EDIFIS Partnership: supporting actors of change for gender equality

The EDIFIS Partnership brings together governments, technical, and financial partners, and local feminist civil society organisations to accelerate gender equality in West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea. This programme is based on two complementary projects:

• a fund dedicated to supporting initiatives led by feminist CSOs;
• technical assistance for public institutions.

Together, they form an integrated approach that bolsters both public policies and actions on the ground.

The EDIFIS Partnership has thus adopted a locally based approach that focuses on women and girls while actively engaging men and boys to create dynamics of change. This is called the “transformative” approach: it seeks to change behaviours and social norms, while taking into account the political and security realities of the region.

As part of the EDIFIS Partnership, we support government ministries, national gender observatories, and feminist CSOs to create a genuinely collaborative ecosystem for the empowerment of women and girls, and far-reaching reduction of inequalities and gender-based violence in the region.

The mechanism’s purpose is to boost synergy and coordination between these actors from civil society and public institutions. We thus encourage the coordination of open dialogue spaces where actors exchange their experiences, jointly identify solutions adapted to local challenges, and promote visible and impactful female leadership.

The programme covers several key themes:

• prevention of gender-based violence and post-violence care;
• economic empowerment of women;
• citizen participation, leadership, and decision-making;
• sexual and reproductive health and rights;
• girls’ access to and retention in school.

Other themes targeted by the EDIFIS Partnership in a cross-cutting way include gender and climate, gender and digital technologies, as well as the “Women, Peace and Security” agenda.

The EDIFIS Gender Fund follows on from the Sahel Gender Fund, which was set up during the first phase of the programme and ended in June 2025.

Its objective is to bolster the action and impact of local civil society organisations (CSOs) working to promote gender equality in West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea through three complementary objectives.

1 - Support CSO-led gender equality initiatives

The EDIFIS Gender Fund supports local feminist organisations in implementing projects that address gender inequalities in all their forms. These initiatives cover at least one of the targeted themes of the EDIFIS Partnership.

2 - Building CSO capacities over the long term

Support is provided to CSOs through upskillingactions that boost:

• organisational skills, to better structure their teams and processes;
• financial skills, in order to secure resources and diversify their financing;
• technical skills, in particular on gender, project management or communication;
• advocacy skills, to bring their messages to the authorities and partners.

3 - Create a regional network for exchange, spin-out, and advocacy

The EDIFIS Gender Fund promotes collaboration and exchanges among organisations, countries, technical and financial partners, and institutional actors. The aim is to foster the sharing of experiences, promote good practices, and boost advocacy for gender equality.

CSOs from different contexts and countries are networked in order to facilitate the dissemination of innovative solutions, strengthen their presence in policy dialogue with public authorities, and support a collective process for the rights of women and girls.

EDIFIS technical assistance, whose Phase 1 was completed in December 2025, guides public institutions in strengthening their policies, strategic documents, and human resources on gender equality issues. It also promotes coordination among stakeholders.

In concrete terms, this can result in technical and other analyses, methodological support, studies, training, meetings, sharing, and capitalisation of regional experiences or workshops.

EDIFIS technical assistance takes the form of missions focused on the needs and priorities identified by the partners and carried out by qualified national, regional, and international gender experts.