Young philanthropy practitioners from Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and South Africa have gathered in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, for a Community of Practice (CoP) Grant-making Toolkit Co-Creation Lab aimed at strengthening more inclusive, ethical, and community-led approaches to philanthropy and development funding across Africa.
Hosted at The Valley Trust in the Valley of a Thousand Hills from 19–21 May 2026, the initiative brought together practitioners to collaboratively develop a practical grant-making toolkit grounded in Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) principles and shaped by grassroots realities.
The initiative seeks to respond to long-standing challenges within traditional philanthropy systems, including inaccessible grant processes, rigid compliance requirements, donor dependency, language barriers, and limited community participation in decision-making.
Rather than operating as a traditional conference or workshop, the CoP functioned as a collaborative learning and co-creation space where young African practitioners actively shape new approaches to community philanthropy, participatory grant-making, and locally led development.
The initiative is coordinated by SGS Consulting and supported by a growing regional network of philanthropy practitioners, researchers, community organisations, and institutions committed to shifting power and resources closer to communities.
Reflecting on the significance of the initiative, Managing Director of SGS Consulting Shaun Samuels said “The Community of Practice created a powerful space for the young practitioners to rethink how philanthropy engages African communities. Their perspectives brought fresh energy, lived experience and critical insight into building philanthropy that is Afrocentric, community-rooted and accountable, while opening up intergenerational learning between experience and youth-led innovation”
He further noted that young practitioners are increasingly playing a central role in redesigning philanthropy systems on the continent.
“Young practitioners are not here to observe philanthropy systems, they are actively redesigning them through lived experience, collaboration, and community knowledge.”
Research Consultant Shelly Satuku said the strength of the process lies in the collaborative nature of the co-creation approach.
“The strength of this process is that communities, practitioners, and organisations are learning from one another while co-creating practical solutions grounded in real realities,” she said.
Satuku added that honest participation and trust remain central to meaningful co-creation processes.
“Co-creation requires honesty, participation, and trust. The toolkit is becoming stronger because practitioners are challenging existing systems and bringing community voices into the centre of the process.”
Ruth Canesha Chamangwana, Programmes Manager at Mudzi Connect in Malawi, emphasised that community philanthropy extends beyond financial transactions alone.
“Community philanthropy is not only about moving money, it is about strengthening relationships, accountability, trust, and community ownership,” she said.
She further highlighted the importance of involving communities directly in decision-making processes from the beginning.
“If communities are part of the decision-making process from the beginning, the outcomes become more sustainable and meaningful.”
The Centre on African Philanthropy and Social Investment (CAPSI) at Wits Business School in Johannesburg is also participating in the CoP alongside practitioners and regional partners.
According to Wits University Digital Communications Specialist Ntando Hoza, the initiative represents an important opportunity to strengthen African philanthropy research while contributing to more responsive and community-centered grant-making systems.
“What has stood out throughout the presentations and co-creation process is the need to strengthen ethics, accountability, inclusion, and evidence-based practice within grassroots grant-making systems. Many existing funding models and toolkits have not sufficiently reflected African community realities, lived experiences, or locally grounded research,” said Hoza.
“African philanthropy research is important in helping shape more responsive and contextually relevant frameworks that can influence policy, strengthen community ownership, and improve how philanthropy institutions engage with grassroots organisations across the continent. This toolkit presents an opportunity to bridge research, practice, and community knowledge in a meaningful way.”
Participants spent the three-day process engaging in collaborative design sessions, peer learning activities, role-play exercises, and community immersion visits aimed at testing the accessibility and practicality of the emerging toolkit within real community contexts.
Community visits facilitated by The Valley Trust included engagements with local community-based organisations and grassroots initiatives in the Valley of a Thousand Hills, where participants interacted directly with communities working on local development interventions.
For many practitioners, the field visits reinforced the importance of recognising communities as active agents of development rather than passive beneficiaries.
Daniela Marta Joane from Fundação Micaia based in Mozambique said the experience highlighted the existing strengths already present within communities.
“Communities understand their own needs and already have assets to create local solutions,” she said.
Joane explained that many communities continue responding to challenges using their own knowledge, skills, time, and local resources even without external funding support.
Her reflections aligned closely with broader discussions throughout the CoP around shifting philanthropy systems away from dependency-driven approaches towards locally rooted and community-owned development.
Margaret Maans from South Africa, whose work focuses on community philanthropy, coaching, facilitation, and Asset-Based Community Development, emphasised the importance of recognising communities as experts in their own realities.
“Communities are the experts of their own lives,” she said.
Maans stressed that grant-making systems should focus on long-term empowerment and sustainability.
“Grantmaking should build capacity, not dependency.”
She further highlighted that meaningful inclusion in philanthropy goes beyond representation alone.
“Inclusion is not just presence, it is power.”
From Zambia, David Kapata of the Zambian Governance Foundation reflected on the importance of moving beyond transactional funding relationships.
“Grantmaking should go beyond simply funding projects and instead focus on building genuine, trust-based relationships with communities,” he said.
Kapata noted that the emerging toolkit seeks to strengthen participation, accountability, collaboration, and long-term sustainability within grassroots development processes.
According to Figórcia Furuma from Mozambique, accessibility and simplicity are critical for ensuring meaningful participation in philanthropy systems.
“Simpler and more inclusive processes help organisations and communities to participate better and access support more easily and fairly,” she said.
Furuma further explained that financial support alone is insufficient without collaboration and long-term capacity strengthening.
“Financial support alone is not enough; it is also important to strengthen collaboration and build capacities to ensure long-term impact and continuity of actions.”
From the host institution, Nolwazi Charmaine Xhakaza said the toolkit is already responding to practical barriers experienced by grassroots organisations in KwaZulu-Natal.
“The toolkit responds to practical challenges such as language barriers, accessibility, capacity building, inclusivity, and the need for user-friendly grantmaking processes,” she said.
Xhakaza noted that more than 30 community-based organisations have already participated in ABCD training processes linked to the initiative.
The toolkit development process has now entered its testing and review phase, during which communities, grassroots organisations, researchers, and philanthropy scholars will continue contributing to validating and refining the framework ahead of its anticipated launch in September 2026.
As conversations around decolonising philanthropy and strengthening locally led development continue to grow across Africa, the CoP Grant-making Toolkit Co-Creation Lab is positioning itself as an important contribution towards building philanthropy systems that are Afrocentric, more participatory, accessible, ethical, and grounded in African community realities.
