WITH MOIYATTU BANYA-KEISTER
In November 8-9 2018, I had the opportunity to sit on a panel at the African Philanthropy
Conference, in Port Louis, Mauritius. The conference brought over 200 delegates from across Africa and the diaspora. The theme of the conference was African Philanthropy: Giving and
Power. My panel was to focus on “Shaping Continental Change: How can generations join hands in pursuit of the African Philanthropy vision”. With my work with Women Change Africa my
women social enterprise and my role on the African Women’s Development USA Board and
various youth philanthropy networks, I shared insights on the importance of this intersectionality of female entrepreneurship and philanthropy in the development of the African continent. Below are some takeaways I shared:
Celebrate and document the efforts of philanthropic organizations: The paradigms around what giving looks like in Africa is shifting.
Usually when we think of giving and philanthropy our first thought goes to financial giving.
However we must celebrate these efforts and document these efforts particular as it relates to young entrepreneurs. The giving may not be financial however when valued against financial giving there may not be much of a difference. One of the ways to bridge the intergenerational gap in philanthropy is to create and carve out spaces for such conversations to be had. APN was one of those spaces where both the new energy and older seasonal energy of philanthropic
organizations were able to have dialogue and discuss concrete strategies for the future
generations.
Partnerships are important in bridging the intergenerational gap:Young Africans can and will contribute to the conversations around philanthropy in Africa: From the work that I do with women entrepreneurs, I am well aware that social entrepreneurship and philanthropy are linked. From speaking with some of the women entrepreneurs in my network this was also evident. However for knowledge to be passed on to the next generation of philanthropists, there needs to be intentional partnerships formed within generations and across generations.
Invest in younger philanthropic efforts : There are many young and up-
incoming philanthropic efforts hosted by social entrepreneurs. It is critical that older and more
established organizations find ways to invest in us and in our efforts, which can in the future sustain philanthropic giving towards Africa’s development.
This article was written by Moiyattu Banya and was originally published on linked in via:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-social-entrepreneurship-philanthropy-converge-next-moiyattu-banya/
