Author: info

Reflecting on 2022: Customised Masterclasses

Written by info on December 15, 2022. Posted in Newsletter Dec 2022.

By Dr Keratiloe Mogotsi

On the short course’s front, 2022 saw a rise in customised masterclasses selected by various organisations to empower participants with one or two of our masterclasses, to strengthen their skills and knowledge in philanthropy. Since the beginning of the year, we have trained 106 delegates from organisations such as AROCSA, GiZ, East Africa Philanthropy Network and for the first time, 16 of these delegates registered through open enrolment for the Principles and Fundamentals of Fundraising masterclass. The masterclasses focused mostly on Fundraising (a popular selection from the organisations) and Venture Philanthropy. Sponsoring organisations were provided with an opportunity to highlight required key focus areas such as leadership and transition of NGO leaders for AROCSA, regional integration and mega projects fundraising for GiZ, and leadership/ fundraising for EAPN.

Towards the close of 2022, we anticipate training nine more delegates from the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) in South Africa and Botswana Power Corporation (BPC). The faculty and guest speakers for the short courses are diverse and well-experienced in their fields, with three of these emanating internally and over five having industry experience from organisations such as Capital Idea, Africa Venture Philanthropy Alliance and the Southern Africa Trust.

Two customised webinars were held for clients AROCSA and GiZ, and one public webinar was held to spread awareness of philanthropy issues and the courses on offer. These webinars can be viewed on our YouTube channel where we also share a snippet of what you can learn in these masterclasses:

Name of event	Link	Date	Type	No of participants
AROCSA Fellowship presentations	https://youtu.be/rR8l2XSfK-4	05 May 2022	Online webinar	18
Africa Day	https://youtu.be/ec2AmNayIK8	26 May 2022	Online webinar	162
GiZ Workshop on Regional Integration	https://youtu.be/91G8MXa9uC8	26 April 2022	Online webinar	142 views

The certificate programmes and other masterclasses are yet to kick off through open enrolment. The short courses have seen success and potential in the customised offerings of the seven masterclasses available and we hope to see this go from strength to strength.

Dr Keratiloe Mogotsi is a Lecturer at Wits Business School and serves as the Centre’s Director of Executive Education and Customised Learning. Her research areas include disaster philanthropy in Africa, venture philanthropy, African philanthropy and philanthro-capitalism in Africa.

Reflecting on 2022: Academic Programmes and Development

Written by info on December 15, 2022. Posted in Newsletter Dec 2022.

By Prof Jacob Mati

This year started off pregnant with hope and it has turned out well beyond our expectations. On the Academic Programmes front, we welcomed the first cohort of the Post Graduate Diploma in Management in the field of African Philanthropy and Resource Mobilisation, and are happy to report that we now have the first graduates in this programme. The successful delivery of this programme involved the contributions of multiple individuals and institutions that include lecturers, examiners, programme administrators, curriculum developers and reviewers. This programme is now fully accredited as Post Graduate Diploma in African Philanthropy and Resource Mobilisation. This process and outcome would not have been a success without the valuable partnership of the Inyathelo Institute for Advancement.

The year also saw two of our PhD students graduate as newly minted doctors – please join me in congratulating Dr Dennis Osiei and Dr Wycliffe Nduga Ouma. The PhD programme welcomed three new students who are progressing well in their doctoral studies. Several legacy PhD students also went through proposal defence panels successfully and are at the various stages of data collection and write-up. One of the ways that CAPSI provides support to PhD students is through PhD methodology seminars, as well as mobility grants to attend conferences.

Our Master of Management in African Philanthropy programme (coursework and research report) was fully accredited in 2021. This is in addition to the Master of Management in African Philanthropy by Research. The inaugural cohort of this class has successfully completed four of their compulsory modules and are on course in their research projects. The highlight of their progress was that nine of the 11 students successfully defended their proposals at the school postgraduate committee panel and are now embarking on their data collection. We expect these students to successfully complete the remaining elective courses, while also concentrating on their research report writing. The success of this programme so far has relied heavily on the support of our partners, who helped in curriculum development and review, examination as well as reviewing and serving in the research proposal panels. Going forward, the remaining task is to appoint examiners for the research reports for these students to ensure a smooth transition to the examination stage, when they submit their reports.

With a view to ensuring that prospective students get relevant information about our programmes, we held multiple information events throughout the year, both formal and informal. We took every opportunity in conferences and other convenings to promote our programmes within this community. These include a session in the final judging of the Aspire Higher Competition, an exhibition table at the ISTR 2022 Conference in Montreal, and a session at the Fundraising certification training in Cape Town. The year also saw three of the CAPSI staff achieve certification in fundraising by The Fundraising School, University of Indiana, USA. This certification enables these three members to teach a similar course locally.

We look forward to updating and strengthening our curriculum, ensuring curriculum alignment and reinforcing programme coherence through a tailor-made workshop with all teaching staff in early 2023.

Prof. Jacob Mati is the Deputy Director of CAPSI and is responsible for development and implementation of Academic Programmes at the Centre. He has written and published extensively on civil society, volunteerism and philanthropy, and their intersections with development and governance, especially in Africa.

Academic Publishing Series: Workshop 2 Reflection

Written by info on November 23, 2022. Posted in News.

The Academic Publishing Workshop Series is a response to the perceived challenges faced by academics when writing, submitting, and publishing their work. In line with the Centre on African Philanthropy and Social Investment (CAPSI) theme of “The Year of Publication”, the workshop could not have come at a more opportune time. This series aims to provide expert advice on a broad range of topics and bring aspiring researchers into one room with publishing experts. One of its goals is also to assist early career academics in gaining insight into editorial processes and offer them an opportunity to engage the editors directly.

On Thursday October 27th, the second workshop of the Academic Publishing Workshop for Emerging Researchers was hosted. The purpose of this session was to explore various segments of publishing, to help ease the publishing journey for emerging researchers and academics. Included in this session were lessons on how to prepare academic papers for submission by Dr Sara Amin, the peer review process by Dr Jones-Odei Mensah, preparing
manuscripts for publication and online publishing by Dr Linda Fick. Lastly, the workshop explored the challenges and opportunities for new researchers on the publishing journey that was presented by Dr Emmanuel Quaye.

Chaired by CAPSI’s Digital Publisher Xolani Dlamini, the session welcomed academics and emerging researchers from different fields who joined in to gain lessons from the presenters while improving their publishing experience. Xolani added that one of the challenges that publishers face is when researchers do not understand the work that happens behind the scenes and the importance of quality control when it comes to ensuring the optimization of their article on online journals.

Synthesizing and concluding the workshop was Prof. Imhotep Alagidede, Editor in Chief of the International Review of Philanthropy and Social Investment Journal, who quoted how ‘the world of publishing requires one to continuously learn, invent and re-invent oneself’. Prof. Imhotep further encouraged attendees by expressing how rejection is inevitable in the game of publishing, but how that should not deter them from their journey.

“There are many benefits of being an academic, you are able to teach what you are passionate about, mentor students, freedom of how you manage your time, and you get to travel”, stated Dr Quaye in his motivation for why we need more academics. The Centre of African Philanthropy and Social Investment will host more workshops that will cater to the diversity of the researcher community. Subscribe to our newsletter to be alerted.

An analysis of the effectiveness of corporate social responsibility in the mining sector: a comparative study of South Africa and Zimbabwe mining companies

Written by info on September 30, 2022. Posted in PhD Publications.

Over the past years, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has received increased attention from the corporate world and international organisations. There has been a call for an Africanised CSR agenda based on the African context since CSR activities being undertaken in developing countries do not address the root cause of poverty and fail to improve relations with local communities. There is concern over the sustainability of the CSR projects undertaken by mining companies in Zimbabwe and the motives behind CSR activities aimed at benefitting the mining companies’ shareholders and less on the community where they operate. CSR projects in Zimbabwe differ to that of South Africa although the companies are subsidiaries.
This comparative study between Zimbabwe and South Africa’s mining sectors has been carried out to analyse the effectiveness of Corporate Social Responsibility activities. The study followed the interpretivism philosophy and the qualitative research design with multiple case studies in the two countries. The target population for the research were two companies with branches in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Hence four mines were chosen, two in Zimbabwe and two in South Africa. A total of 22 respondents were purposively selected consisting of community representatives, mining company representatives, non-governmental stakeholders and governmental stakeholders. Data was triangulated by integrating semi-structured interviews and secondary documents.
The findings indicated that in South Africa there is more stakeholder inclusion and ownership of the CSR projects as compared to Zimbabwe. This is more attributed to the nature of the South African legislation on CSR that encourages stakeholder inclusion. The stakeholder inclusion and ownership contributes to project sustainability which then leads to effectiveness of CSR. The research also concluded that an Africanised CSR agenda should prioritize legal iii issues over others. This means African countries need to attend to their legislation so that CSR is mandatory with ‘social impact’ as the driving force. The study contributes to the CSR literature specifically as a comparative study between African countries. This is one of the few empirical studies that compare CSR in neighbouring developing countries. Moreover, the study also addresses whether there is a need for a more Africanised CSR to address the social challenges and understand the effectiveness of the Africanised CSR agenda leading to sustainable development

Call for papers Resilient Urban Communities

Written by info on August 16, 2022. Posted in News.

The Resilient Urban Communities (RUC) PhD Seminar aims to improve the research work of current PhD students and broaden their perspectives by giving them the opportunity to discuss their research ideas and results in a supportive environment, where they receive constructive feedback from an audience consisting of peers as well as senior researchers in the field, reflect upon publication and career strategies, provide a forum for the interaction among the PhD students and an opportunity to network with the international Resilient Urban Communities community.

The PhD Seminar Call 2022 is open to all enrolled doctoral students doing research in non-profit studies, urban studies, development economics, or related fields at all stages of their doctoral studies. Those PhD students doing research on social entrepreneurship, NPOs and Philanthropy including the social economy are particularly encouraged.

For conference and seminar updates visit www.strathmore.edu/research-at-strathmore/resilient-urban-communities/

Themes

The key themes for PhD Seminar include supportive ecosystems, participatory urban governance, management structures of SEs and NPOs, and their resilience and sustainability. Some of the seminar topics (but not limited to) are building resilience during PhD work, incorporating diverse points of view in your research, types of research approaches and designs, managing the relationships with supervisors /receiving feedback and publication of high-quality academic articles. The central attractions to this PhD Seminar are the small group sessions: each student is allotted time to discuss her/his work and obtain feedback from peers and faculty. The PhD Seminar also includes opening and closing plenary sessions and at least one professional development session with presentations by leading scholars in the field. Additionally, the PhD Seminar shall feature the 3-minute Thesis Competition (voluntary).

The winner will be awarded a monetary prize and their presentation will be featured on the Resilient Urban Communities website. The seminar is envisaged to take place on a face-to-face basis, but in case of restrictions due to COVID, we are prepared to switch to a virtual session. Resilient Urban Communities shall provide limited scholarships to attend the seminar expected to take 1 and ½ days. Each application for the PhD seminar should include:

A research paper not exceeding one and a half pages that refers to the stage of your thesis (e.g., proposal, literature review/ theoretical development, methods, incipient results (a proposal template will be provided).
A personal motivation statement of about ¾ page length and what you hope to get from Seminar.
An official document confirming your status as a doctoral student at your University.

PhD Seminar Eligibility for applicants are:

Be doctoral students, particularly at early stages of their research work. If you expect to defend your dissertation before December 2022, you do not apply as you will not likely benefit from the Seminar.
Be conducting research connected to non-profit-organizations and social enterprises in deprived communities and in policy fields such as housing, education, social services with a special focus on governance arrangements and business models.
Be able to participate in the entire PhD Seminar to be held in Nairobi, Kenya.
Be prepared to present and discuss their doctoral work with peers and faculty, and to participate in an active and constructive way in group discussions.

Early Research Career (ECR) Seminar Call and Purpose:

ECRs generally face far greater difficulty at research work and even publications with often inadequate understanding of the publishing models including open access journals. The ECR Seminar shall allow you to build ideas about your research teams, establish the collaborations and networks necessary for your professional growth, establishment as independent researchers how to lead unique and innovative programmes of research within your domains. For this seminar, the ECRs are expected to have some initial but limited postdoctoral experience and not yet ready for independence or to lead their own groups but expected to have started to make important contributions to research. They will be in the initial stages of driving their own research (usually evidenced by publications) but they still require more time to consolidate their existing skills and explore new scientific realms, under the guidance of an experienced researchers or sponsors.

The seminar targets ECRs who are able to articulate and drive their own research ideas and form collaborations but are not yet ready to lead their own independent research groups. The ECR Seminar Call is open to researchers within 5 years after their PhD qualification doing research in non-profit studies, urban studies, development economics, or related fields. The costs of research career mismanagement are high and include stagnation in growth, reduced ability to generate research funding and impact of research project completion among others. Some of the seminar topics (but not limited to) are leading research teams: the challenges, exploring the transition to research leadership, managing performance and underperformance, collaboration and fostering interdisciplinary research and publications of high-quality journal articles. The seminar is envisaged to take place on a face-to-face basis, but in case of restrictions due to COVID, we are prepared to switch to a virtual session. Resilient Urban Communities shall provide limited scholarships to attend the seminar expected to take 1 and ½ days. Each participant application should include:

A research profile that includes the qualifications, your recent publications and your research summary in the area of focus
A personal motivation statement of about ¾ page length and what you hope to gain from the Seminar
An official document confirming your status as a Researcher or Faculty at your University

ECR Seminar Eligibility for applicants are:

Be researchers with at most 5 years PhD qualification and trying to set their research career on track.
Be conducting research connected to non-profit-organizations and social enterprises in deprived communities and in policy fields such as housing, education, social services with a special focus on governance arrangements and business models.
Be able to participate in the entire ECR Seminar and Conference to held in Nairobi, Kenya.
Be prepared to share their current research with peers for networking and identification of collaborators in an active and constructive way in group discussions.

Resilient Urban Communities (RUC) Conference

The culmination of the three days shall be one-day Conference designed to showcase the research results currently undertaken as collaborative African-German project. The programme focuses on social enterprises (SEs) and non-profit organizations (NPOs) as subsidiary social service providers and vehicles for participation and integration in African mega cities that contribute to the resilience of urban communities. Organizations of the civil society or development space, such as social enterprises (SEs) and non-profit organizations (NPOs) are important players in the labour market of African economies. The presentations for the Conference shall majorly be from the research being undertaken though the organizers will allow exceptional research contributions closely related to the research domain, including invited speakers. The PhDs and ECRs with close related researches shall be invited to make presentations after reviewing their extended individual abstracts. The full research papers of the accepted presentations by the PhDs and ECRs, that meet individual journal requirements shall be forwarded for publication in different journals that Resilient Urban Communities Consortium team subscribe within the research domain.

Proposed Programme for the Conference and Seminars:

Monday, 5th December 2022 (Resilient Urban Communities Consortium Meeting and Visit to Social Enterprises)
Tuesday, 6th December 2022: (Whole Day) PhD and ECR Seminars
Wednesday, 7th December 2022: (Morning) PhD and ECR Seminars
Wednesday, 7th December 2022: (Afternoon) Peer Mentor Sessions and Visit to National Park
Thursday, 8th December 2022: (Whole Day) Resilient Urban Cities Conference

Conference Deadlines:

Call for Papers: 2nd May 2022
Submission of Abstracts Deadline: Deadline: 23rd September 2022
Acceptance of the Abstracts Deadline: Deadline: 3rd October 2022
Acceptance of Presentation Videos Deadline: Deadline: 17th October 2022
Resilient Urban Communities Conference and Seminars: 5th to 8th December 2022

PhD / ECR Seminar Co-ordinators:

Prof. Ismail Ateya, Strathmore University (SU), Nairobi

Prof. Bhekinkosi Moyo, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg

Prof. Dr. Annette Zimmer, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (WWU), Münster

PhD / ECR Seminar Partners:

Dr. Nicole Baron, Bauhaus Universität Weimar

Prof. Dr. Nicola Göler von Ravensburg, Frankfurt University of Applied Science (UAS)

Dr. Alex Bignotti, University of Pretoria

Dr. Ali Awni, The American University in Cairo (AUC)

East Africa Philanthropy Network (EAPN), Kenya

International Society for Third Sector Research (ISTR)

Contacts:

For enquiries related to submissions, email ruc-conference@strathmore.edu

For conference and seminar updates visit www.strathmore.edu/research-at-strathmore/resilient-urban-communities/

Kisima Giving and Youth in Philanthropy Dialogue

Written by info on May 31, 2022. Posted in News.

In South Africa, June is celebrated as Youth Month which is a period of remembering past struggles and reflecting on youth development going forward. In commemoration of the youth, the next instalment of the Kisima Quarterly Dialogue will be hosted under the theme: “Growing Youth Involvement in Philanthropy for a Transformed Society”. We invite you to register to join us as we engage at this commemorative dialogue.

Event details

Date: Wednesday, 29 June 2022

Time: 14h00 South Africa time

Venue: In-person at Wits Club, Johannesburg and online via Zoom

The Centre of African Philanthropy and Social Investment hosted the first Kisima Quarterly Dialogue on the 28^th of April, 2022 with a keynote address by Chancellor of Wits University, Dr Judy Dlamini. The aim of these Dialogues is to demonstrate the numerous ways of giving in different parts of the continent and look at the different expressions of philanthropic forms, types, and practices across Africa.

The Role of Philanthropy in Food Security in Africa

Written by info on May 25, 2022. Posted in News.

Society Talks is a public dialogue series hosted by the Southern Africa Trust, bringing together stakeholders within the development, business and civil society communities to inform, engage and share experiences with the broader society.

On November 4 2020 instalment was hosted by CAPSI Director Prof. Bhekinknosi Moyo. The discussion was centred around using philanthropy as an enabling sector, as well as understanding the recommended key policy interventions required for SADC to address the imminent changes. The panellists for this discussion were Evans Okinyi of the East Africa Philanthropy Network (EAPN), Mosun Layode of African Philanthropy Forum (APF), Caesar Ngule of Kenya Community Development Foundation (KCDF), Gima H. Forje of the TY Danjuma Foundation.

Evans Okonyi spoke of the work of EAPN, how they focus on the development and management of knowledge, building alliances and the enabling environment for successful philanthropy in East Africa. They are committed to providing a platform where members and the philanthropy sector can meet, share, plan, and network – something that proved very useful during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Working closely with the members, EAPN has been trying to convert those conversations into meaningful partnerships, connecting government with philanthropists to address issues of food security. Also looking at alternative ways of financing the gaps that exist in food security, blending finance from private sector with that of government and philanthropy.

Mosun Layode began by recapping the previous ten months, specifically how the African continent has not experienced the drastic health impact from pandemic, as predicted by the rest of the world. Unfortunately, the economic repercussions have exposed the fragility of the health and social safety systems. Still relying heavily on imports to supply staples like rice, Africa is unlikely to be able to feed more than 25% of its population by 2025. One of the key points that came out of APF’s recent conference, is that in absolute terms, food production has increased, but the impact is not really felt across the continent. Looking at the impact of climate change on food security, Mosun spoke of a need to get relevant institutions involved, bringing philanthropy in as well. Creating awareness on these issues is a way that philanthropists could make a difference, particularly garnering support for the smallholder farmers.

Another interesting outtake from the conference was the need to promote agricultural practices in Africa, beyond food production – looking at technology, tools, and training to harness the arable land and produce enough food to feed the world, giving African an economic advantage. Attracting young, unemployed people to opportunities in agriculture is a necessary action, aiding the issues of unemployment.

Looking at food security as it pertains to malnutrition, Mosun highlighted the need to focus on children, getting them the support they need for the first 1 000 days of life. She also emphasised how important it is to prepare for the next global epidemic or eventuality, so as not to be caught off guard again.

Caesar Ngule looked back at how the immediate response to food security in Kenya during the pandemic involved the handout of food parcels – was this a sustainable solution? KCDF put a lot of effort into support of smallholder and subsistence farmers, as well as addressing policy bottlenecks, like land rights.

Gima H Forje outlined the TY Danjuma Foundation’s initial response to the pandemic, which echoed Caesar’s – handing out of food parcels, while the longer-term view was supplying them with the tools and knowledge to become sustainable themselves. He also mentioned the waste of food during the lockdown, due to restrictions in movement – food that could have fed many people. He spoke of the many ways to support the smallholder farmers, as well as the school feeding programme.

Mosun spoke of infrastructure, and how the relationship between governments and philanthropy varies from country to country. For philanthropy to work in Africa, organisations, governments, and initiatives must work together to get a result. Using an example within APF, she spoke of how they showcased various organisations in Africa working within the field of food security, at their conference. They shortlisted them, voted and came up with one organisation, FarmGro Africa (from Kenya), who now is the beneficiary of all of APF’s registration fees. An unexpected outcome has been continued calls and interests from big corporations and organisations wanting to get involved in Food Security; to be connected to organisations through a trusted middleman, like APF.

Evans listed three critical points to converting philanthropic donations into long term strategies:

More support is needed for small scale food producers, in these areas: famine, food, knowledge and financial services – connecting these with the market so as to take advantage of opportunities arising from the value chain.
Working more holistically, no longer in silos.
Improve collection, storage, analyses of quality and accessible agricultural data.

Moving from response to preparedness, there should be a focus on education and health. Philanthropists could help to digitise schools, improve infrastructure in healthcare, especially in attracting and keeping qualified people.

The key takeaways from the discussion were:

To get action on climate change in Africa, it has to be relevant, so bringing food security, a more immediate problem, to the fore and emphasising its relationship with climate change, is the way to connect it.
The data collected during the pandemic, specifically of who received what, from where, is a trend that needs to be leveraged – more data on philanthropy is needed in Africa.
There is great opportunity in philanthropy for the development of technology, moving towards the goal of 60% of Africans being connected on a mobile network, by 2025.
There is a lot of opportunity for food security advocacy outside of philanthropy – community support and grassroots mechanisms can be leveraged to lobby and manage agricultural programmes.

“Philanthropy is the glue that binds our societies together and it expresses itself in different forms.”

This article was published on the Southern Africa rust website.

PhD Writing and Methodology Workshop

Written by info on May 19, 2022. Posted in Events, News.

The Centre on African Philanthropy and Social Investment will host a PhD Methodology and Writing Workshop which will take place from Monday, 29 August – Friday, 02 September 2022 in Mpumalanga, South Africa.

This workshop is open to PhD students registered at any African university who are looking for coaching to support their academic research and writing development. Students will have the opportunity to be coached by academics from Wits Business School, which is one of the leading business schools in Africa.

By attending this workshop, students will gain the following knowledge and value:

Improving academic writing skills
Planning and developing a chapter
Developing research questions and conceptual frameworks
Writing the problem statement
Conducting the literature review
Developing the research methodology – quantitative and qualitative
Individual coaching on own research study
Ethical considerations and preparing for ethical clearance
Writing for academic journals
Project management

How to apply

You are required to submit the following documents:

A motivation letter indicating how this workshop will be beneficial to you
Proof of registration from your University
Letter of support from your supervisor
Your current research proposal or draft thesis

All application documents must be submitted by email to Mmabatho Leeuw no later than 08 July 2022 at 14h00 South Africa time.

Successful applicants should prepare to be on location for the full duration of the workshop.

Limited scholarships are available to cover expenses. Successful candidates will need to apply for funding from the organisers.

Logistical details

Workshop Dates: Monday, 29 August – Friday, 02 September 2022
Venue: Wits Rural Facility, Acornhoek, Mpumalanga
What is covered: Transport from Wits Business School, all meals, accommodation and uncapped Wi-Fi
What is not covered: Transport to Wits Business School from your location

Should you have an enquiry about the workshop, please email Mmabatho Leeuw and Thandi Makhubele.

Terms & conditions

You will need to arrange your own transport to the Wits Business School in Johannesburg to access transportation that will take you to the Wits Rural Facility in Mpumalanga.
Registered PhD students in the following disciplines will be considered: Humanities (history, languages, literature, and philosophy), Social Sciences (Anthropology, education, geography, law, political science, psychology, sociology, development and international relations), and Business (Accounting, economics, finance, management, and marketing).
Philanthropic Studies including social investment
A hybrid approach where those based outside South Africa can join online will be considered.

Kisima Quarterly Dialogue Reflection

Written by info on May 11, 2022. Posted in News.

It has been a year of successful sourcing and publishing stories of giving and change from across African. The Kisima African Giving Platform continues diligently towards its mandate of documenting authentic stories and creating a space philanthropy conversation.

Kisima means ‘a well’ in Kiswahili, a perfect explanation of what the platform aims to achieve, that being a well inspiring. The initiative aims to highlight stories that focus on African’s making a difference in their communities across the continent and through various means of capturing the information.

On the 28th of April 2022, the Kisima Platform hosted its first instalment of its Kisima Quarterly Dialogues. The convening was held under the theme “Impactful Giving, the Do’s and Don’ts”. The dialogue was a hybrid convening that provided a platform for stakeholders and interested parties in the philanthropy space to interact.

Facilitated by portfolio lead Mapaseka Mokwele, this instalment of the Dialogues saw the launch of the Kisima Giving mobile app as well as provided a platform to change makers to share their stories in greater depth. Headlining the Dialogue as a keynote speaker was Chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand and philanthropist, Dr Judy Dlamini. The speakers also included the Director of CAPSI, Dr Bhekinkosi Moyo, Programme Director at TrustAfrica and Kisima Partner and Sponsor, Briggs Bomba and CAPSI Programme Manager, Thandi Makhubele

The Dialogue showcased some of the stories that have been featured on the Kisima website. These were Imbokodo Launch Pad led by Jazzman Simelane (also the winners of the Aspire Higher Competition), Kitso Lesedi Development Community led by Maki Tselapedi and Courageous Kids Foundation led by Courageous Musasa. The leaders of these organisations told the stories of what their organisations were about, but more importantly, the ‘why’ behind it all. After all, Kisima is a growing repository of African stories.

There were a few highlights of the day that were presented by Bhekinkosi Moyo, the first being the launch of the Story Nominations page on the platform. This is a function that allows anyone in the continent to select a cause, person, or organisation of their choice that they feel needs to be funded by Kisima African Giving Platform.

The Kisima African Giving Platform aims to make giving easier. Another key takeaway is how the platform has created various channels for one to Donate, including the new and innovative blockchain transfer options. The Platform also offers language translations from English to 13 widely spoken languages in the continent to make it accessible. Kisima truly is the well that keeps giving.

Advisory Board Member, Mohamadou Sy

Written by info on May 1, 2022. Posted in Newsletter May 2022.

Philanthropy, in its simplest form, is the act of using one’s resources for the benefit of others. And while we may now have a more expanded definition of the term which is more institutional in implementation, it is humbling to encounter a reminder of the simple definition through the stories of others.

Mohamadou Sy is an author, contributor to the 2014 publication titled “Giving to Help, Helping to Give” and the Founder of Institut Supérieur de Développement Local (ISDL), which is a private education institution based in Senegal that provides higher education programmes in the fields of community development, project management and environmental development to students in French West Africa. Since 2005, ISDL has been building the knowledge and skills of community workers and young people who seek to carve a career path alternative to commerce-related fields.

The seeds for ISDL were sown many years before its inception, in rural North Senegal where Mohamadou grew up in a small but nurturing community. Having a real life understanding of the needs of his community and how education can greatly improve the lives of young people who come from there, he set out towards his ambition of becoming a teacher and returning to the community that influenced his way of life, by building a learning institution that would benefit them. This entrepreneurial ambition became a reality, and like many such ventures, was met with challenges related to growth and sustainability, that have been overcome through the years. Today, ISDL is a respected voice that has increased the appeal of non-commercial studies such as Community Development and Environmental Management among prospective learners.

There are similarities between the stories of ISDL and the Centre on African Philanthropy and Social Investment (CAPSI). When considering CAPSI’s vision and mission, Mohamadou is excited to be part of a pan African institution that brings students, researchers and lecturers together beyond the limitations of language and location. He says, “Being part of the advisory board is a great opportunity for me to make a difference in how CAPSI grows to be truly and inclusively African by reaching Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone regions.”

In looking to the future, Mohamadou uses the massive strides that CAPSI has made since its inception, as hope for what is possible. “I see CAPSI becoming a leading African platform that facilitates research and dialogue on issues related to resource mobilisation, social development and philanthropy all in a manner which is inclusive of language and location”, he says. In closing, Mohamadou reflects by remarking, “As the saying goes, Rome was not built in one day, and so we must build CAPSI step by step. I’m grateful to everyone who has walked the journey with CAPSI to date for what they are doing as pioneers. I think that in paving the way for the new generations of scholars, we can continue to write our own history and story about philanthropy.”

Interview with Advisory Board Member, Bongiwe Mlangeni

Written by info on May 1, 2022. Posted in Newsletter May 2022.

Transitioning through your career to align with personal values holds very true for Advisory Board member, Bongiwe Mlangeni, who started her career as a journalist covering socio-economic and women’s rights issues. Her journey has seen her play a proactive role in promoting philanthropy in support of human rights and social justice projects across southern Africa. Bongiwe is the current Vice President for Global Health Strategies and immediate outgoing CEO of the Social Justice Initiative, of which she was the founding director.

With a primary interest in social justice in Africa, Bongiwe has always held issues of inequality close to her heart, especially those with damaging outcomes on health, economy, and social wellbeing. Using philanthropy, and collaborating with high-net-worth individuals, she has successfully mobilised funding for many social justice advocacy organisations. “My interest in philanthropy, from the beginning, was about how we can get wealthy Africans more involved in supporting social justice work.” She continues, “We also should explore how can we address the issues of inequality and improve wellbeing so that we build a society that is equitable.”

In relation to her position on the Advisory Board, Bongiwe would like to see a focus on getting affluent South Africans more involved in the pursuit of social justice as a mission that they can participate in and support, as well as growing philanthropy in South Africa in a way that benefits social justice issues, rather than focusing on charity. Looking at the achievements of CAPSI so far, Bongiwe is excited to be part of the Centre as it gathers the evidence of philanthropy within the African continent, shaping the thinking around it. She says, “There is still a lot more to be done in terms of documenting the story of giving, and the story of giving as a form of solidarity and transformation.”

Creating a body of knowledge of African philanthropy will challenge old ways of thinking as society continues to build itself. As a lecturer on CAPSI’s programme, Bongiwe proactively adds her voice to this work and has been an influence on students who have attended her courses. One of the notable nuggets that she regularly challenges students with is the notion that philanthropy is exclusively for the wealthy. She says, “There is more to philanthropy than status and being a billionaire – there are many ways in which it is expressed.” Students are challenged to consider their understanding of philanthropy and also to reflect on how this has manifested itself in their lives. This reflection of the personal association with philanthropy supports part of the work of CAPSI – which is to enable and take ownership of documenting the process of philanthropy and the experiences around it.

Speaking of the journey of CAPSI so far, Bongiwe is proud to be part of the dynamic intellectual space that has created and grown the field of understanding philanthropy within the African context. Looking to the future, she can see that the organisation will produce academics who can provide new knowledge and approaches to philanthropy.

The three fundamentals of CAPSI; namely, to be a dynamic space for engagement, a platform for idea sharing, and a space for influence, are paving the way for a high production of intellectual information from across the continent. People from all fields – students, practitioners, business people, academics, decision- and policymakers – are able to engage, though there is still a need for influencers in the organisation. Her greatest fear for the organisation is unusable or inaccessible research – mothballed information that stays in the dark – it is all about the sharing and engagement.