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AFCF has trained 75 parliamentarians who are advancing gender-just legislation, including efforts to reform Mauritania’s personal status code and nationality laws.
Association of Female Heads of Households
Association of Female Heads of Households
Association des Femmes Chefs de Famille (AFCF)
Nouakchott
AFCF is a Mauritanian women’s rights organization working to advance gender equality and protect women and children from violence, trafficking, discrimination, and harmful traditional practices. The organization combines advocacy, legal reform, and direct support services to strengthen women’s access to justice and economic participation, and public life.
Partner Focus Areas
Ending violence against women, human trafficking, and slavery
Women’s political and economic participation
Legal reform and access to justice
Economic rights and livelihood opportunities
Partnership Highlights
Partner since 2004
Leadership and advocacy training for women political candidates
Capacity building for service providers and civil society actors
Research on child marriage, inheritance, child labor, and slavery
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Women from West Africa convene for an AFCF International Women’s Day event in Nouakchott, Mauritania.
About AFCF
Founded in 1999, Association of Female Heads of Households (AFCF) works to advance women’s rights, social justice, and access to legal protection across Mauritania. Based in Nouakchott and active throughout the country’s 15 wilayas, AFCF provides advocacy, education, humanitarian assistance, and psychosocial and legal support to women, children, displaced populations, and communities affected by violence, exploitation, and discrimination.
Grounded in human rights and equality, AFCF addresses structural barriers facing women and marginalized communities, including inheritance discrimination, economic exclusion, trafficking, slavery, and harmful practices such as child marriage. The organization combines legal advocacy, direct support services, research, public awareness campaigns, and leadership development to strengthen women’s participation in public life and promote lasting legal and social reform.
AFCF played a leading role in national policy and legislative reform, including collaboration with the Ministry of Justice on revisions to Mauritania’s Personal Status Code and Nationality Code. The organization also provides critical legal and psychosocial support to survivors of gender-based violence and exploitation, helping women and children access protection, justice, and reintegration services.
Since joining Women’s Learning Partnership in 2004, AFCF has integrated WLP leadership methodologies and feminist advocacy approaches into its programs, strengthening women’s political participation and community organizing across Mauritania. Working primarily in Arabic and French, the organization has expanded its national and regional partnerships while building leadership capacity among women and civil society actors.
In Mauritania’s current context of economic hardship, migration pressures, and regional instability, AFCF remains one of the country’s leading advocates for gender equality and human rights, continuing to support vulnerable communities while advancing justice, dignity, and democratic participation nationwide.
Aminetou Mint el Moctar, director of AFCF, meets with a young boy during a human rights event in Mauritania
Key Accomplishments
- Strengthened community resilience and social cohesion through training, public awareness campaigns, and leadership initiatives that addressed the root causes of violent extremism and promoted peaceful, inclusive communities.
- Played a key role in drafting and advocating for legal reforms criminalizing violence against women, child labor, and slavery-related practices.
- Contributed to national electoral reform efforts that increased women’s representation through quota systems at parliamentary and local levels.
- Supported the election and training of women political candidates, contributing to increased representation and post-election legislative mentorship programs.
- Expanded youth employment and vocational training initiatives, reaching tens of thousands of young people and supporting job placement and entrepreneurship opportunities.
- Advanced national legislation addressing violence against women and girls through sustained advocacy and legal drafting efforts.
- Provided psychosocial, legal, and economic support services to survivors of gender-based violence and vulnerable families.
- Trained civil society actors across multiple countries in leadership, advocacy, and women’s rights programming.
- Expanded women’s economic participation initiatives, including literacy programs and small business support for women in rural and urban areas.
- Supported the expansion of women’s access to justice through increased deployment of social workers and improved judicial responsiveness to gender-based violence cases.
Organizational Programs and Activities
- Women’s Political Participation and Leadership Training: Conducts national workshops for women political candidates and community leaders focused on campaign strategy, public speaking, media engagement, fundraising, and advocacy skills.
- Legal Reform and Access to Justice: Works closely with national institutions to draft and promote laws addressing violence against women, child protection, slavery, and discrimination, while advocating for improved judicial enforcement.
- Economic Empowerment and Vocational Training: Provides training and income-generating support for women and young people, including literacy programs, business development, and vocational skills training to reduce poverty and increase economic participation and opportunity.
- Protection and Support Services: Offers legal, psychosocial, and social support services for survivors of violence, including women and children affected by trafficking, domestic violence, and exploitation.
- Anti-Trafficking and Anti-Slavery Advocacy: Leads national and regional campaigns against trafficking, forced labor, and slavery, while documenting cases and coordinating with international human rights organizations.
About Mauritania
Mauritania continues to face persistent social and economic challenges that shape access to opportunity and participation. Deep inequalities, particularly affecting women and marginalized groups, influence access to education, economic resources, and decision-making spaces. Many women and girls continue to experience entrenched poverty, limited educational pathways, and longstanding social barriers.
In response, community leaders and civil society organizations are working to strengthen inclusion and advance human rights. Women’s rights organizations, community leaders, and civil society advocates continue to play an important role in advancing participation, legal reform, and gender equality. Efforts to expand women’s leadership remain central to strengthening inclusion and supporting more equitable social and political development.
- Population: 4.9 million
- Region: Western Africa
- Government: Presidential Republic
- Women in Parliament: 23.3%
- Female Labor Force Participation: 26%
- Key issue: Advancing women’s rights while confronting harmful traditional practices and economic inequality.
We have been campaigning for women to have a say in the country, in political decisions, administrative decisions, and all forms of decisions that affect their rights. That her body belongs to her, that her decisions belong to her, and that she truly develops and participates in the development of the country, that she rejects all forms of violence, that she participates politically, and that she builds herself as a leader in a way that allows her to access all spheres of decision-making in countries and contribute across the board to all country development policies.