Three days of plenary, training and drafting — bringing one hundred activists, journalists, technologists and parliamentarians into one room to turn fragmented data work into a coordinated continental advocacy infrastructure.
The convening at a glance
12–14
June 2026
Friday · Saturday · Sunday
Mensvic Grand Hotel
East Legon · Accra, Ghana
English · Français
Simultaneous interpretation
~100 delegates
By invitation · invite-only working convening
Convened by RFLD
The Summit produces
~100
Delegates
Activists · journalists · technologists
8
Thematic Tracks
Across the digital rights field
3
ACHPR Resolutions
657 · 620 · 522 · operationalised
4
Persistent Outputs
Beyond the convening
Background & Rationale
"This summit is where raw data is forged into legislative weapons, policy reforms, and life-saving emergency protocols."
Across West Africa, a multitude of organisations collect statistics on women's rights, civic space and digital harm — but the resulting data is fragmented across institutions, formats and languages, and rarely reaches the parliamentarians, courts and policy-makers with the authority to act on it.
The Summit brings together the actors who collect the data alongside the actors who have the power to act on it — and dedicates three days to converting that proximity into structural collaboration. This is not a research conference. It is a working convening, structured around training, drafting, and the formation of a cross-border collective.
The intersectional crises it addresses are mutually reinforcing: environmental degradation hidden by access-to-information failures, authoritarian crackdowns closing the digital space, and Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence deployed as a deliberate tactic to silence women in public life.
About the Convener
A pan-African feminist network founded in 2013, anchored in francophone West Africa. RFLD coordinates 670 member organisations across 15+ African countries from offices in Cotonou, Accra, Banjul and Dakar — and convenes the Summit from its continental data infrastructure, the DƆNÙESÈ Data Center.
Normative Foundation
The urgency of this convening is anchored in three resolutions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. Each resolution establishes a normative framework that the Summit operationalises.
ACHPR/Res.657 (LXXXVI) · March 2026
Adopted 9 March 2026, calling on African states to uphold access to climate and environmental information — including safeguarding journalists reporting on environmental harm, climate impacts and resource exploitation.
Operationalised through
Track 03 · Media Freedom & Environmental Defenders
ACHPR/Res.620 (LXXXI) · Nov 2024
Mandates the Special Rapporteur to develop normative standards for data collection, storage and processing — focused on transparency, data justice, AI accountability and public data access by default.
Operationalised through
Track 04 · Decolonising Data & AI
Track 08 · Intersectional Data
ACHPR/Res.522 · 2022
Addresses the rise of gender-based violence including cyber-harassment and sexist hate speech, calling on states to update legislation to protect women in digital spaces and ensure accountability.
Operationalised through
Track 02 · Combating TFGBV
Track 06 · Bodily Autonomy & Privacy
An Afrofeminist Pedagogy
Decolonising data means centring the lived realities of African women. Our tracks reject neo-colonial tech extraction and champion sovereign, community-led digital resilience — each connecting directly to one or more ACHPR resolutions.
State-sponsored network disruptions deployed to conceal violence and silence defenders. Delegates train on OONI & NetBlocks to track telecommunications blackouts.
Focus
Network diagnostics · ECOWAS Court strategic litigation
Technology-Facilitated GBV systematically excludes African women from digital participation. Aligned with the SVRI & UN Women Shared Research Agenda.
Focus
Online violence monitoring · Civic-tech intervention design
Ecofeminist defenders face escalating legal harassment. The track tracks how complex bills are weaponised against journalists exposing extractive industries.
Focus
Extractive contract tracking · Corporate impunity monitoring
Challenging extractive technology models and algorithmic bias. We advance data sovereignty so AI systems in West Africa do not replicate colonial hierarchies.
Focus
Algorithmic audit · African data sovereignty frameworks
Quantifying the invisible labour of African women. How digital financial inclusion can produce predatory algorithmic lending — and how feminist data informs fair economic policy.
Focus
Mapping unpaid care · Predatory fintech accountability
Protecting SRHR data. We address biometric surveillance on marginalised bodies and the urgent need for feminist data-protection frameworks.
Focus
SRHR data security · Biometric overreach
Moving beyond tech-solutionism toward tools built by African women, for African women. Cultivating local engineering talent for secure, accessible platforms.
Focus
Open-source movement-building · Scaling civic-tech alternatives
Addressing data gaps that render rural women, queer women and disabled women invisible to policy-makers. Inclusive methodologies for the full regional experience.
Focus
Rural data inclusion · LGBTQ+ & disability indicators
Three Days · The Working Programme
Each day has a distinct centre of gravity. Every block on this programme produces something — a draft, a trained user, a connected pair of organisations, a chapter of the regional data agenda. Nothing here is for show.
Day One
The first day surfaces what is already in the room — the data the network already collects, the gaps people already know, and the relationships the Summit will deepen. By the close of day one, every delegate has a track home and a working partner.
08:00 – 09:00
60 min · Arrivals
Delegates collect badges, interpretation receivers and the Summit dossier. A participant-built wisdom wall — quotations and one-line manifestos contributed in advance — is unveiled at the back of the plenary hall.
09:00 – 10:00
Opening Plenary
Welcome from the RFLD Executive Director, framing from the ACHPR liaison, and an opening circle in which delegates introduce themselves with a single object that represents the data work they protect. Community agreements are co-signed in the room.
Convened by Gloria Sekonnou Dossi AGUEH · RFLD Founder & Executive Director
10:00 – 11:15
Plenary Panel
A fishbowl-format plenary with a parliamentarian, a data journalist, a feminist litigator and a grassroots defender — mapping the actual blockages between statistics collected in West African villages and decisions taken in West African parliaments.
Format: Fishbowl with rotating chairs · EN/FR with interpretation
11:15 – 11:45
Care Break
RFLD facilitators make targeted introductions across language and country lines.
11:45 – 13:15
Plenary Dialogue
Working in country clusters, delegates produce a live map of existing datasets, observatories and case files held across the network — and identify the four most damaging data gaps in the region.
Feeds the Regional Data Agenda13:15 – 14:30
Lunch
Delegates choose their primary track home for the breakaway sessions on day two.
14:30 – 16:00
Working Session
A hands-on walk-through of the four platforms every delegate will use during and after the Summit: the DƆNÙESÈ Data Center, the West Africa Legislative Platform, the ACDEG Hub and the Maputo Protocol Hub.
Bring: Laptop or tablet · Format: Live training, paired peer support
Feeds the Trained Delegate Cohort16:00 – 16:30
Care Break
16:30 – 18:00
Plenary Conversation
Where do we find each other, and how do we hold each other? Delegates name the practical mechanisms by which solidarity is built across the region — cross-movement collaboration, intergenerational engagement, language-bridging, accountability with care.
Output: Summit solidarity charter (draft)
18:30 – 21:00
Welcome Reception
A hosted reception in the venue gardens. Live music from a Ghanaian women's ensemble, a tasting of West African kola and bissap, and structured introduction prompts on every table.
Hosted by RFLD Accra Regional Hub team
Designed to outlive the room
The Summit is designed for measurable, persistent outputs — not for the production of communiqués that disappear into archives. Each outcome below has a designated owner among the RFLD team, a timeline for delivery, and a published artefact through which it can be tracked.
A drafted and ratified document identifying legislative gaps across the West African region — covering access to environmental information, TFGBV legislation, data protection and AI accountability. Designed for direct submission to ECOWAS and ACHPR mechanisms.
Launch of an encrypted network connecting Summit delegates for ongoing peer support, rapid emergency response across borders, and continuous case-sharing. Operated through RFLD's continental data infrastructure.
All ~100 delegates exit the Summit with full operational training on RFLD's data platforms — the DƆNÙESÈ Data Center, the West Africa Legislative Platform, the ACDEG Hub, and the Maputo Protocol Hub — plus the practitioner tools introduced through each track.
Direct funding pathways established between donor representatives present at the Summit and under-resourced grassroots initiatives — facilitated through RFLD's WAFF Fund regranting infrastructure where appropriate.
Target Audience
The actors who collect the data alongside the actors who have the power to act on it. Priority is given to grassroots organisations and francophone applicants from the West African region.
Movement leaders & women's-rights defenders
Investigative reporters across the region
Informing ECOWAS, AU and national processes
Engineers, designers & product leads
Gender, ICT & human-rights committees
Eco-feminist defenders & community monitors
Digital rights & African data sovereignty
Foundations, bilateral agencies, pooled funds
Key Dates & Milestones
25 March 2026
Priority window for grassroots and francophone applicants.
10 April 2026
Workshop, panel and policy-brief proposals reviewed.
End April 2026
Available for rural and conflict-affected delegates.
End May 2026
Track sessions, plenaries and speaker confirmations.
12 – 14 June 2026
Three full days · Accra, Ghana.
July – Sept 2026
Regional data agenda · cohort report · funding pipeline.
Practical Information
English and French are the official languages of the Summit. Professional simultaneous interpretation will be available for all plenaries and main track sessions.
ECOWAS citizens generally do not require a visa to enter Ghana. For delegates outside the ECOWAS bloc, RFLD will provide official invitation letters to facilitate visa-on-arrival or embassy processing.
Travel-grant recipients are lodged at Mensvic Grand Hotel (the Summit venue) at RFLD-negotiated rates. Self-sponsored participants are welcome to book at Mensvic or at any of the recommended hotels in East Legon and central Accra listed below.
Travel grants covering airfare, accommodation and per diem are available for delegates from rural and conflict-affected contexts. Applications reviewed on a rolling basis through the registration window.
Summit Venue
East Legon · Accra, Ghana
All three days of the Summit will be hosted at the Mensvic Grand Hotel in East Legon. The venue accommodates plenary sessions, eight parallel track rooms, a creative-practice wing and a dedicated drafting space for the regional data agenda.
Dates
12–14 June
Hashtag
#FemDataSummit
Stay in Accra
The Summit will be hosted at Mensvic Grand Hotel, East Legon, Accra. We strongly recommend that self-sponsored participants lodge on-site at Mensvic to benefit from short walking distance to all sessions, the welcome reception and the cross-border dinner. For participants who prefer alternatives, the hotels below are within a 5–25 minute drive of the venue and are well known to RFLD's regional team.
A note on travel grants
Delegates awarded a travel grant from RFLD are lodged at Mensvic Grand Hotel as part of the grant package. Self-sponsored participants are responsible for their own bookings — please mention "RFLD Summit" at check-in where possible to access conference rates.
The official Summit venue. A four-star property in East Legon offering conference facilities, restaurant, gardens, swimming pool, fitness centre and dedicated business services — all the Summit's plenary and parallel-track sessions are held on-site, so guests walk to every session.
Location
North Legon · East Legon
Accra, Greater Accra Region
Distance to Summit hall
On-site — 0 minutes
Distance to airport (KIA)
~20 minutes by car
Premium five-star property in central Accra with full conference amenities, spa and multiple restaurants — for delegates seeking upper-tier business accommodation.
Beachfront five-star hotel with tropical gardens and direct ocean access. A favoured option for delegates extending their stay over the weekend.
Well-regarded four-star business hotel in South Legon with conference rooms, restaurant and pool. Reliable mid-range option close to the Summit venue.
International four-star hotel adjacent to the airport with full business facilities. Practical option for delegates with early or late flights.
Four-star hotel within Airport City — modern rooms, restaurant and reliable Wi-Fi. Suitable for delegates wanting a familiar international brand.
A comfortable three-star option in East Legon with restaurant, conference room and gardens. A solid mid-range pick within walking/short-drive distance of the venue.
Affordable three-star hotel popular with regional NGO delegations, with clean rooms, a restaurant and convenient access to East Legon and the airport.
June is peak conference season in Accra. Rooms at all listed hotels are best secured by mid-April 2026.
Delegations of 3+ from the same organisation may request a group-rate negotiation via the RFLD Programmes team.
For accommodation guidance, write to programs@rflgd.org — we will respond within five business days.
Contacts
Detailed enquiries on the Summit programme, partnership, media access or accommodation should be directed to the appropriate contact. Registration has now closed; confirmed delegates will receive joining instructions by email. RFLD will respond to all other enquiries within five business days.
Executive Office & Institutional Collaboration
Executive Director · Founder
agueh.dossi@rflgd.orgStrategic Partnerships & Sponsorship
Director of Strategy & Development
gbenagnon.john@rflgd.orgGeneral Registration & Programme
Summit registration & agenda enquiries
programs@rflgd.orgMedia & Press Accreditation
Press, interviews & broadcast access
communications.info@rflgd.orgSafeguarding & Confidential Reporting
Confidential safeguarding concerns
integrity@rflgd.org"The data is already there — collected, often at significant personal risk, by the activists, journalists, technologists and researchers who have given much of their professional lives to making the unseen visible. The work the Summit takes on is the next step: turning that data into policy, into protection, into power."
Three days. One hundred delegates. Eight tracks.
A regional feminist data agenda.