I recently attended the 6th Africa Philanthropy Conference in Cairo, Egypt. I gave one of the keynote addresses. I was asked to talk about Reframing Narratives on Philanthropy and Resourcing Development in Africa. I am grateful to the Africa Philanthropy Conference for giving me this year’s Africa Philanthropy Lifetime Achievement Award. I am deeply honoured.

It gives me great pleasure to be here at this important convening on African Philanthropic theory and practice. I thank Dr Bheki Moyo, Founder of the Center on African Philanthropy and Social Investment at the University of Witts, South Africa, for his role in making this dream come true -a space that would be authentically owned by African researchers, thinkers and practitioners of Philanthropy.

Many of you know Leymah Gbowee, the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. At a symposium in Accra, to mark the 15th anniversary of the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) in 2015, Leymah spoke about a trip she made to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with a delegation from the Nobel Women’s Initiative in 2014. At the forum in DRC, woman after woman told stories of what they had endured during the conflicts there. Leymah said the narratives of the women would go something like this, ‘When I was attacked and raped by a gang of militia, I wanted to commit suicide. I thought my life had ended. And then the women came. They brought me food, cared for my children and encouraged me’. Or the story would be, ‘They killed my husband, took away my son, and raped me and my two daughters. I lost my mind and did not know where I was. Then the women came and they took care of me, prayed for me and gave me the little they had’. Testimony after testimony went on like this, and they all included, ‘And then, the women came’.

The delegation from the NWI was made up of donors, journalists, researchers and activists, mostly from the US. When it was time to ask questions, they were all about, ‘So, how many times were you raped?’, or ‘Do you still think about the rape?’, ‘Have you healed’? ‘Do you still see your violators around’? Leymah was furious. When it was time for her to sum up the meeting as head of the delegation, she pointed out that they should not miss the true story they had just heard. The story was not about the rape of women in DRC. And then, the women came. It was about the solidarity of women, their unique knowledge and experiences, shared pain, but shared healing, being there and doing what was needed with what they had.

Without Leymah’s intervention, the headline that would have been reported, would have been ‘Women in DRC lament their rape experiences’. The solution to this would have been all-knowing ‘saviours’ rushing in to ‘save’ and help women in the DRC. The real headline, ‘Women in DRC stand in solidarity with their sisters’, is a headline about power, resilience and agency. The response would then be about tapping in to local leadership, knowledge and wisdom.

This year, AWDF will be twenty-five. It is a story about the power, resilience and agency of African women, a story about local leadership and knowledge. It is the story of an institution that decided to make the case that an African Philanthropic entity could survive and thrive.

I was the Executive Director of Akina Mama wa Afrika in London, from 1991-2001. AMwA was a development organisation that supported African women in the UK and Europe, as well as women’s movements in Africa. In 1996, I started raising funding for an African Women’s Leadership Institute, an AMwA program which was to be a regional networking and training forum for young African women – I was still young then! I was very alarmed when I got a letter from a European funding agency (after eighteen months of waiting) declining to fund the leadership institute. What upset me was not the No but why they said No.

According to them, African women’s priorities were food, shelter, livelihoods, etc., and not leadership development. I could not understand how a group of people in Europe, no matter how well meaning they were, could decide what African women needed. I went on to raise significant funding for the leadership institute from other sources and today, the AWLI has trained over 10,000 women leaders across Africa. It is interesting to note that a version of the very project that was deemed unworthy of funding showed up as a project of one of the funding agencies who had received the proposal from us a year earlier! The lesson I learnt from this, after being awakened from my innocence, was that other people had a better idea of how African women’s leadership could be encouraged, anyone other than African women themselves. However, there is nothing we cannot accomplish if we are determined enough.

AMwA was launched in June 2000 and began formal operations in 2001. Since then, AWDF has awarded up to U$120,000,000 in grants to over 2000 women’s organisations in 47 African countries and 5 countries in the Middle East. One of our large bi-lateral funders in Europe wanted to support feminist movements in the Middle East, through a Women’s Fund. There was no Fund with enough capacity to do the work in the region, so they turned to AWDF. Not only was AWDF the first, Africa-wide grant making foundation on the continent, it is now one of the largest and most influential Women’s Funds in the world.

A lot has changed over the past twenty-five years in the field of philanthropy on the continent. We now have vibrant regional networks such as the Africa Philanthropy Network (formerly Africa Grantmakers Network, which brings together African grant making foundations), the Africa Philanthropy Network (a platform for African High Net worth Individuals) and the Africa Philanthropy Conference (a forum for academic research, knowledge building and documentation). This has led to better ownership of African concerns and agendas. There are more human, academic and institutional resources available than we had back then, and we have a new generation of faces and voices. In addition, the availability of digital technology has made learning, information sharing and mobilisation much easier.

With all the successes we have recorded in this field, we still struggle with power dynamics and control in the world of global philanthropy, even when they come couched in persuasive language such as ‘collaborations’, ‘partnerships’, ‘co-creation’. As networks, we are still talking to ourselves a great deal as academics and practitioners. We are still grossly under-resourced, with at least 90% of our budgets from external sources. Also, there are still not enough documented stories of how African Philanthropy is making a difference locally, for example quantifying the vast contributions of middle-class professionals and community leaders.

As resources for social change continue to shrink in the usual spaces, we need to respond by not only looking inwards for our own resources, but also looking at the ways we work together in this field. I would like to leave us with the following thoughts:

• We need more conversations with policy-makers and African high-net worth individuals, so that we can collectively translate our visionary thinking into tangible benefits for our communities.

• We should continue to build resilient philanthropic organisations, invest in successful transitions were applicable, harness knowledge and expertise, and acknowledge the different skills and capacities we all bring to the table. The Social Sector in Africa should be competitive and attractive enough to encourage young people to seek opportunities here. There is also a significant amount of work to be done to ensure we create the infrastructure for local resource mobilisation to guarantee sustainability.

• We need to document our local and national philanthropic trends more intentionally, so that we are better informed and not groping in the dark. Every week, communities in all our countries come together. Alumni associations, professional groups, age-grade associations, individual donors, all support causes such as education, healthcare and community development. There is more money in circulation, given by our own people, than Aid and remittances put together. We should lead this process and not wait as always, for external donors to do it for us.

• Africa’s real stories need to be told. The world usually gets to hear about our poverty, corruption, conflicts and hopelessness. Yet, also have stories of success, talent, audacity and service to communities. We have to invest in story-telling. This is not a luxury or add-on, it is critical. Films, plays, exhibitions, documentaries, art, photography, fashion, music and so on, enable us to reflect on our rich histories and legacies, provide inter-generational learning opportunities as well as economic empowerment. This also strengthens our voice, authenticity and agency.

What has happened recently with the United States Government putting a hold on USAID and others such as the United Kingdom significantly reducing their international Aid budgets (so it can go to their defence budget) should be seen as a blessing in disguise. Now is the time for all of us to rise to the challenge. Our governments, private sector, academics, philanthropists of all capacities and civil society networks need to be able to answer the question, Who is responsible for Africa’s survival? We are.

Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi is a Feminist Activist, Gender Specialist, Leadership Coach, Policy Advocate and Writer. She is the Founder of Abovewhispers.com, an online community for women. She can be reached at BAF@abovewhispers.com