Field of work: SRHR and women’s political participation
RFLD connects the Maputo Protocol to parliaments, health policy and communities. We treat bodily autonomy and political power as one agenda, because a woman who cannot decide about her own body cannot fully take part in public life, and laws on paper change little without women in the rooms where they are enforced.
Three connected strengths: the law, the evidence and the network. RFLD works at three levels: advocacy at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, continental research and open data, and partnership with the grassroots members who run front-line services.
Advocacy for the ratification, domestication and implementation of the Maputo Protocol, the ACDEG and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, backed by shadow reporting to the African Commission.
Policy advocacy on sexual and reproductive health and rights under Article 14 of the Maputo Protocol, carried by the BRAVE programme and tracked through the Maputo Protocol Hub.
Women’s political leadership through PAWELE: preparing candidates, training elected women in policy and governance, and pressing for parity laws.
PAWELE programme
PAWELE is RFLD’s flagship programme for women’s political leadership. It gives women the policy advocacy skills, governance literacy and campaign experience to win office and use it well.
Advocacy for parity legislation, building on Senegal’s 2010 parity law, Benin’s gender quota provisions and parallel measures across ECOWAS, and training for women candidates in policy, campaigning and media.
Support for women standing for local office, where decisions on water, sanitation, public health and markets shape women’s daily lives most directly.
Civil society monitoring of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance across AU member states.
Open the hubA consolidated database of women’s rights legislation across the 15 ECOWAS member states, covering violence, participation and more.
Open the platformBRAVE programme
Bodily autonomy is the foundation of every other right. BRAVE trains community organisers, supports feminist research and presses for the implementation of Article 14 of the Maputo Protocol across AU member states.
Policy advocacy to remove spousal-consent requirements for contraception, alongside member organisations working on community access to reproductive health services.
Advocacy to implement the Protocol’s provision on access to safe abortion in cases of sexual assault, rape and incest, and where pregnancy endangers the mental or physical health of the woman.
Evidence-based education that gives young people accurate information on consent, reproductive health and bodily autonomy, within each country’s legal framework.
The Maputo Protocol requires states to prohibit female genital mutilation (Article 5) and sets 18 as the minimum age of marriage with free and full consent (Article 6). RFLD tracks how states write these provisions into national law through the Maputo Barometer, an annual report in English and French, and supports the grassroots organisations that lead community dialogue, alternative rites of passage and engagement with religious and traditional leaders.
Gender-based violence, including technology-facilitated violence aimed at women in public life, runs through every field of our work. The Maputo Protocol addresses it in Articles 3, 4 and 11.
Stigma keeps women from health care, livelihoods and civic life. We apply a stigma-reduction lens across our policy work, research and partnerships.
Removing the stigma that keeps women from testing, treatment and prevention.
Separating womanhood from motherhood and easing the social pressure that deepens the experience of infertility.
SRHR that recognises the rights of women with disabilities, in line with Article 23 of the Maputo Protocol.
Advocacy that centres survivors’ dignity and challenges the victim-blaming that stops reporting and recovery.
The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights guarantees rights to life, dignity, equality and freedom from discrimination without distinction, and the African Commission has recognised in its jurisprudence that protection against violence and discrimination extends to all persons. RFLD engages at the level of continental human rights law and the protection of the right to advocate, through the Support Group of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and shadow reporting under Article 62, with operational care for the safety of our staff, members and the activists we accompany.
What investment makes possible
Each builds on infrastructure RFLD already runs. Investment moves them from proven to continental.
Annual, public tracking of how AU member states implement the Maputo Protocol.
Women candidates and elected women prepared for the next round of local and national elections.
A coordinated push on Article 14 of the Maputo Protocol, led with the members who work in communities.
The Maputo Protocol already exists in audio in Hausa, Zarma, Yoruba and Goun.
Progress on women’s rights and representation in Africa is real. Rwanda leads the world in women’s share of parliamentary seats. Senegal’s 2010 parity law and similar measures across ECOWAS have changed who sits in legislatures. The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights has issued landmark decisions on women’s rights and discrimination. The continent has the legal framework; the opportunity now is implementation.
The gap between ratification and practice is where investment does the most. It is widest in rural areas, where child marriage, limited access to family planning and weak protection from violence meet, and it is growing where civic space is narrowing across West Africa and the Sahel. These issues share one root, which is why RFLD works on law, social norms, the economy and continental policy at the same time, through the Maputo Protocol Hub, the ACDEG Hub, the West Africa Legislative Platform and the members who connect them to daily life.
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