Many girls in West and Central Africa meet online abuse before they reach adulthood. RFLD’s report Online violence against women in West and Central Africa 2026 draws on surveys of girls and young women to show how early the problem begins, and why prevention must start young.
The Plan International survey
Plan International’s State of the World’s Girls 2020: Free to Be Online? surveyed 14,071 girls and young women aged 15 to 25 in 22 countries. In Africa, the survey covered Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and Zambia.
Overall, 58% had experienced some form of online harassment. In Africa the figure was 54%, the lowest of the regions surveyed. In Europe it reached 63%. A lower regional rate is no comfort. More than half of African respondents had been harassed.
Of those harassed, 85% had experienced more than one type of abuse. The most common were:
- threats of sexual violence: 39%
- body shaming: 39%
- sexual harassment: 37%
- stalking: 32%
Facebook was the platform where harassment was most often reported, at 39%, followed by Instagram at 23%.
Plan International’s published report does not give separate figures for the African countries surveyed. This is another example of the missing national data that the report highlights.
Children in Senegal
A survey of 1,149 children aged 9 to 17 in Senegal, carried out between January and November 2025 by CONAFE-Senegal and international partners, adds a younger perspective. It found that 45.6% had been cyberbullied, and 40.3% had faced online sexual predation.
These figures were reported in the Senegalese press. They show that online risks for girls start well before the age covered by most surveys of women.
Impacts on girls
In the Plan International survey, harassment had real effects. 42% of those harassed reported lower self-esteem or confidence and 42% reported mental or emotional stress. 18% reported problems at school, and 19% problems with friends or family.
For girls, the consequences can follow them into adulthood. A girl who learns early that speaking online brings abuse may never take up a public voice.
Risks continue into early adulthood
The 2026 PLOS ONE scoping review of studies in sub-Saharan Africa found cyberstalking rates of 49.7% to 75.8% among university students in the studies it covered. In Ghana, one study found that 73.2% of respondents had received offensive text messages. The risks do not end when girls leave school.
Sextortion is another risk for young women. Ghana’s Cybersecurity Act 2020 sets prison terms of 10 to 25 years for sexual extortion, with no option of a fine.
Continental policy and its gaps
The African Union adopted a Child Online Safety and Empowerment Policy in February 2024, at the 44th session of its Executive Council. It contains ten action areas. The report notes that it has no explicit gender lens, even though girls face specific risks online, as the figures above show.
The UN Commission on the Status of Women recognised in 2023 that adolescent girls face violence that occurs through or is amplified by technology.
The African Commission’s Resolution 522 calls on states to run awareness campaigns aimed at men and boys. Reaching boys early, at school and online, is part of prevention.
What the report recommends
Several of the report’s recommendations apply directly to girls:
- States should add a module on online violence to national surveys on violence against women, so that young women’s experience is counted.
- States should publish police and court data disaggregated by sex and by type of offence, with age where possible.
- Technology companies should invest in content moderation in the languages of the region and in local forms of French.
- Women’s organisations should develop simple guides in local languages for preserving evidence and reporting abuse.
Schools and parents also have a role. Digital literacy that covers consent and privacy can give girls the tools to protect themselves and each other.
The report summary gives the full findings. For the laws that protect girls in each country, see RFLD’s 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.
