In partnership with OXFAM and WILDAF, AfricTivistes is launching the Sahel Insight project to fight against inequalities in the Sahel. This project aims to promote good practices and citizen movements in favour of public policies adapted to the reduction of inequalities in the Sahel. Led by AfricTivistes, in partnership with OXFAM and WILDAF, it aims to strengthen collaboration between Sahelian civil society organisations (CSOs) and local authorities to improve access to essential services for all; and to support civil society actors in Sahelian countries in expressing their demand for increased, accountable and transparent public resources.

This programme will be deployed in Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso and Senegal between January 2022 and March 2023. AfricTivistes will provide its expertise through an online campaign and a series of training sessions for civil society in these four Sahel countries. These sessions aim to strengthen civil society actors and citizens already involved in areas such as leadership, communication and digital advocacy, risk management and gender issues.

The first capacity building campaign will take place from January 10 to 14, 2022 in N’djaména. Further calls for applications will be opened for the other target countries of the programme and the deadlines will be communicated later.

The second stage of the project will be to organise an online awareness and advocacy campaign on inequality in the Sahel and to mobilise activists and other influential actors in African cyberspace around this issue.

“The challenges of reducing inequality in Africa are considerable. These glaring disparities, particularly in access to essential services, deprive millions of Africans of happiness and push most of them into poverty,” says AfricTivistes President Cheikh Fall. He adds that the perpetuation of these inequalities is partly due to bad policies, especially an under-investment in priority sectors: access to water, electricity, health services (health coverage, staff and equipment), quality education, budget information (distribution of budget lines, analysis and sectoral distribution of the budget), infrastructure (public transport, car fleet, roads, bridges, schools…), etc.

According to Cheikh Fall, the situation is more complex in the Sahel, where there are huge environmental and security challenges. Indeed, in these regions, instability and insecurity often stem from the frustrations of the populations and a deeply rooted sense of injustice. And this atmosphere of terror, far from resolving these concerns, amplifies situations of precariousness. The issue is therefore the acceptance and prioritisation of these challenges at all levels of decision-making, but also the collaboration and inclusion of civil society actors and local authorities in public policies.