My activism was born in secondary school where I joined my first activist organisation. It was further awakened at university where I encountered rural women who would come to beg for leftover food at the women’s student residences. I saw this as an injustice, and I began to pay weekly visits to some of the women. We would sit every Sunday and talk about their situation. At the time, my professors were in the process of founding a human rights organisation. I joined in and added my voice to say that the only way to transform the lives of women was to engage these women in the movement for justice, respect and rights. In 1991 we founded Rencontre Africaine pour les Droits de l’Homme (RADDHO) in Dakar. At RADDHO I was responsible for the Women and Children Rights Department before leading the Alert and Urgent Action Unit. Even though the organisation ended up being dominated by men, I still fought to make sure that women’s rights were included in the scope of its activities. Today I call myself a feminist because I fight inequality and injustice in my society and I refuse to yield to rules which trample upon my rights. I know that I have the right to be free, and to do what I like.

I continue to be involved in a range of human rights initiatives. I worked as the Programme Coordinator of the Pan- African Centre for Gender, Peace and Development from 2005 to 2008. The centre was established by Femmes Afrique Solidarité in order to provide high level certificate training for women in peace and development. I currently serve on the board of the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) based in Geneva, Switzerland, and the Union Africaine pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme (IUDH), a network of more than 40 African human rights organisations based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. I have for many years been one of the main contacts as well as a member of the advisory committee of the Africa programme of Amnesty International- Netherlands. I became an Ashoka Fellow in 2002.

As African feminists and as human rights activists we face many intersecting challenges. The impoverishment of women concerns us all and we must intensify our mobilisation in order to take part in the search for solutions. In the same way as equal rights and the fight against patriarchy, economic and social rights are today an important part of our strategies to fight for social justice. We need to keep engaging young people and addressing the apathy that some have. We also need to confront the upsurge in fundamentalist groups which threaten to roll back previously won gains. The rise of fundamentalism makes it imperative for us to intensify our mobilising and the struggle to preserve our rights and bridge the gaps between rich and poor. In confronting these challenges we need to keep mobilising women, both young and old, but also to provide training and mentoring to ensure that activists know the issues and are supported as they confront institutions of power.