On the 28 of June 2024, the Forum of African Traditional Authorities (FATA) was officially launched in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This significant event marked a pivotal moment for traditional leaders across the continent, creating a unified platform to voice concerns, advocate for resources, and promote cooperation with governments on issues that affect their communities and nations.

In response to the dearth of data on funding for women and the need to support international advocacy promoting direct funding to IP, ADP, and LC women’s groups and organizations, the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) initiated a bottom-up research effort to build a baseline for measuring funding levels reaching community women on the ground and assess the extent to which existing grants and funding mechanisms are considered fit-for-purpose by recipient organizations.