While funding is challenging for many organisations, Francophone West Africa faces unique hurdles in establishing networks and partnerships with anglophone funding bodies in the Global North.

In this webinar, panellists discussed the current philanthropic environment in francophone West Africa, and provided listeners with a better understanding of the philanthropic sector in terms of actors, governance, resources and support. This webinar was in French and English, and subtitles for both languages are available on the video below.

Moderated by Charlotte Kilpatrick, Digital Editor at Alliance, the speakers were:

• Rose Maruru, co-founder and CEO, EPIC-Africa
• Ebrima Sall, Executive Director, TrustAfrica
• Jimm Chick Fomunjong, Head of Knowledge Management, West Africa Civil Society Institute

A few highlights from the event

Ebrima: I think philanthropy should build relationships with communities that are not primarily about power. In other words, it should address some of the difficulties we have with global philanthropy which often comes with a lot of power, short term approaches, and power dynamics that don’t allow real engagement.

In all of this, post-colonial philanthropy should question the narratives around philanthropy, concerning the practices of giving and it should highlight the richness of local philanthropy. And the forms of solidarity that exist, and make up the DNA. Philanthropy is not a term used often. I’m referring to the article by Halima Mahomed and Catherine Mwendwa, which discusses this topic. They say that not much is said about philanthropy in West Africa, or in Africa in general. But in fact the practice of philanthropy, the culture of solidarity, giving and reciprocity is part of the fabric of our social and cultural life. Philanthropy should not be seen as something that comes from outside, but rather it should encompass all the ways Africans help each other, with what they have and share.

Jimm: Regarding this topic, it is so important. Decolonisation and philanthropy in West Africa, specifically in francophone countries, is an important topic. It is a form of philanthropy that respects and compliments actors who are already working in the field of philanthropy or development in our different countries and communities. What does that mean? It means this philanthropy is not a tool that ticks a box, or an instrument used to dictate the trajectory of development actions. But rather a tool that complements, that adds a little value, to what already exists. To what the actors in these countries, in these communities, have defined as their development trajectory. So when they define the development trajectory, this philanthropy comes to complement, to support, to be like a development ingredient that develops along the way, as determined by the people themselves.

Rose: I think there’s the notion of what philanthropy is. The word itself can sometimes be problematic. I think in much of Africa, we tend to think of giving, generosity, solidarity, that sort of thing. Philanthropy tends to connote what we see as a model mostly from the west – organisations called foundations that fund different organisations, or wealthy people who fund projects.

But really the giving, and the generosity, if we’re to broaden that conception that philanthropy is a human value and is very well and alive and very vibrant in this region. The second thing really to note is giving or generosity is not always or only in terms of money, which is also sort of a connotation of the more formal philanthropy. But it comes in terms of giving time, giving talent, giving items, providing space for people, taking care of others. It’s a broad concept.

This webinar was in French and English, and subtitles in both languages are available on the YouTube video.

You can watch the full video here:

Emily Reid is Marketing Executive at Alliance magazine