East Africa: Realizing the potential

In spite of its long history, giving in East Africa has made little headway in the last 20 years. In addition to problems similar to those cited by contributors from other regions to this feature – lack of a favourable state framework, an often rudimentary infrastructure and the absence of reliable data on giving patterns – corruption has dogged traditional giving and tainted the whole of the non-profit sector. There are signs, however, that things might be moving in the right direction. What are these signs and how much remains to be done?

Looking forward to 2025

Looking forward to 2025, philanthropy in East Africa has been completely transformed. The traditional local giving of money and favours has been integrated into a philanthropic framework which blends the traditional with newer, more institutionalized giving, aided and facilitated by the state. The problems of corruption which bedevilled the old Harambee system and hindered the development of giving generally have been largely overcome with the help of new forms of accountability. The non-profit sector is more widely trusted.

At the root of this is a strong philanthropic infrastructure. From almost nothing, support and network organizations have developed to become the trusted intermediaries between the community, the corporate sector, and the state on the one hand, and the philanthropic sector on the other.

This has had a number of other effects. Government, realizing the value of the non-profit sector in combating poverty, has introduced legislation and a fiscal system which makes giving and volunteering easier. In turn, business is taking advantage of this benign regime to put on a firmer and more formal footing CSR schemes which are more than simply cosmetic and will benefit the community as a whole. Remittances from the diaspora, too, grow in value every year and are increasingly channelled towards CSOs.

Philanthropy in East Africa today

Through social ties and networks, East Africans have, from time immemorial, mobilized funds to address community issues. In Kenya, the 1960s brought the Harambee (traditional philanthropy or self-help) movement, which was recognized by the state as a means of mobilizing communities to pool resources for local development. Although public trust in Harambee has to some extent diminished as a result of politicians abusing it to further their own interests, at the grassroots level, where ties and networks largely depend on trust, it has continued to play a major role in mobilizing resources and most community groups thrive on it.

Today, individual East Africans are more likely to give to institutions that are seen as trustworthy, with the chief beneficiaries being religious causes and social services. Voluntary membership organizations, religious institutions and even some companies have raised substantial funds locally for various causes.

In addition, there has been a steady growth of what can be termed structured or formal philanthropy over the past five years. Underlying this growth has been a genuine concern about the sustainability of development. Initiatives such as the Africa Philanthropy Initiative, the East Africa Foundation Learning Group and the Philanthropy Roundtables[1] have promoted debate and research about local resource mobilization.

There has been an increased interest in social justice philanthropy among grantmaking organizations in East Africa. It has been the subject of funders’ forums convened by the East African Grantmakers Association (EAAG) and Allavida. In a recent workshop organized by EAAG, participants visualized the kind of East Africa they want to see and deliberated on ways to work towards realization of that vision.

Corporate philanthropy has brought new actors and resources to the philanthropic scene. The East Africa Breweries, Safaricom and Unilever Foundations have demonstrated an eagerness to participate in EAAG. This gives the umbrella association an opportunity to build bridges between sectors and to assist corporate foundations in moving away from public relations and relief-oriented philanthropy. This trend has yet to gather momentum, however, and corporate philanthropy has yet to achieve its full potential.

Achieving the desired future

The growing poverty and inequality in the region is worrying and raises questions about the role of the sector in addressing power imbalances which trap communities in poverty. The East African philanthropic sector needs to consider how it can contribute to a permanent solution, especially in addressing the glaring gaps in access to basic rights. This could involve reversing disempowering relations between funding organizations and their grantees.

Developing social justice grantmaking
The heightened interest in social justice philanthropy presents both an opportunity and a challenge to umbrella and support organizations. They will need to support coalition-building among constituencies that are interested in addressing social justice issues at different levels. They will have to carry the conversation beyond the non-profit sector to include corporates and the government as well.

Through working collectively, funding organizations can develop frameworks for the evaluation of social justice philanthropy; build the capacity of other funding organizations to engage in it; convene forums that allow communities to take part in the dialogue and transformative process; and galvanize a movement for supporting social justice initiatives. By building relationships with key members of government, the media, research and educational institutions and think-tanks, funding organizations can also collaborate with other actors to ensure that a regulatory framework supportive of social justice is in place.

On an individual level, funding organizations can support the capacity of communities to organize, mobilize resources and effectively participate in local and national governance.

Creating an enabling environment
The lack of incentives is reflected in the existence of a number of proposals for stimulating giving and safeguarding or encouraging the spirit of giving in the region. The Harambee task force in Kenya recommends that laws, regulations and mechanisms to ensure accountability and transparency be put in place. These recommendations should be implemented. EAAG should join forces with the larger non-profit sector and strengthen alliances with other stakeholders in order to advocate more effectively for tax incentives for giving in all three East African countries. The East Africa Community presents the sector with an opportunity to lobby at a regional level from a regional platform and engage the three governments on matters of common concern.

Once incentives have been secured, it will be crucial to raise the public’s awareness about how they can use them. In Uganda, few non-profits know about or have taken advantage of provisions in the law that grants a tax deduction for gifts to charity.

Improving accountability
Since giving in the region is founded on trust, it has on numerous occasions been affected by corruption, poor governance and lack of accountability (we have already mentioned this in relation to Harambee), leading to limited local support for NGOs and CSOs and heavy reliance on external donor funding. EAAG is eager to establish and promote standards of good practice in terms of accountability and transparency, fundraising and grantmaking. It has also recognized the need to set up a way of certifying members’ adherence to the standards.

But more needs to be done. At an individual level, funding organizations will have to work hard to win the public’s trust as they are largely perceived as NGOs. Many people view NGOs as organizations that lack transparency and accountability and that are formed with the sole intention of tapping donor funds. Some organizations that have been in operation for many years may enjoy a high level of public trust, but in many cases this will need to be secured and maintained.

Local resource mobilization
The sector needs to look for innovative ways to tap into traditional philanthropy and help it become better organized, more sustainable and more effective, without destroying the spirit of giving. While it is true that East Africans are a giving people, a lot of giving tends to take place within extended families and other community networks. Many funding organizations reflect this tradition. Indeed, few have developed the capacity to seek resources beyond their immediate network of givers. The challenge now is to find ways in which local and foreign, informal and formal, traditional and new mechanisms of giving can blend.

Funding organizations will be able to achieve more if they look at a range of non-financial support rather than concentrating solely on traditional grants. They can play the role of convener, organizer, relationship broker, constituency builder, listener, policy promoter and knowledge circulator in supporting various initiatives.

The potential of volunteerism has yet to be fully realized. Funding organizations can support grantees in their task of mobilizing local volunteer resources in furtherance of their agendas.

Working with the corporate sector
Philanthropic actors should continue to engage with the corporate sector. The large endowments that have been set up by corporate foundations demonstrate the huge potential contribution the sector can make, including a variety of non-financial resources potentially available for the support of non-profits. The philanthropic sector needs to deliberate on how they can effectively engage these new actors and direct their giving towards causes that will transform the region.

Corporate volunteerism has only recently emerged and is growing at a tremendous rate. But, as is the case with volunteerism generally, this vehicle for the mobilization of resources has been plagued by the lack of a supportive legal, policy and institutional framework for volunteers, and the value of volunteers remains largely unrecognized. While most organizations do not have policies for effectively managing volunteer resources, externally there is a dearth of information on where and how volunteers can be utilized.

Yet, a recent study showed the great potential that volunteerism has to influence and bring sustainable change for the people of East Africa. It pointed out, for example, that 39 per cent of the 250,000 full-time equivalent civil society organization workers in Kenya are volunteers. Indeed, volunteer input is the main source of support in some sectors: foundations and philanthropic intermediaries (86 per cent), health (55 per cent) and civic and advocacy activity (58 per cent).[2]

Promoting social investment
Recently, a group of stakeholders from the non-profit and for-profit sectors in Kenya established a forum to look into ways of using the capital market to access a larger pool of resources for sustainable development. The Social Investment Forum is considering the viability of social investment bonds for the mobilization of local resources. This forum would do well to utilize the space available in the East Africa Community to lobby for social investment, which presents an opportunity for partnership between government, corporate and non-profit sectors.

Realizing the potential of the diaspora
Every year, the Kenyan diaspora remits over $600 million to Kenya. Recognizing diaspora giving as a major strategic development resource, the Kenyan government has already taken steps to develop an enabling infrastructure comprising information resources, transfer mechanisms and a national fund that will tap into diaspora funds in a structured manner.

Engaging with government
The philanthropic sector has yet to follow suit in taking steps to tap into diaspora philanthropy. None the less, it has already sought partnership with the Kenyan government in pursuit of mutual goals and development agendas such as the Millennium Development Goals and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Programmes, while EAAG has made submissions to the National Social and Economic Council on how tax incentives would help to leverage more funds for the eradication of poverty and stimulate more funding for social development. This could be a starting point for engaging with the government on additional methods of resource mobilization.

Strengthening intermediary organizations
Only a few philanthropic support organizations have emerged over the last five years. They have, however, been instrumental in fostering increased and efficient giving by providing information, capacity-building, advocacy and stimulation of learning through research and workshops. The sector needs to improve its visibility in the region through building a knowledge and information resource base that will highlight its achievements, keep it accountable to stakeholders, and show the role and potential of philanthropy in the transformation of East Africa.

While they have been able to offer the growing sector crucial support, little effort has been made on a collective front. The challenge of providing adequate information for givers in the region requires the support organizations to work together. In addition, more actors are required to meet the pressing need.

E-philanthropy
Finally, comes the question of internet giving. Though this does offer possibilities for promoting philanthropy, at the moment those possibilities are probably fewer than in many other regions because of the limited access to information and communication technologies (ITC) by the majority of the population. Nevertheless, the sector should seriously consider using e-philanthropy to tap into corporate, diaspora and individual philanthropy from the middle class.

Conclusion

For the sector to survive and grow over the next 20 years, it will be crucial to develop new leaders through investing in people and building institutional capacity. It should also create space for and encourage learning. Let the leaders share their experiences with others, especially new actors.

There is potential – potential for corporate giving and volunteering, local resource mobilization, social investment, an increased diaspora contribution towards development. A more enabling environment and a stronger philanthropic infrastructure will undoubtedly be needed if this potential is to be realized, but perhaps the key to survival and development of the sector is trust. Only if philanthropic organizations and NGOs can demonstrate that they are trustworthy and accountable will they be able to generate the resources that are needed to tackle the region’s poverty and deprivation.

1 The Africa Philanthropy Initiative (API) was a program by the Ford Foundation East Africa Region office to explore a wider strategy to support local philanthropy in Africa. One outcome of API was the East Africa Foundation Learning Group (EAFLG), launched in 2001, which brought together nine trusts and foundations working in East Africa. A number of Philanthropy Roundtables have been convened in Kenya.

2 The Johns Hopkins International Comparative Non-Profit Sector Study, Kenyan Component, 2000.

Elkanah Odembo is Executive Director of Ufadhili – the Centre for Philanthropy and Social Responsibility. He can be contacted at thecentre@bidii.com
Faith Kisinga is a Programme Officer at Ufadhili. She can be contacted at faithkisinga@justice.com