Afya na Haki (AHaki) Updates: Insights and Impact of the First Quarter of 2026
Welcome to the 2026 first quarter edition of the Ahaki Newsletter! This quarter, we have advanced Africa’s leadership in health, human rights, and sexual and reproductive health and rights through shared purpose and learning. We remain dedicated to strengthening African-led knowledge and driving engagement that responds to our continent’s most pressing priorities.
What follows is a look at the insights that defined our quarter. Happy reading.
Strategic Action: Advancing Reproductive Justice
Regional Litigation Convening: Ahaki brought together partners from five African nations, including Senegal, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, and Zimbabwe, to share experiences in using strategic litigation as a catalyst for legal reform. The convening reaffirmed strategic litigation as both a tool for addressing individual violations and a catalyst for broader legal and policy reform. It also reinforced the importance of anchoring this work within African human rights frameworks, including the Maputo Protocol.
The Africa Reproductive Justice Litigation Fund: We are proud to regrant indigenous organizations from Benin, Kenya, Malawi, Senegal, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zimbabwe under our ARJLF. The grantees were selected as part of Afya na haki’s response to addressing restrictive and regressive policies and the recognition of the power of African courts to serve as catalysts in advancing reproductive justice on the continent.
Advocacy Training: This quarter, our Advanced Short Course on Advocacy for Reproductive Justice in Africa (ARJA), under the theme “Resisting Control, Reclaiming Power,” equipped advocates with context-responsive strategies to influence policy and mobilize communities. Moving beyond theory, creating space for critical engagement with the structural, political, and social forces shaping reproductive injustice in Africa.
Institutional Spotlight: The Ahaki Institute
Student Orientation: The February 2026 cohort began their academic journey under the theme “Embracing Culture,” centering African realities in their learning and practice. Rooted in Ubuntu, the ceremony underscored values of integrity, service, and collective responsibility, setting the tone for students as they prepare to engage in health, human rights, and social justice within a dynamic global context.
Scholarly Leadership: We celebrated the unveiling of the African Journal of Health and Social Justice, a new platform for amplifying African scholarship.
Faculty Reflection: During our recent retreat, faculty reaffirmed their commitment to Africentric pedagogy, ensuring our curriculum remains dynamic and responsive. It was a space where faculty paused, reflected, and collectively thought about the direction of teaching and learning at the Institute. Discussions centered around how African knowledge systems, lived realities, and multidisciplinary perspectives can more intentionally shape teaching, research, and supervision. also examined how the curriculum can remain dynamic and responsive while strengthening research output and making more effective use of digital learning platforms.
Global & Regional Engagement
NEAPACOH (Lusaka, Zambia): Ahaki joined parliamentary committees to address the gap between policy adoption and actual health service delivery. Our panel emphasized legislative action for equitable access to essential medicines and reproductive health services. Through these engagements, member States adopted a call to action designed to address critical gaps and strengthen health systems, including promoting health as an investment, not merely expenditure, and reframing the narrative around the SRH asset portfolio as an investable sector and thereby building a health structured financing architecture, capitalized investment vehicles, and not projects. Call to Action https://ppdsec.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/IQARxD-TmWuOQK3nXVM5mVVrAQYAvFQNR9daerVIS_iRccg?e=fmiu4D
Ubingwa African Think Tank for Global Health: Situated within Ahaki, UTT continues to challenge colonial continuities by ensuring Africa is a central source of global health innovation rather than a passive recipient of solutions. Through African-led policy research, dialogue, and monitoring, Ubingwa advances health and social justice by centring African realities, histories, and aspirations in global health discourse. It challenges colonial continuities and externally driven agendas, while supporting African scholars, practitioners, civil society, and communities to shape priorities and influence policy on issues that matter most to the continent. Read more about the Ubingwa African Think Tank for Global Health (UTT) here: https://www.afyanahaki.org/what-we-do/ubingwa-thinktank/
Internal Cohesion: Leading with Purpose
Our January 2026 staff retreat anchored our team in leadership as a shared responsibility. Through breakouts, plenaries, and reflections, we strengthened our internal cohesion to set a clear direction for the year ahead. This process reaffirmed the importance of collective reflection as a foundation for institutional growth
As we conclude this edition, we thank you for being part of the Ahaki community and for your continued commitment to advancing health, human rights, and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) across Africa. We appreciate your continued engagement and look forward to sharing further updates in the next quarter.
Editorial
Editor-in-Chief: Fatina Mwebe | Copy Editor: Joselyn Nakyeyune | Visual Design (Flyer): Lilian Nassozi
Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the authors and the publisher, Afya na Haki (Ahaki). All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is strictly prohibited.
