Plugging the leaking bucket of illicit financial flows in Africa

While millions of philanthropic dollars pour into Africa annually, billions of dollars in illicit financial flows (IFFs) leak out of the continent, mostly back to the global north. It’s like trying to fill a leaking bucket. What role can philanthropy play in stopping the leak and countering the real threat to development gains posed by IFFs?

Generally defined as ‘money that is illegally earned, transferred or used’, IFFs cost Africa an estimated $60 billion annually, according to figures from the recently released Final Report of the High Level Panel on IFFs from Africa, with another estimate putting the total over the last 30 years as high as $1.4 trillion.