reform.
02
Digital resilience for WHRDs
Digital security training, threat response, and protection mechanisms for women human rights defenders.
03
Cross-border solidarity networks
Coordinating feminist civil society across borders, particularly in shared political contexts.
04
Targeted human rights programming
Programming for vulnerable and marginalised groups, including those facing intersectional discrimination.
05
Democratic participation & civic education
Civic education and participatory democracy initiatives empowering citizens to engage in democratic processes.
Strategic and specific objectives
The logical framework.
AIHRDFWA's results framework comprises one strategic objective and three specific objectives, each with short-term outcomes (the changes the project produces during implementation) and long-term outcomes (the systemic changes the project contributes to over time).
Strategic objective · O-1
Strengthened human rights institutions and mechanisms
Building the institutional infrastructure that translates international commitments into practical protection — including civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights for women across the region.
Specific objective · O-2
Enhanced advocacy & awareness for WHRDs and CSOs
Visible, well-resourced advocacy that expands civic and digital space for women human rights defenders and the civil society organisations they lead.
Specific objective · O-3
Targeted programming for vulnerable groups
Programming specifically designed for women human rights defenders and members of vulnerable and marginalised groups — including women facing intersectional discrimination on the basis of poverty, disability, displacement, age, or other dimensions.
Specific objective · O-4
Strengthened democratic participation & civil society engagement
Active citizens engaged in democracy through accessible civic-education tools, direct-democracy mechanisms, and ongoing participation in governance processes — with women and youth at the centre.
The lead implementer
Why RFLD leads this project.
RFLD's selection as lead implementer of AIHRDFWA reflects more than a decade of feminist movement-building across francophone West Africa, an established credential profile (including the GIZ/BMZ SEA-T flagship cohort), and an institutional infrastructure capable of delivering at the scope this project demands.
Lead implementer · Pan-African feminist network
A network with the reach, the relationships, and the legal grounding for this work.
RFLD is a pan-African feminist organisation anchored in francophone West Africa, with offices in Cotonou (HQ), Accra, Dakar, and Banjul. Our network of 670 member organisations across the continent gives AIHRDFWA the grassroots reach that makes regional advocacy possible. Our existing partnerships with government stakeholders, regional networks, and continental institutions — including the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights — provide the policy access without which advocacy work cannot translate into reform.
Within AIHRDFWA, RFLD leads on policy reform engagement at national and regional levels, drives digital engagement strategies that make project initiatives accessible and inclusive, and provides the protection capacity that women human rights defenders need to do their work safely. RFLD's role is operational lead — not symbolic partner. The project is implemented by RFLD with the institutional support of GIZ and the funding of BMZ.
Contextual analysis
Why this work, now.
AIHRDFWA enters a region where the conditions for civil society and for women human rights defenders have changed substantially in the past five years. The contextual realities below shape the project's design and the way RFLD will deliver it.
The narrowing of civic space
Civic space in francophone West Africa has narrowed significantly. Several states in the region have introduced or expanded NGO regulation, restrictive cybercrime laws, and administrative measures that constrain civil society's ability to organise and advocate. In some countries — including AES-bloc states — these measures have been accompanied by the deregistration of foreign-funded organisations.
- NGO regulation reform requiring renewed registration and political vetting
- Cybercrime and "false information" laws used against civil society reporting
- Restrictions on foreign-funded organisations, with implications for project sub-grantees
- The April 2026 dissolution of 118 NGOs in Burkina Faso illustrates the operating reality
The exposure of women human rights defenders
Women human rights defenders in the region face threats that include political pressure, judicial harassment, digital attacks, and physical violence. Defenders working on SRHR, LGBTIQ+ inclusion, electoral participation, or extractive accountability face particular risks. Protection capacity in much of the region remains underdeveloped.
- Documented cases of judicial harassment, surveillance, and intimidation
- Technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) targeting women defenders
- Limited national protection mechanisms and patchy continental coordination
- Need for francophone-language digital security and rapid-response capacity
The Sahel reality
Three of AIHRDFWA's eight countries — Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger — are governed by transitional military authorities under the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). These countries remain RFLD's countries of operation through trusted member organisations, while the operating environment requires careful, security-conscious engagement.
- Engagement is conducted through local member organisations, not direct branding
- Activities prioritise local civil society leadership over external visibility
- Communications and convenings are designed with security of partners as paramount
- RFLD will withdraw or pause activities where partner safety cannot be assured
The opportunity
Despite the constraints, francophone West African civil society is more organised, more connected, and more analytically rigorous than at any point in recent history. The continental legal frameworks — the Maputo Protocol, ACDEG, the ECOWAS Supplementary Act — give the region a basis in international law that few other regions can match. The work that remains is implementation, and implementation begins with civil society infrastructure capable of demanding it.
- Established continental legal frameworks giving civil society leverage on states
- Growing francophone feminist analytical and movement infrastructure
- Cross-border solidarity networks already operating in the region
- BMZ partnership providing the resourced regional platform AIHRDFWA needs
Legal anchors
Continental and regional frameworks.
AIHRDFWA's policy and advocacy work is grounded in continental and regional legal frameworks that give African women rights enforceable in international law. The project's role is to support implementation of these frameworks at national level.
Maputo Protocol
The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. AIHRDFWA's policy work is anchored particularly in:
- Article 8 — Access to justice and equal protection before the law
- Article 9 — Right to participate in political and decision-making processes
- Article 5 — Elimination of harmful practices
- Article 23 — Special protection of women with disabilities
ECOWAS & AU instruments
Regional and continental instruments that give the project sub-regional legal grounding:
- ECOWAS Supplementary Act on Equality of Rights between Women and Men (2015)
- African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG, 2007)
- African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights — and the work of the ACHPR (where RFLD holds Observer Status)
- AU Agenda 2063 — including its commitments on gender equality and democratic governance