Data as public infrastructure for African civil society.
Twelve open tools built and maintained by RFLD: policy hubs, legislative trackers and gender-disaggregated datasets. They cover the whole continent and go deepest in the francophone corridor that most platforms overlook.
DƆNÙESÈ
A word from West African languages meaning knowledge held in common.
DƆNÙESÈ carries the meaning of knowledge that is shared, passed on and owned by a community. That is what this data center is: public tools we build and maintain so that African civil society has data that is rigorous and easy to reach.
Each tool fills a specific gap, such as a legal framework with no tracker, a rights instrument with no data on domestication, or a policy field with no continental reference. The collection covers African Union mechanisms, ECOWAS legislation and continent-wide rights instruments.
The Data Center feeds RFLD's policy hubs, informs programme design and helps our 1,143 member organisations ground local advocacy in continental evidence. Any organisation, researcher, journalist or advocate can use it.
Twelve open tools, every one of them public
Filter by field. Each card opens the full tool.
African Digital Safety Compendium
A continental reference on technology-facilitated gender-based violence. It documents legal frameworks, service providers, digital hygiene practices and protective measures for women human rights defenders across Africa.
Explore the Compendium
AU Mechanisms Demystified
A practical guide to the AU system for civil society: the Commission, the Peace and Security Council, the ACERWC, the African Court, ECOSOCC, the APRM and the Regional Economic Communities.
Open the tool
ACDEG Hub
A civil society hub for the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, tracking ratification, domestication and implementation across AU member states.
Open the tool
Maputo Protocol Hub
Tracks how AU member states ratify, domesticate and implement the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa.
Open the tool
Francophone Human Rights MOOC
Open online courses for francophone human rights defenders, legal practitioners and organisers, with certificates on completion.
Open the tool
West Africa Legislative Platform
One reference for women's rights legislation across ECOWAS: gender-specific laws, constitutional provisions and regional frameworks side by side.
Open the tool
Legislative Database
A searchable archive of national laws and policies on women's rights, for benchmarking against continental and international frameworks.
Open the tool
Gender-Responsive Budgeting
Tools for civil society to read public budgets through a gender lens and check whether spending matches stated equality commitments.
Open the tool
Climate Action Platform
Gender-disaggregated climate data for francophone Africa: women's land rights, agricultural vulnerability and women's leadership in adaptation.
Open the tool
Maternal Health Data
A reference on maternal, newborn and child health in francophone Africa, for advocacy on maternal care and access to services.
Open the tool
My Health, My Right
A francophone hub on sexual and reproductive health and rights, linking advocates to data, legal frameworks and service maps.
Open the tool
Ending Malaria
Data on malaria elimination and health service delivery in francophone Africa, with a focus on outcomes for women and children.
Open the toolFrom the network, into public tools, back to the field
The Data Center is one of RFLD's four linked functions, alongside policy hubs, re-granting and direct programmes. Its outputs feed the other three, and they feed back into it.
Collect from the network
Member organisations in more than 35 countries report what the law says and what happens in practice. RFLD analysts check this against official sources.
Structure it into public tools
The twelve tools organise the data into formats civil society uses: hubs, trackers, comparative databases, course modules and compendiums.
Return it to the field
Members, grantees and RFLD's flagship programmes use the tools in their work, and that work becomes input for the next cycle.
We do not sell, license or lock the data. If a journalist in Senegal, a parliamentarian in Kenya or an organiser in Cameroon can use it, it is doing its job.
Continental reach, francophone depth
Across all 55 AU member states
These tools track instruments, ratifications and civic space for the whole continent.
Deeper in francophone Africa
Most continental platforms work in English first. The Data Center is bilingual by design, and these tools fill gaps that others leave open.
RFLD is Co-Chair of the GIZ / BMZ SEA-T Advisory Council.
Built for the people doing the work
Civil society organisations
Our 1,143 members and peer organisations across anglophone and francophone Africa, for advocacy and programme design.
Journalists and researchers
Reporters and academics who need verified reference material on African legal frameworks.
Legal drafters and parliamentarians
Benchmarking national bills against continental frameworks and neighbouring countries.
Students and community educators
Learners using the Francophone Human Rights MOOC and other open resources.
Take what you need, and cite us if you can
There is no licence to sign and no access fee. A citation is not required, but it helps us show funders that the tools are valued.
RFLD DƆNÙESÈ Data Center, [tool name], Réseau des Femmes Leaders pour le Développement, rflgd.org, [year accessed].