Over the years, philanthropy has made important contributions to the struggle for Africa’s political, economic, and social development. However, it continues to operate within and through residual colonial legacies of power imbalance and structural inequalities, and despite its declared intentions, now poses a challenge to the pursuit of Africa’s liberation agenda.
There is a growing body of evidence of donors funding programmes with little or zero input from the community most impacted by the problem. This form of donor relations often manifests as NGOs in the Global South implementing community development programmes led by organisations in the Global North. The consequence, therefore is a dependency culture on global North aid, invisibilisation of realities of implementing partners, and loss of autonomy in decision-making processes.
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To shift from this current philanthropic practices to one that centres the people and fulfils their growth and liberation priorities, it is necessary to conduct a decolonial feminist audit and weave together dreams of a philanthropic landscape that is truly decolonial and feminist without controlling what those outcomes look like for everyone.
The report, Reclaiming Agency: Dreaming of a Decolonial Feminist Philanthropy in West Africa, explores the philanthropy landscape in West Africa through a decolonial feminist lens and contributes a West African perspective to dominant narratives on decolonising philanthropy. Liberation Alliance Africa’s co-dreamers Omolara Oriye and Oluwatobi Ayodele conducted an initial exploration by taking a broader look at philanthropic power and a deeper look at how donor relationships perpetuate these power imbalances and dynamics. They listened to reflections from feminist activists/organisers in Anglophone and Francophone West Africa and documented individual and collective dreams of decolonial feminist philanthropy.
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