Jan to March 2025
Welcome to the first issue of SIVIOKonect in 2025. In this issue, we put a spotlight on the activities that we carried out since the beginning of the year until March 2025. It has been a roller coaster ride so far, with too many unforeseen disruptions to our work. We have recorded several small wins across all our centres of work.
As per our usual custom, we started the year with a Big Bet on the issue that will help move the needle in Africa. In the big bet, we noted how Africa’s democracy was tested in 2024 during the holding of 19 elections across the continent. This year, our bet is on the imperative for improved accountability of public office holders. We provide an overview of the disconnected initiatives and platforms that focused on demanding accountability from public officials at both national and local levels. Read the Big Bet for 2025.
Shortly after, we released our annual report which marks the 7th year of SIVIO’s existence. In the annual report, we detailed the progress we have made since we adopted a new strategy in 2021 with a defined focus on regionalisation, giving primacy to a Pan-African focus. Catch up with our 2024 progress in the report or watch our 2024 year-in-review highlights.
In February, we developed and deployed the Botswana Citizens Watch which is an extension of the African Citizens Watch platform. The platform tracks the performance of the Government of Botswana (GoBw) in terms of the conversion of electoral promises into policy action. It must be noted that there is a huge expectation on President Duma Gideon Boko and the government that he leads to turn around the fortunes of citizens and the country. Related to the tracking work, we published country briefs from five countries that we are tracking: Botswana, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Access the reports here.
During the same period, we also released the fifth report on Citizen’s Perceptions and Expectations (CPE) from Zimbabwe. The CPE report is based on a nationwide survey which we carry out annually. In the survey, we ask citizen about their levels of satisfaction with the government’s performance. Our colleague Eddah Jowah, author of the report, was invited to join a Twitter Space with CITE to discuss the report and its findings.
Our trailblazing work around aligning individual giving to NGOs continues. We developed and launched our 101 on Fundraising from Individuals on LinkedIn. This series is especially pertinent given the growing requirements for new forms of financing for non-profits, which have been severely affected by the aid cuts from the United States and United Kingdom governments.
The 101 on Fundraising from Individuals series was built upon an essay by Tendai Murisa on African Philanthropy: Kicking Away the Scaffolding, which discusses in detail the risks of donor dependency in Africa among non-profits and makes suggestions on how the continent can move forward with new forms of giving and support. In a continuation of this theme, Tendai recently completed an essay entitled The Future of NGOs to explore sustainable models for the sector.
We have been busy in the sub-region. We organised a meeting of Community Foundations (CFs) in Malawi on March 13, 2025, in partnership with Mudzi Connect. In the meeting, we discussed the transformative potential of CFs in addressing local challenges through community-led solutions. Representatives from 12 CFs shared inspiring stories of their work, emphasising the importance of collaboration, resource sharing, and building networks to strengthen the philanthropy ecosystem. The meeting underscored the need for a dedicated network of CFs to amplify their impact, foster innovation, and ensure sustainable development. We look forward to continuing to work and support these CFs as they look to establish a Malawi Network.
On the 28th of March, we hosted a dialogue (in person and live-streamed on Facebook) to discuss the potential impact of Corporate Social Investment to uplift and support the public health sector in Zimbabwe. During the event, we launched our report investigating the social impact contributions of 19 publicly listed companies in Zimbabwe.
In terms of institutional progress, the SIVIO team had a strategy retreat from the 2nd to the 6th of February 2025. The objective of the retreat was to take time to consider a systems approach to how we work. We noted the challenges of silo-based approaches. By the time the retreat ended, we had arrived at a consensus on the need to understand the systems within the organisation and those that are external. Colleagues are now better positioned to understand the systems that impact positively and negatively on the aspiration to build a more inclusive society. Here are some fun pictures of the team away from the office.
As you may have already observed, the world of funding is going through significant change. We desire to be independent with long-term sustainability. However, we can only do so much by ourselves; our work depends on your support, and we invite you to contribute towards our sustainability. But in case we are not the non-profit of your choice (totally understandable), please feel free to browse here at www.africagiving.org and choose an organisation/cause of your choice. Your generosity will enable us to extend our reach, deepen our impact, and continue building a better Africa together. Thank you for being part of this journey!