On December 2nd, 2024, the Harambee~Ubuntu pan african and feminist philanthropies initiative joined forces with partner organizations and hosted one of the first sessions of the 15th AWID International Forum. This is a global gathering of feminist activities, allied movements, scholars, funders and policymakers. It is a space to connect, heal and thrive together – hence the theme “Rising Together.”
Leila Hessini, the initiative’s strategic advisor led the joint conceptualization, organization work for this participatory strategizing session. Partners for the session included AWDF, JASS and the Adɔyɛ program of CAPSI. The organizations were represented by AWDF’s CEO Françoise Moudouthe, Tsitsi Midzi, Director of Partnerships & Philanthropy, Urgent Action Fund-Africa, Shereen Essof, JASS Executive Director, Theo Sowa, former CEO of AWDF, and Thandi Makhubele, CAPSI Centre Programme Manager respectively. Building Alternative Narratives and Practices: Centering Pan-African and Feminist Philanthropies. This global, powerful gathering met at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre (QSNCC) in Bangkok, Thailand. The Forum is also live for participants attending virtually through their regional hubs.
It has been described as a space for radical transformation and collective power. The official welcome for the Forum this morning was titled: Connect in Struggle and Solidarity. AWID lifts up our resistance to all forms of oppression. There are 4,000 participants drawn from all corners of the globe. The Urgent Action Fund – Africa and TrustAfrica jointly represented their organisations with a delegation comprised Ndana Bofu-Tawamba, Tsitsi Midzi, Briggs Bomba and Dorothy Adebanjo.
The session critiqued the existing philanthropic ecosystem, surfaced its limitations while elevating alternative approaches rooted in pan-African realities and feminist principles. Through shared experiences and collaborative dialogue, participants uncovered strategies that amplify women’s roles, redefined and deconstructed philanthropy, and centred indigenous and collective practices for resourcing liberation across the global majority. With over 100 participants arriving, the session room quickly became full – an oversubscribed session demonstrating how current the topic of the state of philanthropy and how concerned over how it moves. The disconnect between what communities’ experience and where funds go was evident. Home grown African and philanthropy across the global south is starkly different from the institutional philanthropy of the Global North – whereas African communities practice every day, community resources are shared, versus funding that is a result of for-profit institutions who create foundations from that profit’s excess; a highly contentious context and are to a large extent highly projectized and short term. Participants then moved into groups for deeper discussions after which groups shared the reflections. In summary, we were tasked and given a call to action: unlearn conditioned behavior, strengthen narratives and principles in which we are grounded, be bold and responsive to actual lived realities that require support to build social movements. The session was powerful, provocative, and engaging. The work being done by the partners and many others in the room clearly demonstrated that initiative will continue to work closely with a variety of partners, allies, funders and activists in the space so that there is collective ownership of the agenda, to transform philanthropy and support the ecosystem.
