Feminist organisations in francophone West Africa work with very small budgets. The movements that oppose gender equality are, in comparison, well resourced. RFLD’s 2026 data report, Funding Feminist Movements in Francophone West Africa, brings together the available data on anti-gender funding. The imbalance helps explain why rights that seemed secure are being challenged in parliaments and courts across the region.
Three organisations, more than 1,174
The most striking comparison comes from AWID’s 2025 survey of feminist organisations. Three anti-rights organisations had a combined income in 2023 greater than all 1,174 feminist organisations surveyed together (Morena et al., 2025). The median feminist organisation in the same survey worked with US$22,000 a year.
Billions from the United States
US-based organisations linked to the anti-gender movement received US$3.7 billion between 2013 and 2017, compared with US$1.2 billion for LGBTI movements worldwide. In Africa over the same period, anti-gender actors received US$162 million, more than the US$144 million that went to LGBTI movements on the continent (Global Philanthropy Project, n.d.).
The trend has continued. Spending by US Christian right organisations in Africa grew by 50% between 2019 and 2022 (Provost et al., 2024). This money funds conferences, lobbying, media campaigns and training for legislators and religious leaders.
New laws in the region
Since 2024, several countries in the region have adopted laws that criminalise same-sex relations. In Senegal, a law adopted in March 2026 also criminalises the financing of organisations that “promote” homosexuality, with an exception for authorised health organisations (Pride Centre, 2026; Human Dignity Trust, 2025).
These laws create legal uncertainty for funders and for regranting intermediaries. They also affect groups working with lesbian, bisexual and queer women, who were already among the least funded. As noted in RFLD’s report, intermediary funders that support these groups report some of the steepest cuts: 15 of 29 surveyed in July 2025 had reduced their regranting budgets, by 25% on average since 2024.
Beyond sexual rights
Anti-gender campaigns rarely stop at sexual orientation. In many countries they also target comprehensive sexuality education, access to contraception and safe abortion, and the very use of the word “gender” in laws and school programmes. Women’s organisations that work on violence, health or political participation therefore face the same opposition, often with the same arguments.
Funding cuts make the imbalance worse. When donors withdraw from sexual and reproductive health, as the United States did in 2025 with an estimated 94% fall in family planning funding, the space left open is quickly occupied by actors who are well funded and well organised.
What funders of women’s rights can do
Matching the resources of the anti-gender movement dollar for dollar is unrealistic. Funders can, however, make their money more effective. RFLD’s report recommends core and flexible funding that lets organisations respond quickly to new threats, and funding for regional networks that can document backlash and share strategies across borders.
One of RFLD’s 2026 grants supports exactly this kind of work: US$28,062.50 under the SEA-T programme to an organisation in West Africa, whose name is withheld, that sustains women’s movements facing backlash through documentation and solidarity spaces. Funders should also assess the legal and security risks for their grantees in each country, and adapt reporting to protect them.
The francophone dimension
In francophone West Africa, the imbalance between anti-gender and feminist funding combines with the language and geography gap described in RFLD’s report. Feminist organisations in the region receive less international funding than their English-speaking peers, and most of them work with budgets under €50,000 a year. Groups opposed to gender equality, on the other hand, can draw on international networks that produce materials in French and organise regional events.
Women’s organisations in the region also face mounting pressure from closing civic space. Five of the eight countries covered by the report are rated repressed by the CIVICUS Monitor. In this context, a campaign against “gender ideology” can easily become a reason to restrict or suspend associations that work on women’s rights, and organisations may choose silence to protect their staff.
RFLD’s report proposes that funders track this pressure systematically. Its research agenda for 2027 includes a record of suspensions, dissolutions and funding restrictions affecting women’s organisations. Documenting backlash is the first step to responding to it with evidence before regional bodies such as the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
Key figures
- US$3.7 billion: received by US-based organisations linked to the anti-gender movement, 2013 to 2017.
- US$162 million: received by anti-gender actors in Africa over the same period.
- 50%: growth in spending by US Christian right organisations in Africa between 2019 and 2022.
- 3 versus 1,174: anti-rights organisations whose 2023 income exceeded that of all feminist organisations surveyed by AWID.
About the report
This article draws on RFLD’s data report Funding Feminist Movements in Francophone West Africa: 2026 Data (RFLD/DR/2026/03), published on 4 October 2026. Read the summary of the report, download the English edition or the French edition. Sources cited in this article are listed in full in the report.
