A shadow report signed by one organisation is a voice. A report signed by many is harder to set aside. RFLD’s manual, Reporting on the Maputo Protocol: a manual for shadow reports, recommends coalition reports wherever possible and gives practical tools to build them. The advice rests on the rules of the African Commission and on the experience of African women’s rights coalitions.
The rules favour joint reports
The African Commission’s 2022 Guidelines on Shadow Reports encourage joint reports. All signatories must be listed, either on the cover or in an annex. The same logic applies in the United Nations system. The CEDAW Committee allows a coalition report of 6,600 words against 3,300 for a single organisation, according to IWRAW Asia Pacific’s guidance for the 92nd session. Universal Periodic Review stakeholder submissions follow the same pattern: 5,630 words for a joint submission against 2,815 for an individual one.
The manual draws a simple conclusion. Every major mechanism that reviews African States rewards organisations that work together.
What coalitions bring
The benefits go beyond word limits. A coalition can cover more ground. A national network may hold data on violence, a legal aid group may track court cases, a rural women’s organisation may hold first-hand testimony and a disability rights group may know which services remain out of reach. Put together, these make it possible to meet the manual’s triangulation rule, under which every major claim rests on at least two independent types of source.
A coalition also spreads risk. When a report names hard truths, a single small organisation can be exposed. A joint report shares visibility among many signatories, and the Commission’s Guidelines allow any author to ask for anonymity if they fear retaliation. The manual’s risk check asks directly whether any coalition member needs to make that request.
A coalition also carries more weight with Commissioners, because it shows that concerns are widely shared. Finally, it is better placed to follow up. Concluding observations need national champions for years after a session. A group of organisations with shared ownership of the report is more likely to keep pushing.
A model from Kenya
The best-documented African coalition on the Maputo Protocol is in Kenya. Equality Now and 17 Kenyan civil society organisations produced a joint shadow report on Kenya’s implementation of the Protocol, published in December 2021. It covered equality and political participation, sexual and gender-based violence, female genital mutilation, child marriage, technology-facilitated violence, reproductive rights and maternal health, as well as the situation of women with disabilities and indigenous women.
Kenya’s review was postponed from the 69th Session. The coalition’s experience shows why planning for delay matters. Kenya’s 14th Charter report and 2nd Maputo report were later examined at the 87th Session in May 2026, and concluding observations were adopted at the 88th Session in July 2026.
At regional level, the Solidarity for African Women’s Rights coalition, known as SOAWR, shows what long-term cooperation can achieve. Founded in 2004, it brings together more than 70 civil society organisations in 33 countries, with a secretariat hosted by Equality Now in Nairobi. Its work covers ratification, domestication and implementation of the Maputo Protocol, as well as national and sub-regional tracking.
Building the coalition: the agreement
The manual’s coalition agreement template helps partners settle questions that often cause tension later. Who leads the drafting? Who signs off on the final text, and by when? How are names listed, and can a member stay anonymous? Who speaks to the media? Who holds the evidence, and where is it stored?
On media, the manual recommends designating a single spokesperson. This protects survivors’ anonymity and avoids exposing members who face greater risk of retaliation.
The final checklist before submission includes a coalition test: all members are listed and have validated the text. A report that goes out without that validation can damage trust inside the coalition, and with it the follow-up work.
Dividing the work
A practical way to organise a coalition report is to follow the eight thematic clusters of the Maputo Protocol reporting guidelines. Each member takes the clusters where it holds the strongest evidence. One organisation, or a small editorial team, then brings the sections together and keeps the whole report within the Commission’s 15-page limit.
The manual’s evidence matrix helps here. Each member records the State claims it is testing and the sources that support each one. Gaps become visible straight away. The editorial team can then see at a glance which issues are well supported and which should be dropped.
Small coalitions count too
A coalition does not need dozens of members. In Rwanda, two organisations jointly published a 14-page shadow report in 2022 focused on a single article of the Maputo Protocol, Article 14 on health. The report combined document review with focus groups and interviews with 155 participants in nine districts. Its narrow scope made it manageable, and its length stayed within the Commission’s limit.
One evidence base, several uses
A coalition that has built a strong evidence base can use it more than once. Module 9 of the manual shows how the same material can feed a full report for the African Commission and shorter, adapted versions for two United Nations processes: the CEDAW Committee and the Universal Periodic Review.
RFLD’s own network of 1,143 member organisations across more than 35 African countries is built on this idea: women’s organisations are stronger when they act together. Groups looking for partners on a specific issue, such as reservations to the Protocol, can start from RFLD’s country briefs on lifting the reservations.
About the report
This article draws on RFLD’s report Reporting on the Maputo Protocol: a manual for shadow reports, published on 4 October 2026. Read the summary, download the English edition or the French edition.
