In recent years, Africa has witnessed a quiet but significant shift in the development landscape. The gradual withdrawal of traditional donors, due to shifting geopolitical priorities, domestic pressures in donor countries, or the growing critique of aid dependency, has led to many African civil society organizations confronting a stark reality, donor support is no longer guaranteed.
What happens when the NGO offices shut down, the donors walk away and the annual reports stop printing? If history and current events are any guide, civil society does not die. It simply changes form.
Here’s what I’ve observed: the things we try to reform are rarely the ones that matter most. Reform tends to fixate on what can be measured, managed, and credited—where reformers still believe control is within reach—while quietly avoiding what they don’t understand, where control is harder to find. And nothing, I’d argue, is more misunderstood—or more resistant to control—than the gift.
I went to a funder space and those words had been subtly printed at me / “This is a no solicitation space.” / My mind translated them from the English in my head to the English in my heart / The funders meant to say, “even though I am here, I am still inaccessible to you.”
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Inter-American Foundation (IAF) are corpses. They have been devoured and buried alive while they were still throbbing. They are the first missing persons of a very quickly orchestrated system of mass destruction. Nobody knows where they are or what has happened.
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There’s something special about this place. It’s easy to know why people have moved from all over Australia and the world to be here. The …
This open letter was authored by the National Network of Local Philanthropy Development in Ukraine, and also appears on their website. Add your signature to this …
At the Global Fund for Community Foundations (GFCF), the #ShiftThePower Fellowship idea started with several questions: How can we discuss and reflect on issues of power? How …
