Fields of work: governance, civic space and protection
RFLD prepares women to lead, gives civil society the data to hold states to their commitments, and protects the women human rights defenders who hold that ground. Three fields of work, one continental architecture, carried by a network of 1,143 member organisations.
Legal anchors
The African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG), adopted in 2007, commits states to free and fair elections, separation of powers, the rule of law and the rejection of unconstitutional changes of government. The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights guarantees freedom of expression, association and assembly in Articles 9, 10 and 11, and its Article 62 creates the state reporting cycle civil society uses to hold governments to account. Article 9 of the Maputo Protocol guarantees women’s right to take part in political and decision-making processes, including through affirmative action.
RFLD’s role is implementation: through the ACDEG Hub, the West Africa Legislative Platform, the Maputo Protocol Hub and the PAWELE programme that prepares women to claim the political space these instruments guarantee.
Prepare women to lead. Track what states do with the power they hold. Protect the defenders who make the tracking possible.
Women’s political leadership, legislative tracking, fiscal accountability and gender-sensitive media.
Go to section Field twoKeeping civic space open on the street, in the courtroom and online, from AU shared values to national practice.
Go to section Field threeAdvocacy at the African Commission, continental protection tools and coordinated referral for defenders at risk.
Go to sectionField one
Four pillars make African democracies answerable to the women they govern: prepare women to lead, track what governments do, follow public money and build media coverage that makes accountability visible.
Pillar one, the flagship
PAWELE covers the whole leadership pipeline: local council aspirants learning campaign basics, parliamentary candidates building platforms, and elected women drafting laws and building coalitions. Local councils decide on water, sanitation, markets, schools and clinics, so PAWELE invests at every level: today’s councillor is tomorrow’s parliamentarian.
Skills women candidates need to compete.
Skills elected women need once in office.
Civil society cannot hold governments to laws it cannot find, read or compare. RFLD runs two of the most-used legislative and democracy resources for civil society in francophone West Africa.
Consolidated women’s rights legislation across ECOWAS: bodily autonomy, inheritance, violence, marriage and political participation, with cross-country comparison.
Open MonitorState compliance with the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance: ratification, periodic reporting and implementation gaps.
Open GuidesPractical guides to the African Commission, the African Court, the Peer Review Mechanism and Agenda 2063 monitoring.
OpenObservation that asks whether women candidates faced harassment, whether voting was accessible to women and whether violence shaped the campaign.
Coordinated submissions that carry local evidence into the international human rights record.
Shared advocacy with continental women’s rights coalitions, so that data becomes political pressure.
RFLD trains civil society and parliamentarians to read budgets through a gender lens and track how funds flow from treasury to clinic.
RFLD trains journalists and community broadcasters to report on women as experts, leaders and budget analysts, with the security they need.
Field two
The architecture of rights exists. What lags is translation: from treaty to law, from law to enforcement, and from enforcement to freedom felt by women, young people and defenders.
RFLD closes that gap three ways. Through Observer Status and the Support Group of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, we bring francophone West African women’s voices into a continental system historically weighted towards anglophone organisations. Through the DƆNÙESÈ Data Center, we produce the gender-disaggregated evidence advocacy depends on. Through the West African Feminist Fund, we move resources to women-led and youth-led organisations on the front line.
Field three
RFLD protects women human rights defenders and civic space at three levels: advocacy at the African Commission, continental research and tools the wider protection system depends on, and coordinated referral and capacity building with the organisations that run front-line protection.
Oral statements at ordinary sessions, shadow reports under Article 62 and bilateral meetings with the Special Rapporteurs on Human Rights Defenders, Rights of Women, Freedom of Expression, and Refugees and Migrants.
Threats, civic-space pressures and the strategies defenders use to keep working. The report informs advocacy, donor priorities and the protection system itself.
Read the 2025 report (PDF)Open, bilingual protocols on operational security, encrypted communication, account hardening and response to coordinated harassment. More than 110 defenders trained in digital resilience and advocacy in 2026.
Open the CompendiumLegal frameworks, country-specific routes to redress and evidence guidance for women activists, journalists and politicians facing online violence.
Download the toolkit (PDF)A 2026 policy brief on strengthening youth-led civic movements where conflict and democratic backsliding have disrupted mentorship between generations.
Read the policy brief (PDF)Referral of defenders at acute risk to Front Line Defenders, ProtectDefenders.eu, AWDF and regional networks for relocation, legal aid, medical and psychosocial support, with case escalation through continental mechanisms.
Across all three fields
Grassroots women-led organisations rarely fail for lack of courage. They fail when a funding shock comes before reserves, an audit finds missing systems, an attack hits without a plan, or a founder leaves. RFLD treats organisational resilience as protection work.
Adaptable templates and support to put them into practice.
The capacity to absorb funding, pass audits and grow.
Security as an organisational discipline.
Institutions that survive crisis and transition.
PAWELE produces women leaders. The legislative platform tracks the laws they engage. Fiscal work gives them evidence. Media carries it to the public. Civic-space and protection work keeps the ground open for all of it.
Civil society generates the data, the media has the megaphone and women in office have the legislative leverage. Together they change the conditions under which African women claim power.
What investment makes possible
Each builds on programmes and tools that already work. Investment takes them further, faster.
In 2026 RFLD trained more than 110 women human rights defenders in digital resilience and advocacy.
A leadership pipeline from local councils to parliament.
The ACDEG Hub and West Africa Legislative Platform are public goods used across the network.
A standard package of policy, finance, security and continuity support for members.
Democracy on the continent faces a stress test. Term extensions, captured courts and electoral commissions, and anti-NGO laws framed as security measures are used to hollow out institutions from within. At the same time, African civil society has never been better organised, more connected or more rigorous in its analysis of public power. That is the opportunity.
The pressure is gendered and it is fiscal. Women defenders face smear campaigns and violence designed to strip them of community protection. Illicit financial flows drain more than US$50 billion a year from Africa, according to estimates including the AU/UNECA High Level Panel led by Thabo Mbeki, and when health and education budgets are diverted it is women and girls who pay first. The legal framework already exists in the ACDEG, the Maputo Protocol and Agenda 2063. The defence of civic space is the defence of every right that depends on it, and implementation begins with women in the rooms where decisions are made.
Free to download, cite and use.
Threats, pressures and strategies of women defenders.
Download PDF Toolkit, 2026Legal routes and evidence guidance for women facing online violence.
Download PDF Policy brief, 2026Strengthening youth-led civic movements.
Download PDF Institutional, 2025Programmes, resources and results across the network.
Download PDFWays to invest
Every route below reaches women-led organisations through RFLD’s audited systems, with reporting in English or French.
From US$500,000Multi-year, one field of work
Carry one or more of the opportunities on this page through a full programme cycle, with a shared results framework.
From US$2 millionCore support for re-granting
Move flexible grants to grassroots organisations in 15 West African countries, including Urgent Action support decided within 5 business days.
US$5 million and aboveAcross all fields of work
Back the whole network: the six fields of work, twelve open-data tools and the systems that hold them together.
For partnerships, programme collaboration, research, member organisation enquiries or donor due diligence.
Africa Director and Founder
Institutional funders and strategic partnerships.
agueh.dossi@rflgd.orgDirector of Strategy & Development
Partnership design and co-created programmes.
gbenagnon.john@rflgd.orgProgramme enquiries
Member collaboration, research and technical questions.
programs@rflgd.orgSafeguarding and integrity
Sensitive concerns handled confidentially.
integrity@rflgd.orgDefenders who need immediate emergency support should contact a specialist front-line protection partner such as Front Line Defenders, ProtectDefenders.eu or their regional defenders’ network. RFLD coordinates referral but is not a 24/7 emergency response service.
For funders and partnersPour les bailleurs et les partenaires
Aid to women’s organisations is falling. RFLD moves funding fast to women-led organisations and defenders, in French and English, through a network of 1,143 member organisations in more than 35 African countries.L’aide aux organisations de femmes recule. Le RFLD achemine vite les financements vers les organisations de femmes et les défenseures, en français et en anglais, grâce à un réseau de 1 143 organisations membres dans plus de 35 pays africains.
RFLD currently serves as Co-Chair of the SEA-T Programme Advisory Council, mandated to ensure the programme’s direction, priorities, and resources are meaningfully aligned with the visions of African women-led civil society. The SEA-T Programme is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.Le RFLD assure actuellement la coprésidence du Conseil consultatif du programme SEA-T, chargé de veiller à ce que l’orientation, les priorités et les ressources du programme soient réellement alignées sur les visions de la société civile africaine portée par les femmes. Le programme SEA-T est financé par le ministère fédéral allemand de la Coopération économique et du Développement (BMZ) et mis en œuvre par la Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. See the partnershipVoir le partenariat
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