Philanthropy across the ‘Global South’ – an elusive shorthand for developing economy countries and regions – is booming. New ‘south-south’ partnerships are being forged, new academic centres are research and teaching about philanthropy in ‘emerging markets’, new books are highlighting novel approaches, infrastructure and initiatives  – all sharing glimpses of the awakening of southern philanthropy.  

As a publication dedicated to broadening the philanthropy conversation, Alliance champions philanthropy in the Global South, and routinely covers and celebrates its success stories. It’s therefore worth asking what can be done to accelerate progress and avoid pitfalls along the way. Answers to these questions should come from the Global South itself, which is why we place a premium on including voices from around the world of philanthropy.

But that doesn’t mean the Global North should be entirely silent as this shift of power takes place, especially when it comes to identifying shortcomings from our own practices and offering suggestions to help the South do better than what we’ve done. I’m fortunate as Executive Editor of Alliance to have a privileged vantage point on the global philanthropy conversation, albeit one which is shaped by my geographical location in the UK and white and wealthy background.

But even from my own inevitably skewed position, I can see much to be positive about philanthropy in emerging economies.