High net worth individuals in Nigeria and across the West African region must do more to support civil society, with financial help from international organisations and governments fading away, according to the Ford Foundations’ West Africa director, ChiChi Aniagolu. 

Speaking at Quarterly Dialogue on Philanthropy event in Nigeria event on Friday, October 27, organised by PWC, Aniagolu said setbacks in global funding have led to the very existence of civil society organisations coming under threat.  

The Ford Foundation director added that support for human rights, HIV awareness and local education are all under threat, as a result. 

“The election of conservative governments in the West, amidst their unique national challenges, the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with various humanitarian war conflicts around the world, have drastically reduced donor funding to Nigeria and other West African countries. Yet, the needs for the interventions and services these CSOs (civil society organisations) address continue to rise as many Nigerians depend on them for support in their everyday lives,” she said. 

President of the MacArthur Foundation, John Palfrey, also spoke at the Quarterly Dialogue event, saying that MacArthur was committed to ensuring that their contributions impacted society positively.  

“At the MacArthur Foundation, scale impact doesn’t have to do with the organization going the whole hog all by itself. We leverage partners and collaborations, then create platforms such as ‘Levers of Change’ to build scale and impact. We are committed to delivering impact in a systematic way”, he said. 

The event’s theme focused on creating long term impact through sustainable philanthropy alongside local philanthropists. Future Quarterly Dialogues aim to bring philanthropists and high net worth individuals across Nigeria and West Africa together.  

Shafi Musaddique is a news editor at Alliance magazine.