Dakar, Senegal – On Monday, TrustAfrica celebrated its 10th Anniversary in Almadies Ngor, Dakar, Senegal. The celebrations were attended by leading civil society actors, policy makers and well-wishers.
6 June 2016, marked 10 years since TrustAfrica was launched as an independent organization working to strengthen African initiatives and secure conditions for democracy and equitable development on the continent.
As part of his anniversary remarks, TrustAfrica Executive Director, Dr. Tendai Murisa acknowledged the foresight and contributions of all of those who were part of the journey and assured them that their vision and was still at the core of the organization.
The celebrations fall under the theme “Looking back, Looking ahead: African Philanthropy for Socioeconomic and Political Justice in the 21st Century” and will unfold over the next four months in celebratory events to be held in Senegal, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and Liberia.
The launch of TrustAfrica was a culmination of processes that date back to 1999 when discussions that led to the idea of TrustAfrica, started within Ford Foundation. Most notable in this period was the creation in 2001, of the Special Initiative for Africa (SIA) as a program within Ford Foundation tasked with leading the consultations and processes leading up to the establishment of TrustAfrica as an independent African foundation based on the continent.
“2016 marks ten years of TrustAfrica’s existence. It’s a befitting moment to recall the journey the institution has travelled, reflect on the experience gathered over the years and indeed, look ahead to the future as the organization enters yet another chapter in its existence,” said Murisa.
“As we mark TrustAfrica’s 10-year anniversary we are also unveiling our new strategy, the goal of which is to advance socio-economic and political justice in Africa by tackling a number of priority thematic issues,” said Murisa.
For over a decade now, TrustAfrica has been on the frontlines of philanthropic efforts to address some of Africa’s most daunting governance and development challenges. TrustAfrica has awarded more than 500 grants, worth almost US$24 million.
Promoting African agency remains at the center of TrustAfrica’s approach. As part of the anniversary program of activities, TrustAfrica will hold a service day where staff and friends of TrustAfrica will volunteer to a cause as a way of giving back to the community. The celebrations will also include the sharing of knowledge on best practise harnessed over the past 10 years, and culminate in a conference on African Philanthropy to be held in Addis Ababa, on 29 September 2016.
In the 10 years since 2006, TrustAfrica has convened different African stakeholders in 41 convening’s on issues of democratisation, criminal justice, constitutionalism, agriculture development, higher education, illicit financial flows and philanthropy.
TrustAfrica has also made significant contributions to various debates on African transformation through journal papers, conference presentations and magazine articles, providing civil society and other stakeholders with important platforms for engagement, reflection, learning, networking and exploring opportunities for collaboration.
Over the celebrated period, TrustAfrica produced a number of seminal knowledge products including five books in the areas of African Philanthropy, Agriculture, Governance of the Public Sphere and the Investment climate. Among those titles are Giving to Help and Helping to Give: The Context and Politics of African Philanthropy and more recently Beyond the Crisis: Zimbabwe’s prospects for Transformation.
Chief amongst its accomplishments was the founding of the African Philanthropy Network, towards which TrustAfrica played an instrumental role. It also contributed to processes that supported thinking and adoption of the Africa Mining Vision in 2011, by the African Union, as the blue print for better governance of Africa’s mineral resources for broad-based sustainable growth and social economic development.
In 2015, TrustAfrica hosted alongside others, the only Pan-African summit on Higher Education in Africa. Immediately after the summit the African Union made a resolution to appoint a ten-member committee made up of Heads of States and chaired by the President of Senegal, to explore measures of strengthening Higher Education on the continent.
“We have achieved a lot to get here, and for that I must congratulate the entire TrustAfrica family, past and present. But we cannot afford to become complacent, as it is evident that there is still a long way to go to achieve socioeconomic and political justice on the continent” said Murisa.
