Project Manager: African Philanthropy
After four years with TrustAfrica she is embarking on a new adventure with TrustAfica friends at the Global Fund for Community Foundations. Ese Emerhi, was most recently the project manager for the African Philanthropy program at TrustAfrica. From 2017 to 2020 she served as the project director for the Kiisi Trust Fund, a donor-advised-fund managed by TrustAfrica on behalf of the Kiisi Trust’s Trustees for the benefit of the Ogoni people in Rivers State, Nigeria, where she explored how TrustAfrica could best accompany and support community foundations in setting up.
In her last few months at TrustAfrica, Ese has been contributing to the strategic planning for the TrustAfrica Nigeria/West Africa country office, leading TrustAfrica’s role in the Community Immunity Initiative, as well as strategically thinking through ramping up the African Philanthropy unit at TrustAfrica. Ese recently wrote an article titled, “What’s the Matter with Small Grants”, where she explores her insights around this question: “If small grants are an attempt to addressing the uneven power balances in traditional aid, then its approach must also work to address or at the very least recognize limitations inherent in grantmaking and seek adjustments to improve.” Read her full article here looking at a participatory approach to grantmaking, leveling the field between donor and grantee-partner, and ensuring that community representatives have a say in how the funds would be used. Ese also recently appeared in conversation with African GrantMakers Affinity Group (AGAG) discussing her article and more on 31 March 2021.
