After years of careful planning, preparations, consultations and meetings, the African Grantmakers Network (AGN) was launched in Accra, Ghana at a meeting convened by the African Women’s Development Fund, TrustAfrica and the Kenya Community Development Foundation. ‘The establishment of an African Grantmakers Network is well overdue,’ was the opening line of a discussion document circulated at the meeting.

TrustAfrica’s Executive Director, Akwasi Aidoo, emphasized that the AGN’s main function will be to ‘change the narrative of Africa as helpless and hapless, tilt the balance of stories, and increase the visibility and knowledge of Africa’ – sentiments that were echoed by Bisi Adeleye Fayemi, Executive Director of the African Women’s Development Fund. ‘The story of Africa’s development has been told many times over with great reference to the disasters,’ she said, ‘but little if any to the contributions of Africans who work to create change, to shape a new historical narrative of hope, dignity, peace and prosperity to all of the continent’s citizens. The AGN is born of these efforts. It seeks to build on the rich tradition of philanthropic giving in Africa.’