The work of the High-Level Stakeholders Forum on African Humanities got off to a good start on 28 September 2021 with the interventions of eminent academics and researchers. Nearly 70 participants composed of researchers, teachers, intellectuals, academics, students and decision-makers, from the 5 regions of Africa and its diaspora were in Bamako to discuss the future of African Humanities and African languages in the struggle for the emancipation and development of the continent. In his speech at the opening ceremony, Dr. Ebrima Sall, Executive Director of TrustAfrica, expressed his appreciation to all the partners and highlighted the pan-Africanist character of TrustAfrica and its commitment to freedom, democracy, equity and peace. Dr. Sall also hosted a conference on the theme: Eurocentrism and Domination of the Humanities which was well received by the participants.
The TrustAfrica Shaping the Future Fellowship was launched in August 2021, with the first Senior fellow joining ranks with a focus on African Philanthropy and an incoming fellow scheduled for October 2021 focusing on anticipatory governance and innovation, Africa’s development and the future of work. The Fellowship is focused on reflections on key themes related to the future we want for Africa and is structured into three categories depending on the duration, as follows:
- 3 months – TrustAfrica provides a small grant; with the expectation of a brief write up sharing key insights on the particular area of reflection.
- 6 months – TrustAfrica provides a medium-sized grant; with the expectation of a more elaborate write up sharing key insights on the particular area of reflection.
- 12 months – TrustAfrica provides a substantive grant; with the expectation of in–depth research and write-up on the particular area, including the possibility of a book.
All Fellowships are part time with an expectation of a reflection and/or knowledge product at the end of the fellowship. Watch this space for more information on TrustAfrica Shaping the Future Fellowship openings.
By Tendisai Chigwedere
Being a learning manager at TrustAfrica, I basically get involved in everything we do. One of my latest assignments was to participate in the Stop the Bleeding Campaign Strategic Retreat earlier this month. Six years after launching the STB Consortium members met to take stock of impact, lessons learned and the direction of the campaign going forward. What an exciting process. In our last newsletter we shared about our approach of collaboration for collective impact and cited the STB campaign as a flagship experience of this. In various settings where I represent TrustAfrica I’ve heard the STB campaign referenced as a solid example of collective impact where African-led institutions take the lead on an issue before any funding comes in to shape the narrative from a Pan-African perspective because of an inherent belief in its critical importance to the continent. For us at TrustAfrica, this strategic review retreat was important on multiple levels.
TrustAfrica and their partner Solidaridad West Africa launched the "Reclaim Sustainability! Programme" project on the 30th of July 2021 in Accra, Ghana, to promote inclusive and sustainable supply chains. The theme of the launch was promoting inclusive and sustainable supply chains in Ghana. The launch was a successful event widely reported by various media platforms, including newspapers , television stations, and radio, and was live-streamed on our social media platforms.
Written by Tendisai Chigwedere, Learning Manager
While COVID-19 has wreaked havoc across the globe, it’s also illuminated some fundamental truths that our societies need to: learn from - embrace - and amplify. The aid narrative around communities on our continent has underestimated and even undermined the inherent capacities of these very same to develop the solutions to the challenges they face. This challenging season we find ourselves in has highlighted the stories of community solutions that have existed for years and often gone unacknowledged.
At TrustAfrica we are privileged to focus on supporting, promoting, and advancing African agency through African actors to respond to the most pressing challenges facing our communities. And for us this has meant solidarity with the communities most affected by these challenges and learning from their paths in responding to these to inform how best we can accompany processes underway. In this sense, we’ve always considered ourselves catalytic partners – from thinking through the big questions with civil society leaders, community leaders, activists, academics, and progressive public sector actors; to channeling catalytic resources to solutions developed by communities affected by issues ranging from illicit financial flows, mining affected communities, participation of smallholder farmers in agricultural policy, pro-democracy social movements and more.
And in all these processes, our definition of catalytic goes beyond simply giving of resources and voice to communities.
Because voice is not something that can be given – it needs space to be heard, and agency needs space to be demonstrated.
Centre for Strategic Philanthropy at the Cambridge Judge Business School based at the University of Cambridge will host a seminar titled #ShiftThePower – Revolutionising Transparency in the Third Sector: Driving Better Decisions, Legitimacy and Goodwill on the 7th of October 2021 from 11:00 – 12:30 BST). This is part of an online series deconstructing the components of imbalanced power structures between Global North and Global South philanthropy actors, better understanding how change can come about and enabling philanthropy practitioners to define the nature of the change required for the long-term institutionalisation of COVID-19-induced changes in best practice. The first two session recordings are available here. The registration link for the event can be found here.
The FEMNET 2021 African Feminist Macroeconomic Academy (AFMA) will be held in partnership with TrustAfrica from 15-19 November in Dakar, Senegal.
This year’s academy will be held under the theme: “Promoting a Feminist Approach to Delivery and Financing of Public Services in Africa”. Participants invited to apply will be African feminist activists and movement leaders drawn from a range of sub- regions, organisations, movements and formations that are pushing for women’s economic justice and working in various sectors such as agriculture, informal trade, natural resource extraction, sexual reproductive rights, violence against women, economic justice, trade unions, women with disability, young women among others. Please find the call for applications here. The deadline to apply by is 30 September 2021.
Discrimination based on Work, Descent and Slavery has just been reviewed by experts from different countries, at the invitation of TrustAfrica, initiator of a study involving Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania. The review on webinar, which took place over a period of two days from 13 to 14 September 2021, was coordinated from TrustAfrica’s headquarters in Dakar. The results of the surveys revealed the persistent presence of slavery-like practices as well as the worst forms of inhuman treatment in all the target countries. From Mauritania to Mali and from Niger to Burkina Faso, communities have been formed for generations on considerations which are discriminatory or dominant relationships based on ancestry.
Halima Mahomed is an independent researcher and consultant focusing on focusing on knowledge building, advocacy and support to strengthen the narratives, practice and impact of philanthropy in Africa. She is an Associate Researcher at CAPSI and serves as a member of the PSJP management team, Alliance Magazine Editorial Board, and ICNL Advisory Council. Halima has worked for and with a range of African and international philanthropic and philanthropy support organizations and written extensively on philanthropy, with a strong focus on linking philanthropy to local agency and power. Halima holds a Masters in Development Studies from the University of Witwatersrand.
If you have been in the philanthropy sector for any period of time, then Halima is not a new name. Even for us at TrustAfrica, we are welcoming her back, this time in a new capacity as a senior fellow. Halima Mahomed is a well-known independent researcher and consultant focusing on knowledge building, advocacy and support to strengthen the narratives, practice and impact of philanthropy in Africa. She is an Associate Researcher at CAPSI and serves as a member of the PSJP management team, Alliance Magazine Editorial Board, and ICNL Advisory Council. Halima has worked for and with a range of African and international philanthropic and philanthropy support organizations and written extensively on philanthropy, with a strong focus on linking philanthropy to local agency and power. We’ve worked closely in the past with Halima on some of our work with social movements, which is another critical area of inquiry for Ms. Mahomed. Halima holds a Masters in Development Studies from the University of Witwatersrand. We are delighted to welcome Halima back to the TrustAfrica family!
