Advocates for Community Alternatives
Strengthening Human Rights and the Rule of Law through Public Interest Litigation
$110,000
To promote human rights and strengthen government accountability in the context of business investments; and to strengthen the capacities of and linkages between national and regional judicial institutions. The organization will support a collaborative effort among West African lawyers to use regional and national litigation to strengthen state oversight and accountability mechanisms for business investments, advancing human rights. Programming will focus on the extractives, agriculture, and real estate sectors in West Africa.
Gender Centre for Empowering Development
Enhancing Women’s Political Participation for Inclusive Governance
$177,000
To strengthen young women’s political participation in West Africa. The organization will sustain its young women’s political leadership school to equip young women to participate in party politics. It will assist these young women in launching gender equality campaigns within political parties and hosting inter-party debates. In collaboration with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the organization will advocate for the adoption and implementation of gender inclusive political party policies and conduct gender inclusion capacity building trainings.
Ghana Center for Democratic Development
Strengthening Election Observation in West Africa
$183,000
To improve civil society election observations to strengthen electoral integrity in West Africa. The organization will work with civil society throughout the region to assess the challenges confronting observation missions and develop new observation guidelines that its members and other organizations can employ to improve electoral outcomes. It will train election observation groups in these best practices. The organization will also work to improve regional civil society collaboration as well as civil society coordination with ECOWAS and electoral management bodies.
Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa
Building a Legal Environment for the Protection of Human Rights
$100,400
To promote the application of international human rights instruments in West African domestic and regional courts. The organization will establish a legal network in each country to coordinate human rights monitoring and litigation at the domestic and regional levels. The organization will provide technical assistance to the legal networks as needed and facilitate opportunities for network members to attend advocacy events at regional institutions. The organization will pursue litigation on one case per country at the ECOWAS Court of Justice.
International Republican Institute (IRI)
Strengthening Data-Driven Peacebuilding Interventions To Increase Regional And National Responsiveness To Sahelian Community Priorities
$500,000
To strengthen the responsivity of Sahel regional policies to the priorities of youth impacted by violent conflict in rural border zones, the Institute will continue its official partnership with the G5 Sahel, its national violence prevention units in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger, and youth leaders from fifteen conflict-affected border communities to convene a series of public policy consultations and research-driven peacebuilding interventions that mitigate the conflict dynamics of rising violence in the Sahel region.
Ligue Africaine des Blogueurs et Cyber Activistes pour la Democratie
Promoting Local Governance Transparency through an Open Data Platform
$142,000
To promote transparency and accountability through citizens’ and local official engagement on an open data platform. The organization will survey community members on their priorities for local governance and compile the data on an online platform citizens can use to submit feedback on local governance issues. The grantee will also host a series of public debates, information sessions, and hackathons during which participants will be encouraged to share grievances about local government issues and suggestions for policy change. Finally, the organization will convene local mayors from the target communes for an experience-sharing workshop and will create a toolkit of best practices for using the platform and for launching advocacy campaigns.
National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI)
Fostering Interregional Cooperation For Inclusive, Human-Centered Security Policies In The Liptako-Gourma Region
$575,000
Building on the two previous programs in the Sahel, the Institute will continue supporting the centers for strategic and security studies in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger and work with civil society partners and parliaments to advance coordinated sustainable, human-centered regional security strategies and policies. The three centers will advance their technical competencies and partnership through exchanges of expertise and training workshops organized by the program’s civil society partners. They will engage in joint security research and develop a shared database for research purposes. The program will facilitate renewed cooperation of the partners with the parliamentary defense and security committees of Burkina Faso and Niger following the arrival of a new cohort of members of parliament (MPs) in April 2021.
National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI)
Mano River Young Women’s Leadership Initiative Cohort II
$400,000
To enhance the leadership, political organizing, and networking skills of emerging young women political leaders in the Mano River region of West Africa so that they have greater opportunities to achieve their political aspirations and to advance within political parties, the Institute will organize its second emerging women’s political leadership academy. The academy will provide political leadership training and practical experience for a new cohort of 32 women selected through a competitive application process. In addition, the Institute will assist the women to join and engage with the Network of Emerging Women in Politics (NEW Politics network), through which they can build advocacy coalitions, connect with other aspiring young women leaders and mentors in the Mano River region, and sustain and expand the reach of their new skills to promote women’s representation.
National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI)
Mano River Young Women’s Leadership Program
$100,000
Young women in the Mano River region – Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone – face similar challenges in engaging with or advancing within political parties. The Institute will organize an ‘Emerging Women’s Political Leadership Academy’ and regional network with the aim to enhance the leadership, political organizing, and networking skills of emerging young women political leaders in the Mano River region.
National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI)
Political Party Strengthening Academy II
$300,000
NDI proposes to intensify its support to reformers within political parties in West Africa by strengthening their leadership skills as well as their ability to reform their parties’ constituent outreach and policy-making practices to reflect democratic principles. This program is part of a multi-year initiative to strengthen party reform and coincides with a dramatic backsliding of democracy in the region. The Institute will therefore integrate into the capacity building curriculum, strategies and ideas on how to reverse the downward spiral of democratic decline.
Ouestaf Multimedia
Promoting Investigative Reporting to Strengthen Democratic Discourse
$110,658
To promote independent and credible media in West Africa. The organization will support journalists to produce investigative pieces and evidence-based journalism focused on governance issues. The organization will also strengthen journalists’ capacity to improve their reporting skills and will facilitate a series of virtual debates and conferences to discuss pressing issues affecting the region.
Parliamentary Network Africa
Open Parliament Engagements and Networking in West Africa (OPEN West Africa)
$149,588
To strengthen civil society capacity to advance parliamentary transparency and accountability across national and regional legislatures in West Africa, the organization will support a network of parliamentary monitoring organizations to conduct legislative performance assessments and advocacy campaigns. To complement these efforts, it will launch a Legislative Transparency Index that ranks national parliaments in West Africa on openness and set up an online Parliamentary Resource Hub to serve as a repository of best practices for the community.
Partners West Africa-Senegal
Strengthen Women’s Participation in Prevention and Resolution of Conflicts, Mediation and Social Cohesion in the Sahel
$144,686
To strengthen women’s participation in peace efforts and social cohesion in the Sahel. The organization will mobilize women’s networks to advocate for the implementation of UN resolutions and ECOWAS protocols that promote women’s leadership in peacebuilding. The organization and its regional networks of women’s rights organizations will host regional and national advocacy workshops to urge states to take action to advance women’s participation in peace and security. The grantee will conduct digital advocacy campaigns, issue policy briefs, and develop videos to mobilize support for inclusive peace processes.
Solidarity Center (SC)
Promoting Worker Rights, Gender Equality, And A Regional Voice For Working People
$800,000
To build the capacity of West African unions to effectively organize and advocate for workers. The Center will integrate healthcare unions into the Organization of Trade Unions of West Africa (OTUWA) regional campaign for affordable and accessible healthcare, expand the scope of West Africa trade unions’ ability to organize, represent, and mobilize informal sector workers in the gig economy, develop the skills of a new generation of Nigerian activists to build more inclusive unions with women, youth, and workers in non-traditional employment and combat gender-based violence at work by effecting policy change through advocacy with management.
Timbuktu Renaissance
Live Events and Music Production for Peace in the Sahel
$143,000
To reinforce social cohesion and peace across the Sahel. The organization will host free concerts featuring musicians from diverse ethnic groups from Mali and neighboring countries to convey messages of peace, diversity, and reconciliation. The organization will combine the concerts with public dialogues to highlight the importance of tolerance and social cohesion. Additionally, the group will support the production and dissemination of socially conscious songs to encourage reconciliation between diverse ethnicities.
