Blog
Published in 2022
The Baobab Sessions are a series of collective learning spaces organised by ISDAO, offering activists and community organisers opportunities to reflect together, exchange knowledge, and share their experiences. The sessions are intentionally interactive, inviting participants to engage actively in dialogue, discussion, and collective learning.
Why Baobab?
We drew inspiration from the communal sharing of knowledge that often takes place in the shade of our trees. Native to many countries in West Africa, the baobab symbolises for us the practice of community gathering and the value of learning from our diverse experiences.
Through the Baobab Sessions, we hope to recreate this spirit of gathering and exchange, encouraging participants to engage openly and actively, as though we were seated together in the cool shade of the baobab.
Current Funding Realities and Challenges
Across West Africa, LGBTQI movements are organising in increasingly hostile environments, shaped by criminalisation, shrinking civic space, targeted violence, and the rise of anti-rights rhetoric and attacks.
At the same time, movements are experiencing significant reductions in funding, driven by shifts in the policies, priorities, and requirements of Governments, public donors, and private philanthropic actors. These pressures reinforce one another: resources are becoming more limited, while legal, administrative, and security constraints can also make available funding increasingly difficult to access.
During previous Baobab Sessions, participants identified funding as one of the major challenges facing LGBTQI movements, highlighting difficulties in accessing resources, sustaining activities, covering operational costs, retaining staff, and planning for long-term sustainability.
The third Baobab Session will create a space for participants to collectively explore these realities, identify the key funding challenges facing LGBTQI movements across West Africa, and reflect on how they affect organisations and the wider movement.
Who should attend
- Activists, community organisers, and others working within LGBTQI movements in West Africa.
What to expect
- An interactive activist-led space for knowledge exchange and collective reflection
- A collective exploration of current funding realities for LGBTQI movements in West Africa and the barriers organisations face in accessing resources
- A shared analysis of how funding cuts and constraints are affecting organisations and movement sustainability
- Opportunities to strengthen learning, connection, and solidarity among LGBTQI activists and organisers across West Africa
Session Details
- Date: Thursday, September 24, 2026
- Time: 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. GMT (Accra, Dakar) / 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. WAT (Cotonou, Lagos)
- Platform: Zoom
Simultaneous interpretation available in: English and French
