When money is scarce, how it is given matters as much as how much is given. The final chapters of RFLD’s 2026 data report, Funding Feminist Movements in Francophone West Africa, review the evidence on what works and turn it into recommendations. This article summarises both, as a practical guide for funders who want their remaining budgets to have the greatest effect.
Core and flexible funding
The strongest evidence on unrestricted funding comes from studies of large gifts in the United States. The Center for Effective Philanthropy studied US$19 billion in unrestricted gifts to more than 2,000 organisations. About 90% of recipients said the grant strengthened their long-term sustainability, 93% said it strengthened their mission, and more than a third reported less burnout (Center for Effective Philanthropy, 2025). The sample is American, so its transferability to West Africa is an assumption. It is consistent with what feminist funds report.
An evaluation of the Equality Fund published in September 2026 found that flexible funding reached partners that mainstream donors often miss, including unregistered groups and those working on criminalised issues (ImpactMapper, 2026). The Oak Foundation’s review of evidence on core funding found that it extends reach to hard-to-reach groups and builds financial resilience, and it recommended grants of five years (Guizzardi, 2024).
Multi-year funding and renewals
Multi-year funding allows organisations to plan ahead and build reserves. ISDAO renewed 77% of its 2023 grants (ISDAO, 2024). Mama Cash’s average grant grew about 29-fold over 40 years as it moved to core, multi-year grants (Vaill et al., 2024). The evaluation of Canada’s Women’s Voice and Leadership programme found that combining multi-year grants with fast, flexible grants helped organisations respond to new priorities (Global Affairs Canada, 2022).
Participatory grantmaking
Movements often ask funders to share decision-making power. A review for the Paul Ramsay Foundation found only six academic papers on participatory grantmaking and concluded that the evidence neither supports nor disproves the claim that it is more effective than other ways of distributing funds (Ang et al., 2023). A Porticus study reached a similar conclusion and called for a stronger evidence base (Chakma et al., 2024). RFLD’s report therefore presents participatory grantmaking as a practice that shifts power and builds trust, whose effect on results remains to be proven.
Regranting through local and regional funds
A 2022 study estimated that local intermediaries could deliver programmes 32% more cost-efficiently than international ones (Cabot Venton, 2022). AWID’s survey confirms that women’s and feminist funds are already the main source of money for feminist organisations, ahead of bilateral donors (Morena et al., 2025).
Recommendations to donors and foundations
- Commit and publish a share. Commit a defined share of gender equality funding to francophone West Africa and publish it annually, using the OECD purpose code for women’s rights organisations.
- Fund flexibly and for longer. Give multi-year, flexible grants of at least three years, with core funding that allows organisations to build reserves.
- Fund through the region. Channel resources through intermediaries rooted in the region, including RFLD’s West African Feminist Fund, AWDF, ISDAO and national women’s funds, with funding for their own operations.
- Work in French. Accept applications and reports in French, publish calls in French, and fund translation and interpretation in strategic spaces.
- Differentiate the Sahel and the coastal States. Develop specific approaches for countries with severe restrictions, including support to informal groups, organisations in exile and regional networks.
- Protect partners. Assess the legal and security risks created by new laws on associations and foreign funding, and adapt reporting requirements.
Recommendations to governments and women’s funds
RFLD asks governments of the region to create national funding windows for women’s organisations, with transparent criteria and annual reports. It also asks them to protect civic space and to implement Article 26(2) of the Maputo Protocol by allocating and publishing budgetary resources for women’s rights.
Women’s funds and intermediaries are asked to publish grant data regularly and to coordinate calls and due diligence so as to reduce the burden on small organisations. They should also pair grants with organisational strengthening and peer learning.
RFLD’s own commitments
RFLD commits to publishing its grants register every quarter, with amounts and purposes, and to keeping at least half of each regranting programme in francophone West Africa. It will pair grants with organisational strengthening through the RFLD Suite and publish this data report every year so that the gap can be measured over time. In 2027, it proposes a research agenda that includes a funding survey of feminist organisations in the eight countries and independent evaluations of regranting in the region, including its own programmes.
Funders who want to test their own practice can use the checklist in Annex D of the report, which asks, among other questions, whether calls are available in French and whether grants last at least three years. To discuss a partnership, write to gbenagnon.john@rflgd.org.
From evidence to practice
The evidence reviewed in RFLD’s report has limits. Most of it comes from funders evaluating their own practice, and very little comes from francophone West Africa. This is why the report calls for independent evaluations of regranting and flexible funding in the region. The direction of the evidence is nevertheless consistent: flexible money, given for several years through organisations close to the ground, reaches more people and leaves stronger organisations behind.
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 of the report, download the English edition or the French edition. Sources cited in this article are listed in full in the report.
