The RFLD (Réseau des Femmes Leaders pour le Développement) opened its fourth regional office in Dakar on 16 June 2026, and immediately put it to work hosting a consultation on protecting women human rights defenders across West Africa.

About thirty women defenders from Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea, and other West African countries gathered at the Dakar office, located on the 5th and 6th floors of Résidence “AW 06” in Cité Keur Gorgui. The area sits in one of Dakar’s central institutional corridors, close to the Senegalese government, diplomatic missions, and UN regional offices.

The consultation, titled Solidarity, Protection and Lineage of Resistance, brought together the people who shape the protection environment for women defenders. Hon. Prof. Remy Ngoy Lumbu, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and Focal Point on Reprisals in Africa, attended. He is also a former Chair of the ACHPR.

Mr Naji Moulay Lahsen, Director of CIDH Sahel and North Africa, added a cross-regional view bridging the Sahel and North Africa. Senior feminist civil society organisations from Senegal were at the table alongside independent experts like Mme Hannah Forster, former Executive Director of the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) in Banjul; Pr. Mabassa Fall, a jurist and senior expert of the African human rights system; and M. Sadikh Niass, a senior Senegalese human rights leader.

The two principal institutional donors of RFLD’s West African work — GIZ and Sida (Swedish International Development Cooperation) — attended as cooperation partners. Mme Katja Roeckel, GIZ Senegal Country Director, was present. H.E Catharina Cappelin, Ambassador of Sweden to Senegal, came with Mme Khady Touré, Programme and Political Officer at the Embassy of Sweden in Dakar. Senior representatives of the Government of Senegal also participated.

Senior journalists covering the African human rights and civil society beats were in the room too.

RFLD already has offices in Porto Novo (Benin), Accra (Ghana), and Banjul (Gambia). The Dakar office is its fourth regional anchor. The decision to establish a presence in Senegal was deliberate: RFLD says regional architecture must be rooted in country-level realities, and protecting West African women defenders requires sustained operational presence where the work happens.

From the Dakar office, the team will coordinate RFLD’s engagement with Senegalese feminist civil society, the ECOWAS framework, the Sahelian protection environment, and the diplomatic and multilateral cooperation present in Senegal. The 16 June consultation was the first major event to test this working posture.

The convening modelled what an operational regional anchor is meant to produce: a working space in which the actors who shape protection in the region engage one another directly, in real time, on the substance of the work.

The event showed that the office isn't just a symbolic address but a functional hub. Women defenders from conflict-affected Sahelian countries were physically present, and institutional actors were within walking distance.

RFLD’s move comes as women human rights defenders in West Africa face increasing threats, especially in Sahelian countries under military rule. The office puts the network closer to the decision-makers who can influence protection policies.

  • RFLD opened its fourth regional office in Dakar, Senegal, on 16 June 2026.
  • The consultation gathered about 30 women defenders from Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea, and other West African countries.
  • Attendees included Hon. Prof. Remy Ngoy Lumbu (ACHPR Special Rapporteur), Mr Naji Moulay Lahsen (CIDH Sahel), and donors GIZ and Sida.
  • RFLD’s other regional offices are in Porto Novo, Accra, and Banjul.
  • The Dakar office is located on the 5th and 6th floors of Résidence “AW 06”, Cité Keur Gorgui.

RFLD hasn't announced the next steps for the office, but the consultation set the tone: direct engagement between defenders and the institutions that can protect them.