Eleanor Meda Chipeta is a Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at the Wits Business School and serves as the Southern Africa Regional Research Lead at the Centre on African Philanthropy and Social Investment (CAPSI). She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from UNISA, an Honours degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, and both a Master of Commerce degree and a PhD in Social Entrepreneurship from North-West University. Her research interests are in entrepreneurship with particular focus on social entrepreneurship. She has explored key areas such as the antecedents to social entrepreneurial intentions, gender differences to social entrepreneurial intentions, the effect of bias, personality, and cognitive variables in social enterprise formation. This body of work has equipped her with the requisite skills to assess social entrepreneurial activity in South Africa.
Looking back on a dynamic second quarter of 2026, we are delighted to share all 14 highlights from a period defined by bold thinking, continental collaboration, and renewed leadership at the Centre. From Professor Hlengiwe Ndlovu’s appointment and a landmark op-ed on philanthropy and social justice, to convenings in Durban, Harare, and Johannesburg, this quarter reinforced a shared commitment: advancing African-led knowledge, practice, and partnerships that translate research into meaningful action.
We thank our colleagues, partners, students, and stakeholders for your continued engagement, and look ahead with anticipation to the second half of the year.
By Hlengiwe Ndlovu – Associate Professor & Deputy Director: Special Initiatives and Partnerships, Centre of African Philanthropy and Social Investment (CAPSI), Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand.
Philanthropy is operating in a complex and contested space
Philanthropy is standing at a difficult and consequential crossroads. The ideas that shaped development, democracy, international cooperation and human rights over the past few decades are increasingly under strain, as political polarisation, economic insecurity and the pushback against rights-based and equity agendas reshape the global environment. International relations are also becoming more transactional, with development assistance, trade and diplomacy drawn into narrower calculations of economic and strategic interest. It is within this unsettled context that philanthropy is being asked to think beyond generosity alone, and to confront more carefully the social, political and economic conditions in which giving takes place.
These shifts are particularly significant in the South African context, where the democratic project continues to grapple with the unfinished work of historical justice. More than three decades after the democratic transition, poverty, unemployment, spatial inequality and gendered forms of exclusion remain deeply entrenched. These conditions are often framed as development challenges, yet they also raise broader questions about power, belonging, dignity and the extent to which democratic gains have translated into meaningful social and economic transformation. It is within these tensions that contemporary debates about philanthropy and social justice must be located.
In Rethinking giving amidst deep-rooted inequality
Philanthropy has long played an important role in supporting public life. Across South Africa and elsewhere, philanthropic institutions, corporate social investment programmes and private foundations have supported civil society, expanded access to services, enabled research and advocacy, responded to crises and created spaces for innovation. These contributions matter and should be recognised. Yet, the persistence of inequality requires a more searching conversation about the limits of generosity when the deeper conditions that sustain exclusion remain largely intact.
Social justice asks philanthropy to engage more deeply with the roots of inequality. It requires the sector to look beyond immediate need and to consider the arrangements that make some communities more vulnerable than others. Poverty, hunger, educational exclusion, gender-based violence, poor health outcomes and environmental insecurity are connected to histories, institutions and economic choices. They are also sustained by patterns of ownership, representation, recognition and decision-making. Any serious conversation about philanthropy and social justice must therefore include the question of power.
This is an uncomfortable conversation, but it need not be a hostile one. The point is not to position business, wealth creation or private giving outside the work of justice. Rather, it is to recognise that philanthropy and corporate social investment occupy an important position at the intersection of private resources, public need and social responsibility. Their resources, relationships, institutional capacity and influence can play a meaningful role in widening opportunity, strengthening public life and supporting shared prosperity. The challenge is to ask whether giving can help shift the conditions that make generosity necessary in the first place.
Philanthropy as a key player in social renewal
This does not diminish the value of giving. It gives giving a more demanding purpose. The future of philanthropy will depend partly on its ability to support social renewal: the strengthening of relationships, institutions, civic agency and collective capacities that enable people to participate meaningfully in shaping their own lives. Social renewal requires trust, voice, care, accountability and the patient work of rebuilding the social fabric. It also recognises that communities are already sites of knowledge, survival, leadership and imagination.
Philanthropy can begin by placing greater value on the knowledge that exists closest to lived realities. Too often, communities are invited into development processes after priorities have already been set, indicators designed and funding categories determined. A more just approach would allow those most affected by inequality to shape the questions, the methods, the measures of success and the direction of change. This requires more than consultation. It requires decision-making arrangements that reflect trust, respect and shared authority.
The sector also needs to invest more deliberately in the social infrastructure that sustains democratic life. Community organisations, civic networks, women’s formations, youth movements, advocacy groups and local knowledge systems often carry the long-term work of justice with limited resources and high levels of uncertainty. Their labour is not always easily captured through short reporting cycles, yet it is essential to public accountability, community resilience and social transformation. Philanthropy that is serious about social justice should strengthen these foundations of collective life.
In practical terms, the challenge for philanthropy is not to abandon what it has historically done well. Support for civil society, service delivery, research, advocacy and humanitarian response remains important. What requires greater attention is investment in community agency, civic infrastructure and long-term social change, especially in areas where conventional funding approaches struggle to accommodate uncertainty, experimentation and relationship-building. Philanthropy should continue supporting urgent needs, but it should also create space for the slower work through which dignity, agency and accountability are built.
This also means rethinking forms of work that are often undervalued because they are relational, slow and difficult to quantify. Care work, community healing, trust-building, intergenerational dialogue, leadership development and the repair of fractured relationships are central to social change. Societies marked by inequality require more than programmes. They require the conditions through which people can imagine themselves as political, social and economic agents with the right to shape the future.
The language of innovation also deserves careful attention. In many development spaces, innovation is treated as something new, scalable and often technological. Yet some of the most transformative innovations are social. They are found in new forms of participation, community accountability, solidarity economies, cooperative models, participatory grantmaking, feminist funding practices and youth-led civic action. Innovation becomes meaningful when it changes who gets to speak, who decides, who benefits and who is held accountable. It becomes disruptive when it alters the conditions that keep inequality in place.
There are also practices that philanthropy will need to rethink. Short-termism weakens the possibility of structural change. Overly rigid funding models can force organisations to perform certainty in contexts where uncertainty is part of the work. Narrow measurement frameworks can make visible what is easy to count while obscuring deeper shifts in dignity, agency, solidarity and institutional accountability. A sector committed to social justice must be willing to ask whether its own systems are flexible enough to support the kinds of change it seeks to advance.
The relationship between philanthropy, civil society, business and the state is especially important. Philanthropy should support civil society as an independent force for public accountability, community voice and democratic participation. It can also work with government and business where collaboration can strengthen public systems, expand opportunity and contribute to the public good. These roles require careful balance. Social justice demands both cooperation and accountability. Development is not only about filling gaps left by the state; it is also about strengthening the social and civic conditions that make public responsibility possible.
Co-created, asset-based African philanthropy
Organisations such as IPASA have an important role to play in this moment. As a convening platform, IPASA can help the sector hold difficult conversations with honesty and care. This role includes supporting learning across philanthropic institutions, civil society, academia, government, business and community-based actors, while helping to build a shared language around equity, accountability and transformation. In doing so, IPASA can contribute to a stronger African conversation on philanthropy, one that recognises the continent not merely as a site of need, but as a source of ideas, practices and traditions of mutual responsibility.
The transformation agenda requires partnership, but partnership must be understood with depth. It cannot mean bringing stakeholders into conversations after the agenda has already been decided. It must involve co-creating priorities, sharing knowledge, shifting resources and building relationships that are strong enough to withstand disagreement. Philanthropy’s future will depend on its capacity to listen differently, fund differently and account differently.
Futures thinking shaped by courage and imagination
Social justice ultimately requires philanthropy to engage questions of imagination. The issue is not only how inequality is managed, but what kinds of social and economic futures are considered possible. At a time when public debate is increasingly polarised and constrained, philanthropy is uniquely positioned to support spaces where alternative ideas, new forms of participation and different models of development can be explored. This is a question about money, but it is also a question about trust, leadership and the forms of justice philanthropy is prepared to make possible.
This article is republished from Independent Philanthropy Association South Africa (IPASA) newsletter, under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://ipa-sa.org.za/public/reimagining-philanthropy-social-transformation-and-the-future-of-giving/
The African Data Science Conference (ADSC) 2026 is currently underway from 23–26 June 2026 at the Wits Science Stadium, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. The conference brings together academics, postgraduate students, researchers, industry leaders, policymakers, technology practitioners and innovators to explore how data science and artificial intelligence can support African priorities, with discussions focusing on ownership, accountability, ethics and responsible AI.
Held under the theme “African Data Science, for Africa,” the conference is creating a platform where research meets practice, bringing together scientific presentations, workshops, technology demonstrations, industry engagement and expert discussions focused on building an inclusive and responsible African data ecosystem.
For Prof Bhekinkosi Moyo, Adjunct Professor at Wits Business School and Director of the Centre on African Philanthropy and Social Investment (CAPSI), this future requires more than adopting global technology trends. It requires African institutions to ask deeper questions about power, governance and responsibility.
“Data and AI governance is a leadership question, as opposed to just compliance,” Moyo said during the panel discussion “Governing African Data Science: Accountability, Sovereignty, and the Architecture of Responsible AI.”
He argued that Africa cannot simply take existing systems and apply them without examining the history and assumptions behind them.
“If you take that data as it is, you are approaching the existing problem,” he said, highlighting that data can carry existing inequalities and biases if it is not carefully understood and managed.
The panel, chaired by Dr Nomalanga Mashinini from Wits University, brought together voices from academia and industry, including Prof Chux Daniels from the University of Pretoria, Prof Geci Karuri-Sebina from Wits University, and Mr Meshack Shabalala from Massmart, to explore questions around data sovereignty, AI accountability, responsible deployment and the role of institutions in shaping digital futures.
For Daniels, the challenge goes beyond collecting and protecting information.
“Data sovereignty should not just be about having a data set with us. It needs to go beyond that, what do we do with it?” he asked.
His reflection spoke directly to ADSC 2026’s focus on using data science to respond to Africa’s social, economic and development challenges, from inequality and unemployment to climate change, healthcare and innovation.
Moyo also connected the discussion to wider shifts happening across the global development landscape. As traditional funding models change, he noted that partnerships between universities, businesses, governments and philanthropy will become increasingly important in strengthening Africa’s digital capacity.
This focus on collaboration sits at the heart of ADSC 2026’s industry engagement agenda, which connects researchers, technology companies, employers, public institutions and innovation partners to move ideas from research into real-world solutions.
Prof Geci Karuri-Sebina challenged the idea that governance can only happen through policies written after technology has already changed.
“If we are sitting waiting for a policy to tell us how we confront AI, then I think we are really cooked,” she said.
She called for more flexible approaches that allow institutions to learn, adapt and experiment while technology continues to evolve. For her, responsible AI requires recognising that everyone involved, from researchers to developers and decision-makers, plays a role in shaping outcomes.
“Nothing is neutral,” Karuri-Sebina said, reminding the audience that every decision about data, technology and innovation carries values and assumptions.
From the industry perspective, Mr Meshack Shabalala focused on the importance of accountability when AI systems are introduced into everyday environments.
“It is quite difficult to be accountable for a model you cannot understand,” he said, explaining that responsible AI requires transparency, human oversight and systems that allow people to question how decisions are made.
As ADSC 2026 continues, the discussions reflect a wider movement towards ensuring that Africa is not only a consumer of digital technologies but an active contributor to how these technologies are designed and governed.
For Moyo, the question is ultimately about building systems that serve people.
The future of African data science, he suggested, will depend on whether institutions can move from simply managing technology to leading conversations about how it should be used, ensuring that innovation contributes to sustainable development, stronger communities and better opportunities across the continent.
Call for Applications: Adɔyɛ Research Associates Programme
CAPSI invites scholars, researchers, and practitioners from Africa to contribute to research and knowledge production on women, African philanthropy, and social investment.
The Centre on African Philanthropy and Social Investment at Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, is advancing a new generation of African researchers, academics, and experts through research, publications, convenings, and related initiatives.
Adɔyɛ, formerly known as Women in African Philanthropy, is a CAPSI programme that recognises, understands, amplifies, and supports the significant role and impact of women in all spheres of philanthropy in Africa.
Adɔyɛ means “Love in Action” and centres women in African philanthropy, including everyday givers, community and civic contributors, high-net-worth philanthropists, and professionals or academics engaged in African philanthropy.
Objective and Scope
This programme aims to build a network of affiliated researchers contributing to scholarly and policy-oriented knowledge on women, African philanthropy, and social investment.
Conduct original research
Contribute to CAPSI’s institutional research outputs
Strengthen academic inquiry on gender, philanthropy, and social investment
Support policy and practitioner-oriented knowledge production
Research Thematic Pillars
Submissions must align with one or more of the following thematic pillars.
Pillar 1: African Feminist Leadership, Ethics and Power
Explores the lived experiences, ethical frameworks, and exercise of power by African women leaders in philanthropy, social investment, and development spaces.
This includes feminist values in organisational culture, governance, accountability, decision-making, resource allocation, representation, inclusion, and institutional transformation. Leadership & Governance
Pillar 2: African Women in Philanthropy, Social Investment and Long-term Systemic Change
Examines how women’s philanthropic agency, social investment, and collective solidarity contribute to socio-economic development and structural transformation.
The pillar focuses on everyday giving, community-based giving, institutional philanthropy, impact investing, and catalytic funding. Systems Change
Pillar 3: Feminist Funding and Women-Led Philanthropic Institutions
Investigates the architecture of feminist funding in Africa and how resources flow to, through, and from women-led philanthropic institutions, social enterprises, and grassroots organisations.
Focus areas include access to capital, sustainability models, regulatory environments, organisational capacity, and participatory financing models. Feminist Funding
Pillar 4: Women, Philanthropy, Social Investment and Climate Philanthropy
Explores the intersections between women’s philanthropy, social investment, and climate action in Africa.
Research may focus on climate resilience, environmental justice, adaptation, mitigation, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, water security, sanitation, and climate finance. Climate Philanthropy
Eligibility
Eligibility is open to African citizens, including academic researchers, early-career scholars, PhD candidates, independent researchers, and practitioners with demonstrated research experience in philanthropy, civil society, the nonprofit sector, voluntary action, or related fields.
Women are strongly encouraged to apply.
Expected Deliverables
One peer-reviewed journal article
One policy brief or practitioner note
Outputs demonstrating academic quality, policy relevance, and practical significance
All outputs must acknowledge CAPSI and include CAPSI as an affiliate institution
Application Requirements
Interested applicants should prepare and submit the following documents.
1. Research Proposal
A brief 2–3 page proposal outlining the proposed research title, problem statement, objectives, methodology, and expected contribution.
2. Curriculum Vitae
A current CV detailing academic, research, professional, and publication experience.
3. Writing Sample
A writing or publication sample that demonstrates research, analytical, or scholarly capability.
Role of Research Associates
Selected Research Associates will contribute to CAPSI’s research agenda and strengthen African scholarship on philanthropy and social investment.
Conduct independent and high-quality research
Participate in periodic research engagements, seminars, and knowledge-sharing activities convened by CAPSI
Contribute to scholarly collaboration and knowledge exchange
Support the visibility and impact of CAPSI’s research agenda
Contribute to strengthening African scholarship on philanthropy and social investment
Proposed Timeline
Applicants should note the following key dates for the Adɔyɛ Research Associates Programme.
Milestone
Date
Launch Call
3 May 2026
Application Deadline
10 July 2026
Shortlist
17 July 2026
Selection Announcement
21 July 2026
First Draft
1 October 2026
Second Draft and Policy Brief or Practitioner Note
In March 2020, South Africa faced an unprecedented crisis as its first in-country COVID-19 case was identified, leading President Cyril Ramaphosa to announce a strict 21-day nationwide hard lockdown. With schools, universities, and businesses abruptly forced to transition to remote models, reliable and affordable access to mobile telecommunications quickly became a vital necessity for citizens trying to work, study, and stay connected from home. Taki Netshitenzhe, the external affairs director of Vodacom South Africa, recognized this sudden shift as a pivotal opportunity to demonstrate the mobile network operator’s deep commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). However, she was tasked with solving a complex dilemma: the foundation’s response had to effectively support and benefit society without imposing a crippling financial burden on the company itself.
At the time of the outbreak, Vodacom stood as the largest mobile network operator in South Africa, commanding a dominant 44% market share ahead of its primary competitor, MTN, which held 32%. Beyond its extensive domestic operations, Vodacom had established operating companies in several other African nations—including Lesotho, Tanzania, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo—alongside a significant 35% stake in Kenya’s top network provider, Safaricom. By the end of its financial year in March 2020, Vodacom had grown into a massive enterprise yielding a group revenue of R90 billion, with its South African division generating R52 billion in services revenue, nearly half of which was driven by prepaid services.
The company’s journey began in July 1994 as a joint venture between Vodafone, Telkom, and Venfin, eventually listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in May 2009 with Vodafone as the majority shareholder. By 2020, Vodacom boasted an expansive network footprint that covered 99.9% of South Africa, making it the 11th largest company on the JSE by market capitalization. This expansive reach highlighted the immense social impact potential of Vodacom’s CSR strategy. This structured commitment to corporate citizenship reflected a broader global evolution in business philosophy, moving decisively away from historical economic doctrines that argued corporation goals should strictly and solely focus on maximizing investor profits.
In March 2020, Noura Selim, the executive director of the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development (SFSD), faced an unprecedented challenge as the COVID-19 pandemic began to severely impact the Egyptian economy and its people. Prior to the outbreak, the foundation’s core strategic focus was geared toward long-term development—specifically improving the lives of impoverished communities through structured education, social, and economic empowerment programmes. The rapidly escalating pandemic demanded an immediate pivot, forcing Selim to consider how the foundation could rapidly assess and deploy support to cushion Egypt’s most marginalized and vulnerable populations from sudden health and economic shocks.
The foundation’s capacity for major intervention stems from the generational success of the Sawiris family, one of the wealthiest families in Egypt. The family legacy began in 1950 when entrepreneur Onsi Sawiris founded Orascom Construction Ltd, a major player in building Egypt’s national infrastructure, including water treatment plants, railways, and skyscrapers. His three entrepreneurial sons—Naguib, Samih, and Nassef—subsequently took over, expanding and diversifying the family conglomerate into diverse global industries such as telecommunications, property development, and fertilizers, while simultaneously establishing a powerful reputation for community philanthropy.
The deep-seated culture of giving within the foundation was heavily influenced by Onsi Sawiris’s wife, Yousriya Loza Sawiris, a financial auditor and development practitioner. She actively instilled the value of philanthropic duty and tithing in her sons from a young age by bringing them along to work in less privileged garbage collector communities. These formative, first-hand exposures to economic hardship deeply entrenched a lifelong commitment within the family to give back to their community in a structured, highly impactful, and sustainable manner, providing the philosophical backbone for SFSD’s modern crisis response.
On the eve of her birthday in April 2019, Margaret Mliwa found herself reflecting deeply on how to maintain a sustainable balance between her philanthropic activities and the rest of her life. Margaret, the eighth of ten children, had chosen to follow closely in the footsteps of her late father, Stanley Mliwa, who had dedicated his entire life to giving his time and money to serve people in need. However, choosing this path of continuous service had not been an easy choice, prompting her mid-life reflection on her personal boundaries and commitments.
Stanley Mliwa’s life began in 1926 in Kiweto, a village in the Taita-Taveta county of south-east Kenya, an area marked by extreme poverty. As the only one of fifteen siblings to attend school—a chance given because his father needed someone to read official colonial communications—Stanley eventually qualified as a teacher in 1948. He balanced a complex family life with his career; his wife Irene suffered from severe depression and required regular treatments away from home, leaving Stanley to raise their large family with the help of extended family and his elder children.
Beyond teaching, Stanley was an active entrepreneur who formally retired from education in 1968 to focus on a variety of business ventures. He successfully established and operated three general dealer stores across different locations in the region, including Kiweto (later moved to Mrungua), Sagalla, and Voi, where he and his family eventually relocated in the year 2000. His life’s work as a community servant, family man, and local business owner created a powerful philanthropic legacy that now demands a conscious and measured response from his daughter.
In May 2020, Masego Madzwamuse, the CEO of the Southern Africa Trust, found herself working from home just over a month into South Africa’s nationwide COVID-19 lockdown. Recognizing that the organization was once again at a critical crossroads, she looked back at the Trust’s history. Five years prior, in 2015, the Trust had faced a severe crisis when its primary donor announced its intention to withdraw funding, which forced the organization to drastically overhaul its structure and strategy. Amid the deep uncertainty gripping the country during the pandemic, Madzwamuse needed to evaluate whether those structural and strategic changes had sufficiently prepared the Trust to survive the global crisis and sustain its vital work long into the future.
The Southern Africa Trust is an independent, non-profit organization established in 2005 and based in Midrand, Gauteng. It was originally founded to combat the exceptionally high levels of poverty and inequality within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. Neville Gabriel served as the founding executive director until 2013, followed by Bhekinkosi Moyo, who served as director and later CEO until May 2018. Madzwamuse then stepped into the role of CEO in October 2018, inheriting an organization deeply committed to strengthening civil society and private sector engagement across national and regional levels.
The core purpose of the Trust is to actively contribute to reducing poverty and inequality by facilitating philanthropic initiatives and influencing policy through public-private-civil society collaborations. To alleviate the suffering of the poor, its operations span public policy, official poverty reduction processes, human rights, stakeholder engagement, research, and capacity building. The organization channels these efforts into six key strategic areas, the first of which focuses heavily on knowledge management—specifically sharing strategic data from research and facilitation with the broader policy community through its dedicated Knowledge Hub.
By late March 2018, civil society organisations (CSOs) in West Africa, and particularly in Ghana, were facing a severe financial pinch. Despite an improving regional economy, international donors were increasingly shifting their funding away to regions where they perceived a greater need. In response to this shifting landscape, Nana Asantewa Afadzinu, the executive director of the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI), maintained that the institute’s work remained as critical as ever. Ahead of a board meeting to finalize the organization’s 2018–2022 strategy, Afadzinu found herself evaluating whether WACSI’s ongoing efforts to diversify its donor base, generate internal income, and strengthen its long-term financial and operational sustainability would prove successful.
WACSI was originally established in 2005 by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) and began its formal operations in July 2007 out of Accra, Ghana. The organization was created with a mandate to empower and build the capacity of other CSOs across West Africa. To achieve this, WACSI focuses heavily on training CSOs in capacity development, policy influencing, and advocacy, while simultaneously conducting research and facilitating policy dialogues within the region.
The ultimate overarching goal of WACSI is to foster a peaceful and prosperous West African region where development is actively driven by its citizens. The institute acts as a strategic engine to advance democracy, good governance, and sustainable national development. It approaches this mission by focusing on knowledge sharing, collaboration, networking, and the promotion of democratic values, aiming to ensure that regional CSOs possess the institutional and operational strength to be highly effective and relevant.
In July 2020, Charlene Lackay, the group corporate social investment (CSI) manager at Momentum Metropolitan Holdings, faced the challenge of developing an effective system to monitor and evaluate the company’s volunteer programme. Increased pressure on funding made it critical to provide clear evidence of what the programme was achieving. Additionally, Lackay recognized that CSI practitioners often became too emotionally invested in their projects, making an objective, detached assessment necessary to properly evaluate their efforts.
However, establishing a proper monitoring and evaluation framework presented significant operational hurdles. Momentum Metropolitan was a massive organization with more than 15,000 employees spread across numerous job levels. Compounding the issue, Lackay had to navigate a lack of resources within the human resource department while strictly respecting employee privacy regarding salary levels.
The case highlights how these volunteer initiatives fit into the broader landscape of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the legislative environment in South Africa. Operating within the financial services sector, Momentum Metropolitan was obliged to adhere to the Financial Sector Code (FSC) under the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Act. This code features a scorecard measuring contributions to socio-economic development and financial consumer education. Furthermore, as a listed company, they had to comply with the King IV Report on Corporate Governance, which emphasizes that corporate endeavours should ultimately serve humanity.
The Kenya Community Development Foundation (KCDF) was established in 1997 by a group of Kenyan development leaders who believed that traditional aid models were failing to create sustainable change. Research had shown that despite significant investment in community development, many communities were becoming poorer. KCDF’s founders argued that development should focus on empowering communities, building local capacity, and enabling people to drive their own progress rather than relying on externally imposed solutions. Their philosophy was that true development is not simply the outcome achieved, but the process through which communities gain the skills, confidence, and ownership needed to sustain that outcome.
Over time, KCDF expanded its activities and established the KCDF Trust in the mid-2000s to manage and grow the Foundation’s assets. This structure was intended to create a sustainable financial base that would support the Foundation’s long-term development work. However, as both entities evolved, the operational and governance relationship between the Foundation and the Trust became increasingly intertwined. The Foundation’s leadership found itself heavily involved in the Trust’s investment activities, creating complexity and placing additional demands on management resources.
By June 2019, CEO Janet Mawiyoo and her executive team concluded that the existing arrangement was no longer effective. The Foundation’s development work required dedicated leadership and attention, while the Trust needed the ability to make timely investment decisions and manage assets independently. The central challenge facing KCDF was therefore a governance one: how to restructure the relationship between the Foundation and the Trust so that each could fulfil its mandate more effectively, ensuring both the sustainability of KCDF’s assets and the continued impact of its community development mission.
