With the close of our fiscal year on March 31, we have updated our searchable online grants database. This past year we awarded $3.9 million through 106 grants to partner organizations in 18 African countries and the Diaspora. Highlights include several clusters of grants related to smallholder agriculture, gender violence and women's political participation, civil society in Liberia, higher education, economic governance and business and investment.

More than 30 smallholder farmers and civil society leaders from East, West and Southern Africa gathered March 14-19 in Lilongwe, Malawi, for our training workshop to strengthen advocacy for sustainable and equitable agricultural development. Together, they learned about global and continental agriculture policies, explored strategies for engaging in public advocacy, and acquired skills needed to participate effectively in government budget processes. Through this initiative, we also recently published a set of scoping studies that assess the strengths and needs of relevant advocacy organizations in five African nations. We then made several grants to build the capacity of civil society organizations that are working to amplify the voices of smallholder farmers and bring their needs and concerns to the attention of policy makers.

With Dakar playing host to the 2011 World Social Forum, we convened a roundtable on artists, social change and development. Magamba Cultural Activist Network and Africulturban joined us in organizing the event, which looked at how artists are using art for civic engagement and what role foundations can play in supporting such initiatives. Artists and cultural activists from numerous countries shared ideas and experiences, enlightening foundations and partners on how to support such work. The roundtable explored questions such as: how do artists amplify their voices to become central in development, democracy and governance? How do we measure artistic impact in these critical fields?

On the eve of the forum, we also convened a meeting of the Funders Network on Transforming the Global Economy, bringing together dozens of American philanthropists and grant makers with African civil society leaders who briefed them on emerging themes on the continent. View photos of the orientation discussions and opening march.

Together with the Southern Africa Trust, we have published a 429-page book about the legislative environment for civil society in 18 countries in Central, East and Southern Africa. Edited by Bhekinkosi Moyo, our program director, (Dis) Enabling the Public Sphere: Civil Society Regulation in Africa (Volume 1) also features a foreword by Graça Machel. It is available in hardcover, softcover and PDF format. The book was formally launched at recent dialogues in Dakar, Senegal, and Pretoria, South Africa.

Dozens of women activists from seven Francophone African countries gathered in Bamako, Mali, on Jan. 17-23 for an intensive training workshop. The "boot camp," designed to strengthen the capacity of organizations supported through our MDG3 Project, brought together leaders from civil society, grassroots movements and political parties. Together, they built practical knowledge and skills for developing and conducting effective advocacy campaigns.

We're looking for a dynamic, energetic and self-driven individual to serve as Project Director for our initiative to strengthen civil society capacity for policy engagement in Liberia. Based in Monrovia, the position entails overseeing our grant making, technical assistance and peer-learning activities. Our goal is to build a strong, vibrant, and credible nongovernmental sector that responds more readily to the needs and aspirations of the Liberian people.

Janet Naumi Mawiyoo joined our Board of Trustees in February. She is chief executive officer of the Kenya Community Development Foundation, the only public national foundation in Kenya, which works to promote sustainable development through social investments and grant making that empowers disadvantaged and vulnerable groups. She previously worked at the Kenyan Ministry of Culture and Social Services, the Ministry of Technical Training and Applied Technology, the Norwegian Agency for Development and ActionAid International, both in Kenya and in Tanzania, where she rose to the position of country director. Ms. Mawiyoo holds a Bachelor's degree in social work from Nairobi University, a Master's degree in economics from the University of Manchester (UK), where she specialized in development administration and management, and a postgraduate diploma in organizational development.

Sibongile Mkhabela also joined our Board in February. She is chief executive officer of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, which works to improve the lives of poor children and youth and which has grown under her leadership to R500m/$50m. She is now on a two-year secondment to head the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital, one of the Fund's signature initiatives. With a degree in social work and several graduate diplomas, Bongi (as she is known to friends) has held senior positions at the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Education Programme and South African Council of Churches. She also served as Programs Director in the office then-Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, overseeing strategic projects including NGO/government partnerships and children's programs. In 2004 she was awarded a Joel L. Fleishman Civil Society Fellowship by Duke University (USA). As a student leader, Bongi was an executive member of the Soweto Students Representative Council and general secretary of the South African Students Movement, two driving forces behind the nationwide revolt on June 16, 1976, often hailed as the beginning of the end of apartheid. Charged with sedition in the Soweto 11 trial, she was imprisoned for three years. Following her release in 1982, she wrote a stirring account of the uprising, Open Earth and Black Roses.

Facoumba Gueye joined TrustAfrica in February 2011 as Program Assistant for the Investment Climate and Business Environment (ICBE) Research Fund. She previously worked as a research assistant for the Emergence Consulting Group, a Senegalese firm where she specialized in development strategies. Keenly interested in the field of development and in international solidarity, she has also served as a volunteer in project development for the Digital Freedom Initiative, a project financed by USAID in Senegal, and as the project assistant for eRider Senegal, an ICT support program financed by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa. Ms. Gueye will soon defend her Master's thesis in human resource economics. She holds other certificates in the field of business development and the economics of knowledge and innovation. She speaks French and is working on her English.

Aminata Seck has been consulting for our grants administration team since October 2010. Her thorough internal audit of our grant files is bringing greater clarity and efficiency to our grants administration system and processes. Aminata previously worked at Oxfam GB and Save the Children UK. She earned a Licence in history at the Sorbonne and a Master's degree in marketing at l'Institut Supérieur de Management (ISM) in Dakar. She is now working on a Master's in project management at ISM.

Amélie Traore, who has assisted our accounting team on several occasions over the past year, stepped in full-time from September to March while our staff accountant took maternity leave. Amélie holds graduate degrees in audit and management control and in accounting and finance. She has previously worked at FocusAfrica and the African Centre for Advanced Studies in Management (CESAG), both in Dakar, and at Cabinet Rosette Nacro in her native Burkina Faso.

Social networking sites are a great way to stay in touch with TrustAfrica — and to exchange ideas with others who share an interest in democracy and development in Africa. On Twitter and Facebook, we post short, timely reflections about issues of the day. On Picasa, we showcase photos of our events and the work of our grantees. On YouTube, we present interviews and videos about our work and the challenges facing Africa.

Contributions to TrustAfrica, a 501(c)(3) organization that has earned the GuideStar Exchange Seal, are tax deductible in the United States to the full extent allowable by law. Please consider making a donation today to qualify for a tax deduction this calendar year.

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How can you inspire innovation while making a contribution towards achieving some of the Millennium Development Goals? TrustAfrica is proud to be a co-sponsor for a conference entitled "The Business of Social and Environmental Innovation" (BSEI) which will take place at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business in Cape Town, South Africa on November 14-16, 2011.

The conference will bring together academics, entrepreneurs and practitioners who will present scholarly contributions, as well as case studies, on the projects they have been working on to address these challenges. BSEI seeks to identify and highlight some of the existing partnerships, both formal and informal, that occur between the private sector, governments, civil society and academia; share best practices; and inspire creative thinking and innovative approaches to pressing social and environmental issues.

The conference will start with an optional fieldtrip to explore some of the Cape's townships where participants can get a feel for the social needs and business opportunities there. During the proceedings, participants will be able to choose from parallel sessions where scholarly papers will be presented; dedicated sessions and dynamic discussions with entrepreneurs and practitioners will also be offered.

Seven of the papers that will be presented are from studies paid for by the Investment Climate and Business Environment (ICBE) Research Fund, a project supported by TrustAfrica and the International Development and Research Center (IDRC).

For more information on the Conference, including how to register and costs, please visit the Conference Website. A reduced conference registration fee is available to students.

On the outside, Dr .Nestorine Compaoré has the comportment of a high-ranking government official. Intelligent, thoughtful, well-dressed, articulate, she is at ease speaking to everyone. One could easily believe that she came to her current position as a civil servant through the usual channels. However, once Dr. Compaoré begins to discuss her favorite subject, gender, the activist in her emerges. Her eyes light up, her speech quickens and you can almost see the ideas travel through her as she transmits them to the listener.

Her story is unusual in that there was no straight line that took her to where she is today. From 2002-2009, she was working three full-time jobs: gender advisor for the Center of Democratic Governance in Burkina Faso, gender consultant at the Dutch Embassy, and lecturer on gender at the University of Ouagadougou. However, she was dissatisfied with the available information on gender in Burkina Faso and realized that her country needed better gender resources. She decided to end her consultancy and create the Center for Research and Intervention in Gender and Development (CRIGED). Using her own financing, as well as fundraising, little by little she developed the center to where it is today.

"I realized that most experts have good ideas, but if you don't have a site, people can't transform their ideas into action; they lose energy," she said. "When I worked with civil society, it gave me an opportunity to push for a cause I believed in. That's why I changed my position from the donor side to civil society."

CRIGED is a technical center for research on gender and development; it provides technical support to all stakeholders including government, civil society, universities, women's networks, etc. It also provides monitoring and evaluation on issues of gender and development, and serves as a tool for capacity building of organizations, including advocacy work and activities related to impacting gender policies. With the support of TrustAfrica (including several grants to build capacity for gender organizations) and a host of other donors, CRIGED has become the "go-to" resource for information on gender issues in West Africa.

After developing such a successful organization, one would think Dr. Compaoré would at last feel satisfied, but fate had other plans. In early 2011, she was asked to be Minister for the Promotion of Women.

"When I changed sides to join civil society, I realized I lost a lot of power, in terms of the consideration and attention I had from previous colleagues and ministries because I was no longer a donor--just someone who wanted change."

Dr. Compaoré views her position as Minister as a chance to work within the system to affect change. "This position gives me an opportunity to improve the legal provisions, build capacity of actors, CSOs, ministries, the first lady, even the President himself. It is important to sensitize people on gender."

Few people can work for civil society, donor organizations and the government on a cause they feel passionate about. Her experience has afforded Dr. Compaoré a unique vantage point on how to win in the struggle for gender equality. "I started to understand things differently, because sometimes I think we judge people without knowing their constraints. When you know their constraints, instead of being confrontational, which discourages them and affects them in the wrong way, you can be more comprehensive and constructive."

We are proud to showcase our latest video, a documentary on our Enhancing Women's Dignity project, which seeks to stop gender violence and increase women's political participation in seven French-speaking countries in Central and West Africa.

The film was shot on-location in several of the project countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal and Mali, where it documents the activities of women who are leading the way to improve their socio-economic conditions and increase their political representation. The project began in June 2009 with an MDG3 Fund grant from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since then, TrustAfrica has administered grants to organizations that work to increase women's participation in politics and public administration and halt violence against women. In total, there have been 39 grants, impacting the lives of thousands of women.

In an effort to strategize around the growing dissatisfaction with the structures of democracy and governance in Africa, in particular the roles played by the African Union (AU), the International Criminal Court (ICC) and others, TrustAfrica is convening a strategy meeting on the ICC and Africa in collaboration with the MacArthur Foundation and the Center for Citizen Participation on the AU. The meeting, organized under the theme "Advancing International Criminal Justice in Africa: State Responsibility, the ICC, and the AU--Towards an Effective Advocacy Response," will take place in Nairobi, Kenya on November 14-16, 2011.

The meeting provides an opportunity for stakeholders, including CSOs, policy experts, scholars and individual activists to devise a civil society advocacy strategy that will effectively respond to the ICC backlash in Africa and give funders a better sense of how to engage in collaborative grant-making around these issues. Kenyan Chief Justice Dr. Willy Mutunga has agreed to deliver the Keynote speech. Participants will be drawn from all five geographic sub-regions of Africa, as well as the African Diaspora.

Coming at a time when African States under the AU have threatened to withdraw from the ICC, the strategy meeting aims at developing ways to promote more constructive debates about the ICC within the AU and move the discourse towards promoting national-level accountability for international crimes through entities such as the ICC.

For further information regarding the outcome of the meeting, please check the TrustAfrica Website.

Together with the Southern Africa Trust, we have published a 429-page book about the legislative environment for civil society in 18 countries in Central, East and Southern Africa. Edited by Bhekinkosi Moyo, our program director, (Dis) Enabling the Public Sphere: Civil Society Regulation in Africa (Volume 1) also features a foreword by Graca Michel. It is available in hardcover, softcover and PDF format. The book was formally launched at recent dialogues in Dakar, Senegal, and Pretoria, South Africa.

Ezekiel Pajibo joined TrustAfrica in September 2011 as the Project Director for the Liberia Civil Society Initiative. Mr. Pajibo comes to us from Witts University where he was a Research Fellow for the Encyclopedia of Genocide in Africa project. A graduate of Howard University in the US, Mr. Pajibo has a remarkable track record in the fields of civil society advocacy and policy research. In the early 1980s (during the military rule of Samuel Doe), he served as the president of the Liberia National Students Union (UNSU) and was imprisoned by Doe and spotlighted by Amnesty international as a prisoner of conscience. He also worked for the Africa Faith and Justice Network as well as the American Friends Service Committee and as a consultant for AFRODAD, MWENGO and Human Rights Watch. At the end of the Liberian civil war in 2003, Mr. Pajibo returned home and worked as a consultant for the Open Society Institute and subsequently served as the Executive Director of the Center for Democratic Empowerment. He has written extensively and seminally on civil society issues and is a highly-respected champion for human rights in Africa. He speaks English, French and Krao.

Sue Telingator, Communications Specialist, comes to us with over 27 years of experience in the communications field.  Most recently, she was the Development Outreach and Communications Specialist with USAID/Senegal.  She has also worked for UNICEF and was a Peace Corps volunteer in Namibia.  In addition to being an author and ghostwriter, Ms. Telingator has worked as a journalist for the Chicago Tribune, among several other publications.  She also served as President of the National Writer’s Union in Chicago, where she helped in the fight for writer’s e-rights resulting in a landmark Supreme Court decision against The New York Times.  She holds a bachelor’s degree from Barnard College, Columbia University and Master’s degrees from DePaul University in the US, and the Network University in The Netherlands.  She speaks English and French.

Digital storytelling is a 21st century take on the traditional art of storytelling - and foundations have never had more tools at hand to bring their work to life on screen. The EFC's first-ever webinar will focus on the value that digital storytelling (whether produced or funded by foundations) can have in achieving greater impact, whether it be for policy change, advocacy, learning, or engaging vulnerable or marginalised groups.

Two expert speakers will present case studies of how their respective organisations are involved in digital storytelling, what the benefits have been and why other foundations can benefit from capturing the essence of their work on camera.

Speakers:
Vivian Paulissen, Youth and Media Programme Manager, European Cultural Foundation
Susan Telingator, Communications Specialist, TrustAfrica

Social networking sites are a great way to stay in touch with TrustAfrica — and to exchange ideas with others who share an interest in democracy and development in Africa. On Twitter and Facebook, we post short, timely reflections about issues of the day. On Picasa, we showcase photos of our events and the work of our grantees. On YouTube, we present interviews and videos about our work and the challenges facing Africa.

Contributions to TrustAfrica, a 501(c)(3) organization that has earned the GuideStar Exchange Seal, are tax deductible in the United States to the full extent allowable by law. Please consider making a donation today to qualify for a tax deduction this calendar year.

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