The Network of Women Leaders for Development (RFLD) is moving forward with its expansion across the African continent. Already established in Benin, Gambia and Ghana, the network is now preparing to take a new step forward with the upcoming opening of a branch in South Africa.
This Thursday, John Gbenagnon, RFLD’s principal administrator in charge of partnerships and resource mobilization, met with David Bernard, the network’s focal point in South Africa, to finalize the last steps of the organization’s registration process in the country. The meeting marks a decisive stage in RFLD’s expansion strategy, as the network looks to strengthen its presence in the continent’s English-speaking and southern regions after first developing across French-speaking West Africa.
Since its founding, RFLD has set out to build sustainable women’s leadership across Africa, drawing on intergenerational knowledge-sharing, capacity building, and connecting women leaders to international funding and partnership opportunities. At its various gatherings, the network has repeatedly stressed the importance of networking as a gateway to major philanthropic foundations, whose outreach increasingly relies on directly identifying organizations rather than reviewing unsolicited applications.
RFLD’s arrival in South Africa fits squarely within this logic. The country, the continent’s most industrialized economy and a hub for numerous pan-African organizations, offers strategic ground for reaching new communities of women leaders beyond the linguistic boundaries that have so far largely confined the network’s activity to French-speaking Africa.
According to information gathered, the finalization of RFLD’s registration on South African soil is expected within the coming weeks, once the remaining administrative documents have been processed. This formal registration will allow the network to operate legally in the country, organize its own advocacy and mobilization activities there, and build local partnerships with institutions, civil society organizations and development actors present on the ground.
For the network’s leadership, this expansion into South Africa represents far more than a simple geographic extension. It reflects a determination to connect French-speaking and English-speaking women leaders across the continent, build bridges between different linguistic regions, and multiply opportunities for pan-African collaboration. The decision to entrust this process to a dedicated focal point, tasked with following the entire registration procedure on the ground, underscores how seriously RFLD is approaching this new implantation.
The announcement comes as the network has stepped up its intergenerational dialogues and outreach events in recent months across several localities, particularly in border areas of West Africa, to raise awareness among an ever-wider audience about the importance of digital tools, networking and advocacy in women’s economic empowerment. The upcoming establishment in South Africa could serve as a springboard for replicating this model of engagement in other English-speaking countries across the southern region of the continent.
It remains to be seen, in the coming weeks, how this new branch will take shape on the ground: which activities will be launched first, which local partnerships will be forged, and how South African organizations will welcome this new player joining the continent’s women’s leadership landscape. One thing, however, already seems certain: drawing on its experience in West Africa, RFLD intends to make this expansion a new milestone in its continent-wide development strategy.
