Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire are the two francophone West African countries with the highest civic space scores among the eight covered by RFLD’s 2026 data report, Funding Feminist Movements in Francophone West Africa. Both remain open to international funding and host active women’s movements. Both also show signs of strain. This article looks at the funding and political context in each country, and at the RFLD grants that support women’s organisations there.
Côte d’Ivoire: obstructed, with the highest score
The CIVICUS Monitor rates Côte d’Ivoire as obstructed, with a score of 53 out of 100, the highest of the eight countries. Recent developments include arrests at banned opposition protests around the October 2025 presidential election and new rules for civil society organisations adopted in 2024 (CIVICUS Monitor, n.d.).
Côte d’Ivoire is eligible for most francophone funding windows, including the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie fund “La Francophonie avec Elles”, which offers grants of €15,000 to €100,000, and calls of France’s Support Fund for Feminist Organisations.
Sustaining movements facing backlash
One of RFLD’s 2026 grants, US$28,062.50 under the SEA-T institutional strengthening programme, supports an organisation in West Africa whose name is withheld. It works to sustain women’s movements facing backlash, through documentation and solidarity spaces. Its work responds to a trend described in RFLD’s report: anti-gender actors are well funded, and spending by US Christian right organisations in Africa grew by 50% between 2019 and 2022 (Provost et al., 2024).
Côte d’Ivoire is also part of JFAD’s regional feminist leadership academy, which trains 60 young women aged 18 to 25 in Benin and Côte d’Ivoire. Programmes of this kind build the next generation of leaders at a time when many organisations are struggling to keep their current staff.
Senegal: upgraded, with new uncertainty
Senegal is rated obstructed, with a score of 47 out of 100. It was upgraded from repressed in December 2025, the only improvement among the eight countries in the report.
Senegal also hosts a renewed phase of Canada’s Women’s Voice and Leadership programme, launched in Dakar in December 2025. Its first phase in Senegal provided CAD 6.3 million for 20 organisations and 5 networks (Global Affairs Canada, 2022; CECI, n.d.). The renewal is welcome, though it comes within a Canadian budget that cuts international assistance by CAD 2.7 billion over four years.
At the same time, a law adopted in March 2026 creates legal uncertainty for funders of some groups. The law criminalises the financing of organisations that “promote” homosexuality, with an exception for authorised health organisations (Pride Centre, 2026). Funders and regranting intermediaries must now assess carefully how this law applies to their partners.
Health budgets: a growing need
In Senegal, women’s organisations are also working on gender-responsive reviews of health budgets. The work matters because external funding for health is falling. US funding for family planning and reproductive health fell by an estimated 94% in 2025, and national budgets will have to carry more of the load. Civil society needs the skills to follow how governments allocate and spend these budgets.
Association BIOWA, which builds digital resilience for 50 women defenders facing online harassment, also works in Senegal as well as in Benin.
RFLD in Dakar
RFLD is registered as an International Organisation in Senegal, and Dakar hosts one of its two francophone hubs. In October 2026, Dakar also hosts the 89th ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, where RFLD presents its work on women human rights defenders and civic space. Follow RFLD’s activities at the 89th session.
Two countries, one lesson
Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire show that the francophone funding gap reaches beyond conflict and repression. In the more open countries of the region, women’s organisations work on small budgets and depend heavily on a few donors. When France reduces its aid to women’s rights organisations by 71% in one year, organisations in Dakar and Abidjan feel it as strongly as those elsewhere.
They also show that change is possible. Senegal’s upgrade and Canada’s renewed programme in Dakar prove that political openings and donor commitments can reinforce each other. RFLD’s report asks donors to use such openings to invest in the long-term strength of women’s organisations, with multi-year, flexible grants in French.
Key figures
- 53 out of 100: Côte d’Ivoire’s CIVICUS score, the highest of the eight countries.
- 47 out of 100: Senegal’s score, after its upgrade in December 2025.
- CAD 6.3 million: the first phase of Canada’s Women’s Voice and Leadership programme in Senegal.
- US$28,062.50: an RFLD SEA-T grant to an organisation working on backlash, name withheld.
About the report
This article draws on RFLD’s data report Funding Feminist Movements in Francophone West Africa: 2026 Data (RFLD/DR/2026/03), published on 4 October 2026. Read the summary, download the English edition or the French edition. Sources cited in this article are listed in full in the data report.
