Project by Projects

I begin by stating the obvious: the global development sector is in flux. Donor funding is shifting. Global priorities are being reimagined (sometimes slowly, sometimes dramatically) and nearly everyone agrees: the development landscape we’ve known for the past two decades is unlikely to remain intact. The indications are clear:

• Both the United States and Germany recently announced significant cuts to Official Development Assistance (ODA), with projections suggesting a $31 billion drop from major OECD-DAC countries in 2025 alone¹
• The freeze on USAID funding is already having life-threatening consequences—from interruptions in HIV treatment across Africa to the collapse of child nutrition programs in northeastern Nigeria.
• The UN Development Programme chief has called these reductions a “tipping point”, warning of systemic breakdowns across global aid architecture²

We may not yet know which structures will survive this moment, but for those of us who have been inside these systems and supporting philanthropies, guiding non-profits, navigating funder-implementer dynamics, we see a few patterns emerging. And they point toward a quiet yet powerful opportunity for Africa.

Again, stating the obvious, these shifts mean that gone are the days when funding felt limitless and competition for grants propelled us forward. As donor models are forced to evolve, a surprising possibility is emerging: the re-centering of collaboration between local actors. If we take advantage of these shifts now, there are potentially two pre-existing norms that we could say goodbye to; 

1. Local NGOs on the frontlines often finding their ideas replicated by larger, international players would adopt them to secure bigger budgets.
2. Donor dependency that fueled an unhealthy dynamic where promising pilot-run innovators often lost visibility and influence when others positioned themselves as more “investment-ready”.

For years, global development unintentionally fostered a system where organizations who should have been collaborators were often positioned as competitors.

• Competing for the same grants.
• Shielding program models as intellectual property and 
• Measuring credibility by how much foreign funding one could attract.

The result has been that within our impact systems we found duplication, fragmentation, and sometimes a distortion of the very impact we all sought to create.

The Global Shift Is Opening New Space for Collaboration

But now, global aid models are upending. I read in a landmark letter to the Financial Times, an expert from Village Enterprise said “the decline of “big aid” is not catastrophic³, BUT it is an opportunity for Africa to build truly homegrown systems“, and I agree wholeheartedly! Also, in the health sector we see The Gavi vaccine alliance, which is now facing shrinking budgets in the U.S., U.K., and France, is broadening its donor base. GAVI is actively inviting former beneficiary nations like India and Morocco to join funding conversations⁴. 

As a systems designer I find these (and other shifts happening) to be exciting. This is the opportunity window where alliances can begin to reshape themselves. Not through donor-imposed frameworks, but rather through interconnected, context-rich collaboration. We appear to be getting a glimpse through a window where partnerships (even mergers) between formal and informal organizations may become not just useful, but necessary. Where locally rooted organizations can combine their community knowledge, trust capital, and programmatic strengths to deliver impact at a scale. Impact that truly reflects their context.

This is not just about operational efficiency. It’s about building ecosystems of shared accountability and shared vision, where funding flows more effectively, and where communities are not passive beneficiaries but co-creators.

Accelerating African-Founded Philanthropies

Perhaps most exciting is the possibility that this global realignment could actually accelerate the emergence of African-founded, African-led philanthropies. You know, institutions that are rooted in local context, but with the resources and freedom to fund differently. Think about it, the Philanthropies that:

• Understand nuance beyond spreadsheets.
• Invest not just in formal corporate-like structures, but in trusted local institutions.
• Support program design that is proximate, relational, and adaptive.
• Balance accountability with true trust.
  

These are philanthropies that would not need to be convinced that informal networks and community intermediaries often deliver outcomes that traditional “capacity-building” models struggle to achieve.

Think of philanthropies like those led by Mo Ibrahim and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. They offer powerful models:

• The Mo Ibrahim Foundation combines data-driven governance assessment (the Ibrahim Index), fellowship programs (Ibrahim Leadership Fellowships and Now Generation Network), and continental convenings (Ibrahim Governance Weekend). It speaks to nation building and leadership in Africa from an African vantage point.
• The Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Centre has championed African women’s leadership through mentorship programs like the Amujae Initiative, and supported local market women through the Sirleaf Market Women’s Fund.

These are not global north philanthropies working in Africa. They’re African philanthropies that are leading with systems understanding and values rooted in local experience.

Perhaps it is too early to predict exactly how this global shift will fully unfold. But it is not too early to ask:

• How will African institutions define growth and resilience for themselves?
• What new alliances, structures, or hybrid models might emerge?
• How can we build philanthropic capital that is rooted, flexible, and unapologetically African in its logic?

The risk, as always, is that these shifts happen to us instead of with us. But smart organizations — across Africa and other Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs) long dependent on foreign funding now have a good chance to anticipate, experiment, and lead.

What Would It Take To Build and Protect African Philanthropies?

It is already happening as recent systematic shifts offer a blueprint. However, turning possibility into reality will require strategic action across policy, finance, and governance ecosystems. 

As with many systems, a critical part of this process is to ensure that continent-wide, we are enabling philanthropy through smart policy. By advocating for matched giving schemes, simplified registration, and cross-border giving regulations, philanthropies can unlock new resource pathways and legitimacy, while also retaining local roots. We need to have clear legal frameworks and tax incentives which are proven to be powerful enablers. Currently:

• At least thirteen African countries (like Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa) now offer tax incentives for giving; these encourage local donors and corporations to move beyond compliance to generosity 
• Rwanda began experimenting with structured charity legislation to simplify giving and allow donor recognition without excessive bureaucracy.

To operationalise we might consider creating pooled or basket funds that shield impact. Basket funding could work for philanthropy. They might actually be able to function as shields that de-risk multi-actor programs and boost trust across formal and informal grounds.

• In Nigeria, we are learning how health basket funds⁵ gather contributions from government, donors, and corporate organizations, into a streamlined accountability framework.
• On the philanthropic side, the African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVFA) and the Children Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) are orchestrating a $200 million Catalytic Pooled Fund⁶, explicitly designed to de-risk social investments in health, education, agriculture, and energy, unlocking billions that will go downstream.

We could also work to champion Collaborative Philanthropy as now we see African-led collaboratives emerging as engines of trusted impact. These multi-stakeholder models harness shared oversight, narrative power, and accountability, all shifting away from the donor-dominated silos of the past.

• Over 130 philanthropic collaboratives now exist across the continent, mostly led by Africans for Africa, focused on thematic issues from health to governance 
• In Burkina Faso, South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria, regional efforts are building enabling regimes for charity regulation, bankable giving structures, and cross-border transfers.

Of course, to ensure success we must also ensure that these philanthropies design governance for trust, and not just for compliance. The governance models that reflect local nuance are critical. Adding local and diaspora leadership, annual independent reviews, and adaptive learning processes can allow governance to sustain trust, and community accountability, without requiring invasive data demands which have previously been the norm. 

In my next blog, I will be highlighting some case studies that bring some of these ideas to life and make them more tangible. For now I ask you – To African entrepreneurs, visionary funders, and ecosystem stewards:

• Would you build with formality and informality side-by-side?
• Could you design flexible, context-aware funds that respect local nuance?
• Are you willing to reshape partnerships from competition into partnership constellations?

If these questions light you up, then we’re likely already working on the same problem. I welcome conversations with founders, funders, policymakers, and ecosystem builders who want to explore:

• Designing blended or pooled funds rooted in African realities
• Shaping tax and regulatory policy for enabling philanthropy
• Prototyping governance models that sustain trust and center proximity

African-led philanthropy is not only plausible, but it is necessary. The current global transition may, in fact, be its catalyst. And with structure, solidarity, and design, this new philanthropy can become unstoppable.

Yop Rwang Pam – Staying Curious. Staying Committed.
#SystemsThinking #Equity #Strategy #Leadership #GlobalDevelopment

1. The Budget Cuts Tracker ↩︎
2. UN development chief on the ‘life-threatening consequences’ of foreign aid cuts ↩︎
3. Letter: End for Africa’s ‘big aid’ model could be a positive ↩︎
4. Vaccine group Gavi seeks to broaden donor base as aid budgets shrink ↩︎
5. Basket Funds: A Pooled Arrangement to Finance Primary Healthcare Delivery and Address the Funding Flow in Nigeria ↩︎
6. The African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA) Announces the Catalytic Pooled Fund to Expand Social Financing in Africa ↩︎