New Report Released: The Africa Funding Landscape

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 conducted by AGAG 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.

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.

The survey is one of a series of activities we have embarked on leading up to our 20th Anniversary Conference in May 2020,” said Niamani Mutima, executive director of AGAG. “We wanted to capture a snapshot of trends in the field and gain a better understanding of attitudes and interests among those funding in Africa.”

Download the EXECUTIVE SUMMARY HERE 

Download the FULL REPORT HERE