In 2025, three incubation labs were organized by Equipop as part of the C'est la vie! (CLV 2) project in Ouagadougou, Abidjan, and Niamey. These workshops, facilitated using the EquipopLab participatory methodology, brought together members of Ratanga Clubs, civil society organizations, institutional partners, the project's feminist consultants, and focal points from RAES and Solthis, partners in the consortium.
The objective: to develop advocacy projects on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), with a gender and feminist approach.
These projects, led by and for young people, focus on their realities and resonate with the community communication campaigns conducted simultaneously by RAES in the three countries.
Learning and co-construction spaces to support young people in asserting their rights
Through creative tools and group discussions, participants took part in a learning session on advocacy, before working together to develop concrete, context-specific actions in line with local dynamics and the specific challenges facing each country. The incubation labs were organized in particularly sensitive national contexts.
- In Côte d'Ivoire, the community-based approach was adopted in the run-up to the October 2025 presidential elections to limit any disruption to jointly developed activities.
- In Niger, the humanitarian situation and the ongoing reconstruction of public policies limit opportunities for interaction with national authorities, prompting young people to turn to community leaders as the primary targets for mobilization.
- In Burkina Faso, the situation requires partners to be creative in their advocacy efforts, but dialogue with national authorities remains fluid.
By strengthening cohesion among Ratanga club members and drawing on collective intelligence, these workshops have helped to forge alliances and develop a shared vision of change: feminist, rooted in young people's everyday lives, and focused on social justice.
Projects to challenge norms and power relations
Burkina Faso : Family life education as a lever in the fight against early and unwanted pregnancies.
The advocacy campaign aims to establish a technical group bringing together institutional actors, CSOs, and young people to co-draft a ministerial decree to be adopted in order to institutionalize Family Life Education (FLE) in all public schools in the country by July 2026. Although FLE modules exist, they are not yet systematically integrated into the education system. At the same time, a citizen mobilization campaign is planned in Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso, with trained and committed young ambassadors, via a public petition.
Ivory Coast : Politicizing menstruation
Faced with taboos surrounding menstrual health and the silence surrounding this reality experienced by millions of menstruating people, young people are taking steps to raise awareness and destigmatize the issue. Training sessions, participatory radio programs, community dialogues, street events, and appeals to community leaders are all actions aimed at encouraging open discussion, changing the vocabulary, and pushing institutions to recognize menstruation as an issue of public health, human dignity, and social justice.
Niger : Strengthening communities in the face of gender-based and sexual violence
The project aims to influence community authorities in Maradi and Niamey to strengthen mechanisms for prevention, quality care, and support for survivors of gender-based and sexual violence. Through training, radio productions, intergenerational dialogues, and resource mapping, this advocacy aims to transform social norms and gender relations by drawing on local dynamics, making community leaders allies, and placing survivors at the center of the process.
