Key information
Research tracks: Track 1 – Show us the public money
Original title in French: A la recherche de l’argent public
Region: West Africa
Country: Benin
Researchers: Nadia Boueye
Summary
Some West African countries have passed laws in favor of women’s rights, such as Benin with the law complementing the law on sexual and reproductive health and the one introducing special provisions for punishing gender-based offenses. However, many women are not aware of these laws or their concrete implications. While these laws are adopted, they do not provide resources for feminists to take action. Funding is needed to enable feminist organizations to popularize these laws in Benin.
Advocacy Asks
- Establish a tax line at the local government level so that some tax revenue is exclusively allocated to women’s rights organizations;
- Make this a systematic process across municipalities;
- Establish a national public fund to provide subsidies to grassroots feminist organizations;
- Create a local monitoring committee for the funds, composed of feminist organizations and local elected officials.
Methodology
Our research will focus on the possibilities of implementing a public financing model for feminist organizations by collecting local public funds
- Propose ways to make feminist funds sustainable through grassroots fundraising in local municipalities;
- Meet key stakeholders, like the mayors of Benin’s municipalities, the prefectures of the 12 departments in Benin, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Public Treasury, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Development, and members of the National Assembly;
- Select two municipalities per department in Benin (24 municipalities in total) where the authorities and other key stakeholders will be consulted.
