The project

For ten years, the SWEDD project—renamed SWEDD+ in 2024—has embodied a powerful ambition across Sub-Saharan Africa: to change the course of history by empowering women and adolescent girls while supporting the region’s demographic transition.

Launched in 2015 with the support of the World Bank and the technical assistance of UNFPA and the West African Health Organization (WAHO), the initiative has grown into a regional movement driving change in harmful social norms, reproductive health services, public policies, and innovation.

Since its inception, the project has brought together twelve member countries—Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Guinea, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Chad, and Togo—committed to promoting gender equality and harnessing the demographic dividend.

SWEDD+ (2024–2028) focuses on Burkina Faso, Chad, The Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, and Togo, deepening the integrated approach while scaling up innovations and consolidating achievements.

In 2025, the report “SWEDD at 10: A Decade of Transformation” offers a landmark retrospective—tracing the lessons learned, achievements, challenges, and perspectives for the decades ahead.

Objectives & integrated approach

At the heart of SWEDD+ lies a conviction: lasting transformation requires simultaneous action on multiple fronts. The project does not focus on a single aspect—it aims to create synergy between social norms, services, policies, and monitoring systems.

SWEDD+ pursues several goals within a single vision:

• Create informed demand for reproductive health services by challenging restrictive social norms.
• Strengthen health systems to ensure access, quality, and continuity of care, even in the most remote areas.
• Support institutional and policy reforms that advance the demographic dividend and foster regional coordination.
• Innovate in monitoring, evaluation, knowledge sharing, and learning.
• Expand the model to new countries while maintaining quality and local ownership.

This integrated model—linking “behaviour” with “systems”—is what sets SWEDD+ apart. Each component reinforces the other: a social change strategy without tangible services lacks impact, while technical strengthening without community engagement lacks sustainability.

Learn more about SWEDD+: www.sweddafrica.org