Women’s organisations in West and Central Africa are on the front line of the response to online violence. They train women in digital safety and support survivors. RFLD’s report Online violence against women in West and Central Africa 2026 asks funders and development partners to back this work, and to fill the region’s data gap.
Where funding is starting to flow
A few significant initiatives already exist.
The French development agency (AFD) launched a call for projects in 2025 on technology-facilitated gender-based violence, through its Support Fund for Feminist Organisations (FSOF). The budget was €4 million, with the framing note citing €4 to 6 million, over three to four years. At least 50% had to be regranted to local feminist organisations, in grants of €5,000 to €250,000. Projects had to cover at least four countries. The deadline was 31 August 2025.
The FSOF itself was set up in 2020 by the French foreign ministry and AFD. Between 2020 and 2023 it approved €194 million for more than 1,400 organisations in 75 countries.
UNFPA’s Making All Spaces Safe programme, funded by Global Affairs Canada, addresses technology-facilitated violence in Benin and Ghana, as well as Kenya and Tunisia. UN Women published a dedicated strategy on technology-facilitated violence against women and girls in December 2025, with five pathways.
The Sahel gap
Twenty countries of West and Central Africa were eligible for the AFD call. The three central Sahel states were not.
The report recognises the real constraints on operating in the central Sahel. Yet women there face some of the most male-dominated online spaces in the region. Women make up only 19.9% of the social media audience in Niger and 24.7% in Mali, according to DataReportal figures. The report asks funders to include francophone countries of the Sahel in programmes on digital violence, recognising the constraints that some funding windows place on them.
What the report asks of funders
Beyond the Sahel, the report’s requests to funders centre on two needs: services and data.
First, fund women’s organisations that provide digital safety training and legal support, through flexible, multi-year grants. Short project cycles make it hard to build lasting services, such as a trained digital safety focal point or a referral network.
Second, support national statistical offices and research institutions to produce primary data on online violence in the region. There is no nationally representative prevalence survey in any country of the region. A 2026 scoping review found only two West African studies among 17 in sub-Saharan Africa.
Data work can start small. A module on online violence, added to existing national surveys on violence against women as the report recommends to states, would give each country a baseline. Funders can help statistical offices design and test such modules. Research on languages also matters: no West or Central African language has yet been the subject of a dedicated content moderation study.
Why flexible funding matters
Online violence changes quickly. UN Women reports, citing Sensity.ai, that 90 to 95% of deepfakes online are sexual images of women. Organisations need the freedom to adapt their work as threats evolve.
Flexible funding also allows organisations to support their own staff. The report recommends that women’s organisations support staff members who are themselves targeted online. That support has a cost.
Where investment would go furthest
Based on the report’s findings, some investments stand out:
- national prevalence surveys, or survey modules on online violence, in francophone countries;
- simple guides in local languages on preserving evidence and reporting abuse;
- monitoring of online abuse against women in politics before and during elections;
- alliances between women’s rights organisations and the groups that defend digital rights and media freedom, which the report recommends.
Partnering with RFLD
RFLD brings together more than 1,100 member organisations in over 35 African countries. Its network can help funders reach local feminist organisations across West and Central Africa, in French and English.
For the full set of recommendations, see the report summary. For RFLD’s wider work on women’s rights law, visit the women’s rights laws pages.
About the report
This article draws on RFLD’s report Online violence against women in West and Central Africa 2026, published on 4 October 2026. Read the summary, download the English edition or the French edition.
