Women’s organisations do not need to wait for governments to act on water. They can bring the issue before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights themselves. RFLD’s policy brief, Women, Water and Article 15 of the Maputo Protocol, includes a reporting checklist designed for this purpose. This article explains how civil society can use it.
How the reporting cycle works
Under Article 26(1) of the Maputo Protocol, States Parties report on the measures they have taken in their periodic reports to the African Commission, submitted under Article 62 of the African Charter. The Commission examines each report and adopts concluding observations with recommendations.
Civil society organisations can submit their own information, known as shadow or alternative reports. These reports can add data and suggest questions for the Commission to ask. RFLD’s manual on shadow reports under the Maputo Protocol explains the process step by step.
Water is rarely covered. RFLD’s brief identifies the absence of water reporting in State reports as one of the five dimensions of the implementation gap on Article 15. A shadow report on Article 15 can put the issue on the Commission’s agenda.
The Article 15 reporting checklist
The annex to RFLD’s brief contains a checklist that turns Article 15 into concrete reporting questions. It covers nine domains:
- the legal framework on water and gender;
- household access to water;
- time spent collecting water;
- safety at water sources;
- water and sanitation in schools;
- water in health facilities;
- women’s participation in governance;
- budget allocations;
- climate adaptation measures.
The same checklist serves States and civil society. A government can use it to prepare its periodic report. A women’s organisation can use it to assess that report and to show where information is missing.
Where to find the evidence
Shadow reports are stronger when they combine official data with community evidence. The brief points to several sources. The UN Statistical Yearbook gives safely managed drinking water rates for many countries in 2024, from 42.9% in Ghana to 6.3% in Chad. The WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme reports on who collects water and on conditions in schools. National surveys and UNICEF country analyses add detail. Academic studies, such as recent research on violence linked to water collection, can support points on safety.
Where official data is missing, community evidence fills the gap. The brief asks civil society organisations to document community evidence on time spent collecting water and on safety at water points. This must always be done with the informed consent of the women concerned. No survivor or community member should be put at risk by a report.
What the evidence can show
Country data from the brief shows how a shadow report can sharpen the picture. In Benin, the national rural water agency reports a service coverage rate of 82.1%. Yet only 6.7% of rural residents had safely managed drinking water in 2024, and one rural water system in four had failed. In Nigeria, women hold about 5% of state Commissioner of Water Resources posts. Facts like these give the Commission precise questions to put to a government.
Four things civil society can do
The brief makes four recommendations to civil society and women’s rights organisations. First, prepare shadow reports on Article 15 for the African Commission, using RFLD’s manual. Second, take part in the consultations on the Commission’s new Guidelines on the Right to Sanitation and in national processes linked to the 2026 UN Water Conference.
Third, document community evidence, with informed consent. Fourth, build alliances with water engineers, local authorities, journalists and other allies to keep women’s rights on the water agenda. Engineers and local authorities know how services work on the ground. Journalists can make a hidden burden visible.
Timing
RFLD’s advocacy calendar notes that every ordinary session of the African Commission is an opportunity. When a State’s report is examined, civil society can suggest questions on Article 15 and submit shadow reports. The brief also asks the Commission to ask specific questions on Article 15 during these examinations, and to include water in its concluding observations.
A well-prepared shadow report can turn a single paragraph in a concluding observation into years of follow-up at national level. That is how Article 15 moves from paper to practice.
About the report
This article draws on RFLD’s report Women, Water and Article 15 of the Maputo Protocol, published on 4 October 2026. Read the summary, download the English edition or the French edition.
