Africa’s people share deep-rooted values of social solidarity, human dignity, and inter-personal connectedness. This corresponds to the Western notion of philanthropy – the desire to promote the wellbeing of others or, put simply, to love people.
But in the past, as Africans, we have had philanthropy done ‘to us’ with little recognition that there is a vast field of philanthropic practice alive and active in Africa.
The field is growing. And it is changing, with the rapid emergence of structured forms of strategic giving by wealthy Africans, the success of channels for collective giving to social causes among increasingly urbanised communities, a growing recognition of community-based practices of social solidarity, and the emergence of African associations of philanthropists, grantmakers, and other social investors.
The ongoing economic strain in the parts of the world that were traditionally seen as the sources of big philanthropic giving coincides with good levels of sustained economic growth in Africa. Along with the extreme inequalities and exclusions that this has generated, it has also propelled the emergence of an African middle class and a growing pool of super-rich African men and women, many of whom are attentive to their social responsibilities and want to ‘give back’ to their own communities.
Massive attention is being given to the growth of African philanthropy. The World Bank has a keen interest in cooperating with African philanthropic groups, as does the United Nations system through the likes of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which now have dedicated regional-level initiatives to strengthen links with African philanthropists. There is also rapidly growing public interest in the field of philanthropy as seen in increasing worldwide media attention.
But it is time for Africa to tell its own philanthropic story and to construct its own narrative about contemporary forms of social solidarity, care for others, and giving. To do this, we must generate new knowledge about the extent and nature of the field. At the same time, we must actively work to build the field by constructing the organisational and institutional architecture for philanthropy to flourish in its old and new forms across Africa.
Real progress on that front will signal a very important shift in Africa’s collective consciousness. It will mark a turn towards a new social consciousness where we take collective responsibility for our own advancement and for supporting efforts to clear the social, economic, and political obstacles that hold us back.
There has already been some progress. The African Grantmakers Network, a continent-wide association that brings together different types of philanthropic organisations, including foundations established by highnet-worth individuals (HNWIs), community-based philanthropic agencies, charitable trusts, and others, was established in 2009. More recently, the launch of an African Philanthropy Forum that brings together HNWIs was announced.
At subregional level, groups like the East African Association of Grantmakers (EAAG) and the Southern Africa Community Grantmakers Leadership Forum have emerged with vibrant and growing membership. At national level, many different forms of collaboration and coordination of philanthropy are emerging. In Liberia, there is a Philanthropy Office in the Office of the President of the country. Nigeria’s finance minister convened a high-level Nigeria Philanthropy Summit with leading Nigerian philanthropists earlier this year and South Africa’s Private Philanthropy Circle is now well established and engaging with government.
The inaugural African Philanthropy Award was given to Egypt’s Marwa El Daly of the Maadi Community Foundation in 2012. The dynamic young philanthropist won the award for excellence in channelling culturally traditional philanthropic practices into broad-based community development.
There is increased data, mass media coverage, literature, and analysis being generated that points to the need for African philanthropy to be more strategic in how it supports African progress, and especially to collaborate with established development agencies that have a wealth of knowledge, networks, and expertise in the field.
But there is still much work to be done. A recent report by the African Grantmakers Network, Sizing the Field: Frameworks for a New Narrative of African Philanthropy, estimates that African HNWIs are giving US$7 billion a year. An additional US$2.6 billion a year could be available in pooled philanthropic giving by the emerging middle class in Africa. However, the report showed that only US$1 billion of the US$7 billion in estimated giving by HNWIs can be traced and that, of the Forbes list of 40 richest Africans, only 22 had identifiable philanthropic initiatives linked directly to them or their families.
To understand our own story and tell it better we need to generate more data and intensify our work to develop the field.
Neville Gabriel is the executive director of the Southern Africa Trust. He is also the chairperson of the board of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, a member of the Africa Policy Advisory Board of Bono’s ONE campaign, a member of the board of the Goedgedacht Forum for Social Reflection, and a senior fellow of the Synergos Institute.
Source details: Nedbank Private Wealth Giving Report II
