By Ancel Langwa, Movement Building and Support Lead Officer
On 2 and 3 June 2026, Africans Rising held a Movement Building and Field Learning Visit in Benin, bringing together members from across different areas of social change to reconnect, learn from one another and strengthen their engagement with the wider movement. The exchange created a space for members to share their work, connect their local realities to continental priorities and identify practical ways to collaborate.
The impact of the exchange was first felt in the connections it created. Members who are working on different issues and within different communities had an opportunity to better understand one another’s work and identify common areas of interest. Discussions around Africans Rising’s campaigns, particularly Borderless Africa and Reparative Justice, opened pathways for members to connect their existing work to broader continental campaigns and explore how they could contribute.
The exchange also strengthened the foundation for continued collaboration among members. Rather than allowing the engagement to end with the two-day meeting, participants agreed to create thematic working groups around Environment and Climate Change; Governance, Peace and Security; Gender and Gender-Based Violence; Digital and Fact-Checking; and Culture and Entrepreneurship. These groups provide a practical structure through which members can continue sharing knowledge, building relationships, and contributing to collective movement action.
The field visits on the second day brought another dimension to this engagement. The Africans Rising team visited ONASOV-Benin and RAMP-Benin, gaining a closer understanding of the work members are doing within their communities. ONASOV-Benin works with orphans, widows, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, while RAMP-Benin focuses on peacebuilding, social cohesion, conflict prevention and citizen participation.
These visits strengthened relationships between Africans Rising and its members while providing direct insight into the realities behind their work. Seeing members in their own working environments made it possible to move beyond organisational introductions and understand more clearly the contribution they are making within their communities. The visits also helped identify opportunities for continued engagement and support.
Another important outcome was a clearer understanding of what members need to participate more effectively in a continental movement. Participants highlighted the importance of French-language communication and capacity strengthening, particularly around digital campaigning and online engagement. They also expressed a strong desire for greater ownership and participation in shaping movement initiatives.
These insights have implications beyond Benin. They provide Africans Rising with a stronger understanding of how to deepen engagement with members in Francophone Africa: through more accessible communication, locally responsive strategies, stronger member-to-member connections and opportunities for members to co-create and lead movement initiatives.
The exchange has also translated into concrete next steps. Participants agreed to establish a shared communication space, organise around the five thematic areas, explore French-language digital campaigning support, and continue collaboration around the Borderless Africa and Reparative Justice campaigns. There are also plans to explore member wellbeing initiatives and document the experience through a bilingual French-English story.
The value of the Benin engagement therefore goes beyond the activities completed during the visit. It strengthened relationships, created new structures for collaboration, connected members to continental campaigns, deepened Africans Rising’s understanding of member realities, and generated practical pathways for continued engagement.
For Africans Rising, this is what movement building looks like in practice: connecting people, strengthening relationships, creating opportunities for collective action, and ensuring that members have a meaningful role in shaping the movement. The Benin exchange has strengthened that foundation and opened new possibilities for deeper engagement across Francophone Africa.
