In early 2026, CiFAR launched a new project – Empowering Civil Society for Transparent and Inclusive Asset Recovery in West Africa. During two planning workshops in the Gambia and in Benin, we went through some of the main asset recovery cases across the continent, explored good practices for civil society engagement and planned activities for the coming months.
The project, running from December 2025 to May 2027, is supported by the European Union and Expertise France through the SecFin Africa Programme. The project is a collaboration between CiFAR, the NGO ALCRER in Benin, ASEPA in Ghana and Gambia Participates in The Gambia.
Fighting Illicit Financial Flows in Benin, Ghana and The Gambia: progress and gaps
Billions of dollars are lost every year to illicit financial flows in West Africa.
In Benin, several reforms have recently aimed at reducing illicit financial flows. This includes a new Penal Code (2018) aligned with international standards, the adoption of laws on money laundering and terrorist financing, and the establishment of institutions such as the National Agency for the Recovery of Seized Assets and the High Commission for the Prevention of Corruption. Despite this, illicit financial flows and corruption are still widespread issues. A 2021 FATF assessment found several areas that make the country vulnerable to money laundering and affects the ability of Benin to combat illicit flows efficiently. Amongst these was a failure to address asset confiscation as a priority within its anti-money laundering strategy. Enforcement of the law also was highlighted as remaining weak due to limited institutional coordination, and inadequate asset recovery capacity. Reportedly, in 2024, the Financial Intelligence Unit (CENTIF) confiscated CFA 4.9 billion, but transparency and dissemination of recovery data are limited, making citizen engagement with the confiscation difficult.
Ghana has also made notable strides in strengthening anti-money laundering legislation and financial intelligence capabilities, with the establishment of the Financial Intelligence Centre and participation in regional anti-corruption initiatives. However, the country still struggles with the recovery of stolen assets linked to corruption, as evidenced by ongoing high-profile cases where asset repatriation is delayed or obstructed by legal and bureaucratic hurdles. The FATF 2022 mutual evaluation report on Ghana highlighted weaknesses in enforcement and prosecution, including limited cross-border cooperation and the absence of an effective mechanism to ensure the transparent use of recovered assets.
The Gambia presents a particularly challenging environment for asset recovery. The country is seen as one of the most secretive jurisdictions in Africa, according to the Tax Justice Network. While widespread corruption was identified under the Yahya Jammeh regime, the post-2017 government has demonstrated increasing political will to address illicit financial flows and recover stolen assets. Nevertheless, institutional weaknesses, a lack of inter-agency coordination, and limited human and financial resources severely constrain asset recovery efforts. Analysts have also underlined several setbacks from the initial successes in anti-corruption reform. In this context, civil society organizations in The Gambia have played a key role in pushing for reforms and greater transparency but often operate in an environment with restricted civic space. In 2025, a youth-led social movement took the streets of the country to demand more transparency and accountability, especially following the release of the records of Jammeh’s assets sales, which were sold at a fraction of their value.
The project
To address this complex framework, the project Empowering Civil Society for Transparent and Inclusive Asset Recovery in West Africa aims to strengthen the engagement of civil society in Benin, Ghana and The Gambia and in West Africa more broadly to promote transparent, accountable and participatory asset recovery. The project will:
- Strengthen the capacity of our NGO partners in Benin, The Gambia, and Ghana, to become civil society leaders in collective asset recovery reform,
- Develop analysis and address gaps in institutional and legal asset recovery frameworks,
- Engage citizens on the opportunities and challenges of asset recovery as a tool to combat illicit financial flows and,
- Strengthen the engagement of civil society in the three target countries and in West Africa with key regional and continental initiatives addressing asset recovery.
To kick off the project, we organized two week-long workshops in The Gambia and Benin. We met the three partner organisations, discussed asset recovery in detail, and planned the next steps of the project. We also presented the CAPAR assessment methodology, which will be used by partners to evaluate the national frameworks and actors of asset recovery. During the workshop, it was great to learn from the experiences of two organizations that recently conducted a CAPAR assessment: CISLAC, in Nigeria, and Social Justice, in Côte d’Ivoire. Moreover, these sessions were an opportunity to define clear and achievable advocacy goals in each country.
Thanks to the well-established connections of the three partners in their countries, we identified together numerous avenues for promoting fair and transparent asset recovery among policymakers. The participation of key asset recovery agencies from The Gambia and Benin each training session was very encouraging for the success of this initiative.
Our project partners
Three partner organizations are part of this project in their respective countries—Benin, Ghana, and The Gambia. These include:
ALCRER ONG – Founded in 1995, ALCRER (Association for the Fight against Racism, Ethnocentrism and Regionalism) is an NGO based in Cotonou, Benin, that works to promote democratic culture, good governance, human rights and civic engagement in Benin. Over the past three decades, it has fostered citizen participation across the country and implemented, together with other actors, several citizen monitoring tools in most local authorities: participatory budgeting, citizen versions of budgetary and planning documents, citizen monitoring of public procurement and public accounts, citizen evaluation of local public services, etc.
ASEPA – The Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA) is a Ghanaian civil society organization founded in 2015 that focuses on public accountability, transparency and human rights. Through research, advocacy, public engagement, and strategic legal actions, it promotes good governance and brings to general attention issues of corruption, abuse of power, human rights violations, and social injustice.
Gambia Participates – Gambia Participates is a leading non-partisan civil society organization in The Gambia, dedicated to promoting democratic governance, transparency, and public accountability. Since its establishment, the organization focused on several core areas, including anti-corruption advocacy, electoral integrity, civic engagement, and youth empowerment.