Field of work: Economic Justice & Climate
African women already farm much of the continent’s land, manage its household water and energy, and carry out the climate adaptation under way today. RFLD works to give them the land rights, finance, policy voice and climate funding to lead it, so that one investment strengthens both women’s economic security and their communities’ resilience.
One investment, two returns
Africa produces roughly 3 to 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions yet absorbs a heavy share of drought, flooding, food insecurity and displacement. The women who work the land, draw the water and run household economies are already adapting. What they lack is ownership, credit and a seat in climate policy.
That makes their economic rights the most direct route to resilience. A woman with secure land invests in her soil. A woman with credit can adapt her farm. A widow protected by inheritance law keeps the household on its feet. RFLD’s work is anchored in the Maputo Protocol (Articles 19 and 21), the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and two decades of African feminist thinking on economic and climate rights.
Pillar one
In many African countries most small-scale farmers are women, yet only a small share of titled land is in women’s names. Secure land opens credit, long-term investment in soil and protection when a marriage ends or a husband dies. RFLD works on the law, the registry and daily practice.
Customary inheritance rules in many legal systems pass land away from widows and daughters. RFLD works with parliaments, justice ministries and traditional leaders to reform them while respecting cultural authority.
A right women cannot use is not yet a right. RFLD turns land law into community knowledge, so women can use registries, document customary holdings and contest dispossession.
Women produce much of Africa’s food on small farms. RFLD backs agroecology and food sovereignty, which build soil health and resilience.
Cooperatives, mutual aid and communal land trusts let women pool labour, share risk and reach markets together.
Pillar two
Climate change is present now in shorter growing seasons, collapsing fisheries and coastal erosion. African women are already doing the daily work of adaptation. RFLD makes sure climate finance, policy and law support them.
SMS weather alerts and locally translated forecasts that reach rural women in time to protect crops, livestock and households.
Drought-resilient sorghum, millet and indigenous crops, with farmer-led seed networks that keep genetic diversity alive.
Women-led restoration that protects coastlines from storm surge and supports fisheries and biodiversity.
Low-cost capture and storage that cuts women’s water-collection time and builds dry-season resilience.
Documenting and amplifying women’s centuries of adaptation knowledge alongside scientific approaches.
Advocacy for direct, accessible loss and damage finance for affected communities, including women’s grassroots organisations.
Climate justice is a daily reality, negotiated each morning by the woman walking further than yesterday for water that was once at the edge of the village.
Pillar three
Women perform most of Africa’s unpaid care work, from fetching water and fuel to caring for children, the sick and the elderly. It makes every other economy possible and appears in no GDP figure. As climate change makes resources scarcer, the hours grow. RFLD’s approach has three steps.
Credit models built for salaried workers misjudge rural women whose incomes follow harvests and kinship networks. RFLD works with banks, mobile money providers and microfinance institutions, and with women themselves.
Most African women earn their living informally, as traders, domestic workers, farm labourers and home-based producers, largely outside labour protection. RFLD advocates for standards that meet them where they work.
Pillar four
The shift away from fossil fuels is under way. Decisions made now will determine whether it reaches African women or repeats old patterns of extraction. RFLD pushes for energy systems that serve communities, accountability in mining and oil, and water as a public good.
Around half of people in sub-Saharan Africa still cook with wood, charcoal or dung, and gathering fuel is one of women’s largest unpaid burdens. RFLD treats clean cooking and community renewable energy as women’s rights issues.
Mining and oil projects have often brought displacement instead of development. RFLD supports affected communities to negotiate binding agreements and hold companies to account.
Women manage most household water. RFLD holds that clean water is a human right, not a commodity. Our 15-episode Water Justice podcast builds the coalitions behind this position.
Along the West African coast, women lead fish processing, smoking and trading. RFLD works to secure their place in fisheries and blue economy policy.
The decisions that shape African women’s economic and climate futures are made in forums where African feminist voices are still too few. RFLD is present where they are made.
Through African feminist coalitions: accessible loss and damage finance, gender-responsive climate finance and women’s adaptation experience in national plans.
Gender-responsive economic and climate policy in implementation, through the AU, the African Commission and the African Peer Review Mechanism.
Women’s land rights, cross-border trade and regional adaptation finance across 15 West African states.
Sustainable development and widows’ inheritance rights, tracked across all 55 AU member states by the Maputo Protocol Hub.
Budget monitoring tools and fiscal policy references for civil society and parliamentary advocates.
Explore ClimateGender-disaggregated climate data, adaptation case studies and policy references for francophone West Africa.
Explore Continental lawRatification, domestication and implementation of Articles 19 and 21 across 55 AU member states.
ExploreWhat investment makes possible
Each builds on work RFLD and its members already do. Investment turns local results into regional change.
Legal literacy and paralegal support for widows and daughters facing dispossession.
Direct grants to women-led groups for adaptation and recovery, through the West African Feminist Fund.
Gender-responsive budgeting training using the Ecojustice in Africa tools.
Support for communities negotiating with mining, oil and energy projects.
Ways 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.org