YOU DEFEND LGBTQI+ RIGHTS.
WE DEFEND YOU.
Across West Africa, LGBTQI+ and feminist activists operate in environments marked by systemic violence, criminalisation, digital surveillance, authoritarian governance, and shrinking civic space. Anti-rights actors are increasingly coordinated and deliberate in targeting queer communities — through arrests, office raids, public smear campaigns, and doxxing.
The Wa Mi Response Fund exists to respond when safety, wellbeing, or the ability to organise is under immediate threat.
The fund provides small, flexible, and adaptive grants to LGBTQI+ activists and organisations facing urgent and time-sensitive crises. At its core, the fund is grounded in care, dignity, and harm reduction.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE
The WA MI fund provides emergency response grants to LGBTQI+ HRDs and their organisations facing danger such as office raids, doxxing, arrests, targeted violence, unexpected homelessness and other emergencies.
The fund supports provisions to improve the immediate security, well-being and protection of LGBTQI+ HRDs and their organisations including:
The fund prioritises LGBTQI+ activists in Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Benin, as well as emergencies related to digital violence. However, the fund remains responsive to urgent needs across the West African region.