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convened in October 2022. The symposium is part and parcel of the commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the African Union (AU). The AU was officially founded and launched on 9 July 2002 in Durban, South Africa. The Union took over the mantle for the pursuit of continental unity and integration from the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) which had existed since 1963. Both the OAU and AU are key institutional architectures and historical landmarks for the advancement of Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance, especially from the perspective of state-driven continental integration. Like the OAU, the AU is an intergovernmental organization whose primary mandate is continental unity and integration.
Africa is in a new debt crisis with the majority of low to medium income countries now officially in the unsustainable debt red zone. For example, Kenya has been in the news recently with reports that 60% of all public revenues generated are going to servicing debts. This has destabilized the macroeconomic environment resulting in depreciation of the Kenyan shilling and skyrocketing inflation to devastating socio-economic effects on the population. The debt burden is threatening a reversal of progressive policies such as free public education that Kenya implemented following the Jubilee Debt cancellation.
In last year’s editions of our newsletter, we introduced you to our three pillars of work around democracy and governance, equitable development, and African philanthropy. This year, we are looking forward to introducing you to the core strategies we use in delivering our work namely, grantmaking, African knowledge and research generation, capacity strengthening, and movement building.
Since its birth in 2006 TrustAfrica has prioritized movement building as one of its primary strategies. In a sense, you could even say that the story of TrustAfrica emanated from a movement building process. For those who are unfamiliar with our history, TrustAfrica was born out of a movement by eminent African leaders within the Ford Foundation system who invited Ford Foundation to trust Africans to identify the most pressing challenges facing our continent, and to provide significant resources which could be channeled to proximate change agents on the continent. Ford Foundation decided to provide an endowment towards the establishment of an African-led foundation rather than setting up more Ford offices on the continent. This movement of African leaders around the agency of Africans remains at the core of everything we do to promote responsible citizenship and accountable leadership in addressing Africa’s most pressing challenges
At TrustAfrica, we are aware of the fact that discrimination based on work and descent (DWD) is estimated to affect over 260 million people worldwide, in Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, and North America. In West African countries such as Mali, Mauritania, and Niger, this type of discrimination affects communities of ethnic minorities who are considered to be descendants of slaves. To address this issue TrustAfrica, in line with its strategic plan, in collaboration with other development organizations, met in Dakar in 2019 to address the issue of DWD and slavery and to create The African Network of Communities Discriminated Based on Work and Descent and against Slavery (ANDS). Since its creation, the Network has made significant progress in addressing discrimination in several African countries. The Network has also joined the Global Forum of Communities Discriminated on Work and Descent (GFDWD) to address the issue globally. “TrustAfrica hosts the Secretariat of the Network at its Headquarters in Dakar”. Organizations that are members of the Network thought it would be good to meet in Dakar to discuss about their strategies.
TrustAfrica, through its project “West African Philanthropy Support Ecosystem,” contributes to building a movement of philanthropic actors to strengthen the Philanthropy Support Ecosystem in West Africa. This project is a collaboration with WINGS that aims to engage philanthropy networks, support organizations, funders, and other relevant stakeholders from a set of West African Countries to identify the challenges and opportunities for developing a robust support ecosystem for giving and philanthropy in the region and to build a roadmap for self-owned and sustainable regional philanthropy development. The project is informed through participatory processes involving the establishment of a Steering Committee of philanthropy support organizations as well as research and consultations with the field.
The Inclusivity Project, resourcing the Global Forum of Communities Discriminated on Work and Descent (GFOD) and the African Network on Discrimination based on Work, Descent and Contemporary Slavery (ANDS) are looking for a highly motivated bilingual (English and French) individual from the African continent to become part of our team.
The full-time role (with the possibility to be part time) is remote and requires occasional international travel.
Women, youth and other underrepresented and marginalized groups are highly encouraged to apply.
