Our Story

WA began as an informal support circle in Bamenda, North-West Cameroon — a small group of women meeting to share the challenges they faced in their families and communities. As they talked, a pattern emerged: their struggles were not personal misfortunes but shared realities facing women across the region. Rather than keep those conversations private, the group decided to go public.

On 28 December 2005, that decision became an organisation. Registered as Women in Action Against Gender Based Violence under Cameroon's laws governing freedom of association, WA set out to do more than respond to individual cases of harm — it set out to change the conditions that allowed that harm to continue.

Two decades on, WA has grown into a women-led institution recognised nationally and internationally for its work advancing gender equality — spanning sexual and reproductive health and rights, political participation, economic empowerment and environmental protection. In 2010, WA received an International Human Rights Award from International Service UK in recognition of its work empowering communities across Cameroon.

WA's approach has always set it apart: instead of treating gender-based violence as an issue to be managed from the outside, WA works to turn the people closest to the problem — survivors, families, traditional leaders, and even those who have caused harm — into advocates for change. Men are mobilised as partners, not bystanders. Communities design their own path forward, with WA walking alongside them.

Today, WA works across Cameroon's North-West and South-West regions, including communities affected by crisis, bringing mobile safe spaces, case management, psychosocial support and awareness campaigns directly to the people who need them most — guided always by the belief that nothing for them should happen without them.