In 2021 The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) in partnership with the Ford Foundation and Open Society West Africa (OSIWA) came together around a shared conviction; that addressing sexual violence in West Africa required more than emergency response mechanisms. It demanded a coordinated, feminist, long-term effort to uproot the conditions that make such violence possible. From this conviction emerged the Kasa! Initiative, a five-year collaborative programme designed to support women’s rights and feminist organisations working on the frontlines of this effort to end sexual violence across Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal.

At its core, the Kasa! initiative was grounded on the understanding that sexual violence is both a cause and a consequence of gender inequality. The initiative therefore adopted a multiple layered approach simultaneously working across legal and policy systems, community awareness, emergency infrastructure, and the cultural narratives that normalise and enable abuse. Rather than operating through a single implementing partner, Kasa! chose to invest directly in the ecosystem: funding, accompanying, and strengthening 54 women’s rights and feminist organisations working closest to the communities most affected.

As the Kasa! Initiative drew to a close, AWDF convened a close-out forum which was a reflective space to gather partners to share what was learnt, honour the work of the organisations and communities who shaped the Kasa! initiative over the past five years.

The forum presented findings from the Kasa! Evaluation, while also creating space for partner reflections on the strategies and approaches they used, challenges they encountered, lessons learnt and political contexts that informed the initiative’s implementation and impact.

Here are some reflections captured from the Forum discussions and the collective vision, feminist solidarity and shared commitment by women’s rights and feminist organisations in the space.

Introduction

Highlights from the Final Evaluation

Key Note Speech & Final Remarks

Panel Discussion & Q&A

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