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2020-06-30
MasterCard Foundation, The;
Mastercard Foundation, together with a group of strategic partners, has initiated a research project to look at the role of secondary education in preparing African youth for the future of work, with emphasis on ensuring youth acquire the skills, knowledge, and competencies necessary to succeed in a dynamic and globalized labour market.
Significant challenges remain in access, quality, and relevance of secondary education in Africa. Given the transformative potential of the growing youth population, the shifts in African labour markets, and the evolving technology and its impact on nature of work — fundamental changes in secondary education are needed to equip young people to be successful in work and in life. Only a small fraction of students in Africa complete university level studies, and with secondary school becoming more accessible, it will increasingly become the main bridge to work for most youth.
Rethinking and reforming secondary education, including what young people learn andhow they learn it, is necessary to make education relevant for youth employment orentrepreneurship in a dynamic and globalized labour market.
2020-04-14
West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI);
The phrase 'back to the basics' is a stark reminder of the importance of enhancing capacity. Capacity strengthening is the basic foundational pillar that ensures the viability of an organisation. Interestingly, we often must be reminded of the importance of building our organisation's capacity.
Just like in the business sphere, CSOs are formed with the intention of operating successfully and sustainably. The only difference is that the formation of CSOs is often driven by a social need or a community problem instead of a profit motive. Therefore, capacity development is essential to ensure that CSOs do not only survive but also thrive.
2020-04-13
FSG;
Approximately one-quarter of the global population are women of reproductive age, most of whom menstruate every month.
A core function of a woman's reproductive system, menstruation is a healthy and normal occurrence in the female body. However, it can—and often does—become a challenge when individuals lack access to the resources, infrastructure, and social support they need to appropriately manage it.
This report captures key changes in the menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) space that have happened since the publication of An Opportunity to Address Menstrual Health and Gender Equity in 2016. We pay particular attention to the remaining gaps and highlight opportunities for further action and investment.
2020-03-04
West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI);
Social accountability is an approach towards building accountability that relies on civic engagement in which citizens participate directly or indirectly in demanding accountability from service providers and public officials. It usually combines information on rights and service delivery with collective action for change. It has become a tool for direct engagement with service providers to ensure that citizens get adequate services or adequate explanation when those services are not available. When social accountability mechanisms are weak, the context becomes more challenging for communities or individual citizens to play a powerful role. Also, social accountability is fundamentally and ultimately a question of power as it requires both social and political pressure to ensure that duty bearers are kept on their toes. This piece will therefore explore the tools and approaches that some African social movements used to effectively drive the social accountability agenda. The tools we are exploring here are respectively social media and creative arts, while the approaches will be based on their ways of mobilising and organising. We conclude by making some recommendations for donors, government, citizens and other stakeholders.
2020-01-28
West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI);
The effective implementation of WACSI's interventions is dependent on civil society's contributions and feedback on the Institute's work in promoting an open, safe and prosperous West Africa. WACSI's interventions are guided and inspired by the critical voices from key stakeholders and engagement by different communities and groups across West Africa. At WACSI, we are conscious that civic space affects everything civil society does and everything civil society does affects civic space. A safe, open, free and enabling space for all to form and voice opinions, debate, be heard and peacefully protest, is also an essential prerequisite for achieving the ECOWAS Vision 2020. Civic freedoms including the freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, safe environments and effective participation are therefore essential. This Op-Ed critically assesses the civic space environment in 2019, predictions for 2020 and issues that need more introspection and collective action.
2019-12-10
West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI);
Without a shared vision of justice, a world without injustices is impossible. The noble ideal that we can eliminate injustices is a false hope sold to communities. This is often due to non-transformational approaches used to fight injustices. Job creation is the mechanism for social justice philanthropy to make a difference. As one considers the social determinants perpetuating injustices, the silver lining might be found in creating jobs, transforming communities' engagement with their environment.
2019-12-10
WACSI;
Without a shared vision of justice, a world without injustices is impossible. The noble ideal that we can eliminate injustices is a false hope sold to communities. This is often due to non-transformational approaches used to fight injustices. Job creation is the mechanism for social justice philanthropy to make a difference. As one considers the social determinants perpetuating injustices, the silver lining might be found in creating jobs, transforming communities' engagement with their environment.
2019-11-15
International Funders for Indigenous Peoples;
The use of the term "Indigenous Peoples" has historically been contentious in Africa. Many African States claim that all Africans in Africa are Indigenous. Many also argue that the use of the term "Indigenous Peoples" has negative connotations as it has been used in derogatory ways during European colonialism. Further, there are arguments that the term has also been misused in chauvinistic ways by some post-colonial African governments. However, concerted advocacy by Indigenous rights activists and their international partners has resulted in greater understanding, shifting attitudes and increasing recognition of Indigenous Peoples in the continent.
2019-10-23
Open Society Initiative of West Africa (OSIWA);
Over the last two decades, technology tools available for civil society actors in Africa have tremendously evolved. Journalists and activists relied mostly on print media to call out dictators and authoritarian regimes. To avoid being incarcerated, they hid their identities or never stayed in one location. Today, they use digital technologies to mask their identities and digital footprints, and communicate in real-time with informants and reporters using technologically advanced tools . To keep pace with the world and be effective in the work that they do, such media and civil society actors have had to embrace new and emerging technologies to facilitate their work.
2019-10-18
Africa Granmakers' Affinity Group;
Funders targeting support to benefit communities in Africa represent a diverse set of grantmakers targeting a broad array of priorities, according to a new report from Africa Grantmakers' Affinity Group (AGAG). In fact, more than half of the survey respondents provide support for two or more issue areas, specified populations, and/or countries or regions.
The Africa Funding Landscape: A Profile of Funders Focused on Africa and Perspectives on the Field moves beyond grant dollars to capture the what, how, and why of current funding targeting Africa. The report is based on a survey of private and public funders headquartered in North America, Africa, and other regions.
Among the key findings:
Human rights and economic development are the top focus areas, followed closely by health and education.
Children and youth and women and girls are a focus of well over half of funders
East Africa was the top regional focus, but the top three countries of focus were South Africa, Kenya, and Uganda.
Few funders headquartered outside of Africa report facing significant obstacles in supporting organizations in Africa.
Funders are reasonably optimistic about the interest of other grantmakers in supporting similar priorities, suggesting potential for growth in funding targeting Africa.
Respondents also cited several challenges to achieving the desired impact of funding in their focus area. Chief among them was inadequate funding. Other challenges included their lack of knowledge about the local landscape and opportunities for engagement, as well as differing priorities of funders and their grantees and "closing space" restrictions on civil society and philanthropy.
2019-09-19
CLTS Knowledge Hub;
This issue of Frontiers of CLTS explores current thinking and practice on the topic of tackling slippage of open defecation free (ODF) status. It looks at how slippage is defined and identified, and at different patterns of slippage that are seen after ODF is declared. Although a considerable amount has been written on how to establish strong Community-Led Total sanitation (CLTS) programmes that prevent slippage from happening, this issue looks at how to reverse slippage that has already taken place. Note however, that at a certain level, strategies used to reverse slippage and those used in advance to set a programme up for success to prevent slippage occurring overlap.
From the literature, there is little documented evidence on how slippage can be reversed; evidence and guidance tend to focus on prevention. This review begins to address this gap. Implementers are encouraged to use the proposed patterns of slippage framework and slippage factors section to understand the type and extent of slippage experienced, then use the examples in the section on tackling slippage to identify potential slippage responses.
In addition to a review of current literature, in depth interviews were carried out with key informants at global, regional and country level. Key informants were selected purposively to identify experiences and innovations in tackling slippage from across the sector.
Issue 14, September 2019
2019-09-16
GrantCraft;
This GrantCraft case study, developed for Candid's scholarshipsforchange.org portal, explores Mastercard Foundation's Scholarship program which supports students across Africa. Working with partner organizations, the foundation provides access to secondary education and higher education for young Africans who have demonstrated leadership potential and a commitment to serving their communities.
