Across Africa, women’s rights are written into law far more often than they are lived. Most African Union member states have ratified the Maputo Protocol on the rights of women: 46 of 55. Yet laws, budgets and services still lag far behind, and the women’s organisations that close this gap on the ground receive very little flexible funding. That gap is widest in French-speaking Africa.
RFLD, the Réseau des Femmes Leaders pour le Développement (Women Leaders Network for Development), was founded in 2013 by Dossi Sêkonnou Gloria AGUEH to change that. Today we are the African-led feminist network and fund for French-speaking Africa: 1,143 member organisations in more than 35 African countries, led by African women and governed from the continent.
Why French-speaking Africa
Much of international funding for gender justice reaches organisations that write, report and network in English. Women-led groups in Senegal, Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea, Mali and Côte d’Ivoire often work in French or in local languages, far from the funders who could support them. They carry the load of protecting survivors, defending women human rights defenders and pushing for sexual and reproductive health and rights with little core support.
RFLD works in their language and on their terms. Our grant calls run in French, English and Portuguese. Our Francophone Africa Hub serves 29 countries. And our team works from offices in Porto-Novo, Dakar, Accra, Banjul, Lagos and Igolo, close to the organisations we fund.
Proof from the field
In October 2026, RFLD brought a delegation of 42 women human rights defenders from 15 African countries to the 89th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Dakar. They took part in the session and the NGO Forum that precedes it, and brought their cases to the institution that monitors how States apply the Maputo Protocol. Their recommendations on protecting women defenders, online and offline, are published in our policy brief, Defending without being exposed, so that governments and funders can act on them.
Language is part of our work. RFLD has translated the Maputo Protocol into Hausa, Zarma, Goun and Yoruba, with audio versions, and is adding Amharic, Igbo, Lingala and Twi in 2026. A right that a woman cannot read or hear in her language is a right she cannot claim.
Our peers recognise this role. RFLD is one of 12 African feminist organisations selected for the GIZ and BMZ SEA-T flagship cohort, and co-chairs its Advisory Council.
One network, one fund, one voice at the African Commission
RFLD works on the whole chain of change, because fixing one level alone does not last. A trained woman leader without a strong organisation burns out. A strong organisation without access to decision-makers stays local. A good law that no one monitors stays on paper.
- Women and communities. Women and girls, Vulnerable Groups and people with disabilities learn their rights and gain a path to claim them, with protection for women human rights defenders who speak up.
- Grassroots organisations. Locally led, community-led women’s organisations receive flexible grants and the management systems to use them well and to last.
- Laws, budgets and services. Our 12 free, bilingual data tools cover all 55 African Union member states, and we bring evidence from the ground to governments, the African Union and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, where RFLD holds Observer Status N°553.
How we fund: re-granting that shifts power
RFLD is a feminist regrantor. We move resources and decision-making closer to the women who know what their communities need, through trust-based grants that come with accompaniment, not paperwork for its own sake.
- The West African Feminist Fund (WAFF) offers Urgent Action grants of up to US$5,000 decided within five days, and thematic grants of up to US$30,000 for capacity building, advocacy and the inclusion of Vulnerable Groups.
- The Africa Grant Portfolio offers five grant products from US$25,000 to US$500,000, from rapid response to movement building, open to all 55 African Union member states.
- Yéego Jigéen gives women-led organisations in Senegal US$20,000 grants with months of accompaniment.
Between June and September 2026, RFLD awarded 27 grants worth US$722,100 in eight countries. Every grant is listed publicly, with its amount and purpose.
Results we can count
- 114 organisations supported in French-speaking West Africa between September 2025 and July 2026, 114% of our target.
- 13 laws and decrees on sexual violence and related protections that RFLD and its members helped advance, listed in our public register of laws and policies we helped change.
- 9.78 million women and girls supported between 2013 and 2026, and a network of 575,823 women leaders.
- 96% of the women and girls we support say they can better shape their life goals, and the girls and young women we support are five times less likely to drop out of school (RFLD participant survey, July 2026).
- 18 hours: the time it now takes us to respond to a woman defender at risk, down from 72 hours.
The method and sources behind each figure are on our Impact in numbers page.
Accountable by default
RFLD is registered in Ghana, Senegal, Benin, Nigeria and The Gambia, with headquarters at the Africa Office in Accra. Our accounts have received consecutive unqualified audit opinions for FY2024 and FY2025, and 79.8% of our 2025 spending went to field activities. We publish our grants on IATI, hold an NGOsource 501(c)(3) equivalency determination and the Candid Platinum Seal of Transparency 2026. Our financials and governance policies are open to anyone.
Trusted by leading partners
Our work is funded and reviewed by partners who know the field: Sida, GIZ and BMZ, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, AmplifyChange, the African Women’s Development Fund, CIVICUS, Hivos, Expertise France and DefendDefenders, among others. We also work alongside Equality Now on sexual and reproductive rights in Benin. Each of these partnerships went through due diligence, and our list of partners and funders is public.
What your support does
Every gift has a concrete effect, and every amount counts:
- US$50 supports one safety briefing or digital-security tool for a woman human rights defender.
- US$250 funds one month of data collection for our open data on women’s rights.
- US$1,000 covers one WAFF micro-grant to a grassroots women’s collective.
Foundations and major donors can invest at programme scale. A US$50,000 catalyst grant runs for six months. US$300,000 funds a full six-month WAFF round, with about ten women-led organisations receiving €20,000 to €25,000 each, plus strengthening and monitoring. US$1 million over three years funds one flagship programme end to end, with its fair share of core costs. A transformational gift of US$5 million or more, unrestricted over five years, would turn the WAFF into a permanent pool and open new country presence. See the detail on our investment page.
A costed plan you can join
RFLD’s plan for 2026 to 2029 is costed at US$14 million. It is carried by a team of 42 staff, 21 of them full time, across six offices. We priced our core costs into the plan rather than hiding them in projects, and we plan to grow our operating reserve. Partners who join now help shape the next phase, and can visit our work in Benin, Ghana or Senegal.
Fund the whole chain
Unrestricted, multi-year funding is what lets a feminist fund respond when a crisis hits, keep grants compliant and grow with its partners. It pays for what holds the work together: finance and audit, safeguarding, data systems and the offices that serve women’s organisations every day.
You can give to RFLD once or every month. US donors can give tax-deductibly through the RFLD US Fund at Myriad USA or through a donor-advised fund, and US foundations can grant to RFLD directly. Foundations and institutions that want to co-fund a grant round or support our strategy can partner with us, or write to John GBENAGNON, Director of Strategy and Development, at gbenagnon.john@rflgd.org.
Women’s rights exist on paper. With RFLD, they reach women’s lives, from the village to the African Commission.
