Blog
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Africa Giving: Empowering Communities Through Generosity
In the first quarter of the year, Africa Giving launched an ambitious fundraising campaign themed “100 for US$100.” Our goal was to have 100 individuals each donate a minimum of US$100 to raise a total of US$10,000. By the end of the campaign, we successfully raised US$9,100. The campaign began by reaching out to individuals […]
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Corruption, Price Instability And Unemployment- A Collection of Policy Brief Publications From The Policy Advocacy Lab
SIVIO Institute began the Policy Advocacy Labs (PAL) experiment in 2020. This a collective learning process that takes ordinary citizens through several steps to identify an issue or problems and craft potential policy solutions for that problem. We did this to broaden the level of participation of Zimbabweans in the policy-making process. Our desired outcome […]
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South Africa’s Elections Are a Warning Sign for Democracy
Originally posted by Kettering Foundation: https://www.kettering.org/news/south-africas-elections-are-a-warning-sign-for-democracy/ In 1994, the world watched South Africa’s first democratic election, celebrating the victory of Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress (ANC). This year, for the first time in three decades, the ANC lost its majority amid growing frustrations with the party’s ability to deliver on its promises. Tendai Murisa warns […]
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AfricaGiving-More Than Just an App!
Introduction In 2023 we launched what was perhaps one of our biggest initiatives in the African philanthropy landscape; a platform for giving which we called AfricaGiving. Prior to this, we were mostly known for our work on community foundations in Zimbabwe, some studies on high-net-worth giving and our online Ease of Doing Philanthropy Index which […]
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Corruption Amplifies Social Pathology in Zimbabwe: A Call to Action
Since August 2023, we have been experimenting with the idea of advocacy labs. The big idea was to ensure that we broaden ordinary citizens’ participation in advocacy by training them on a how to run an advoccay campaign. The labs are centred around what citizens had seen as the top priority for the Zimbabwe government […]
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Fundraising Lessons: The Africa Giving Journey
Mid-April I was tasked with running the 100 for US$100 Africa Giving fundraising campaign. My responsibilities were to get 100 people to give 100 dollars or more to any non-profit listed on our Africa Giving platform. The goal was to raise US$ 10,000 and end the campaign with a beautiful dinner to celebrate African Philanthropy. A pretty straightforward task right? Let me quickly say, it wasn’t that easy, especially because the fundraising had to begin with me and I had a lot to learn. At the start of the 100 for US$100 campaign all staff members were encouraged to donate…
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Digital inclusion and African startups -has the internet really helped promote access?
In May of 2024, we published a report – An Assessment of Digital and Traditional Financial Inclusion of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Kenya, Malawi and Zambia. This report was developed alongside an index (The SI-FIndex) measuring and comparing the level of access MSMEs have to financial products and services. When considering digital inclusion, this […]
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The First Ever Community Foundations of Zimbabwe Convening: Our pledged support for community philanthropy.
The Big Bet on Engaged Communities At the beginning of this year, we coined our activities around “The Big Bet” where we went back to the drawing board and reactivated our sense of community participation in development and democratic processes. The Big Bet casts the spotlight on communities and what they do for each other […]
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Compliance is still a key factor for determining the financial inclusion of MSMEs.
But when we consider the high rate of informality in Africa, does this mean we should re-think our objectives for financial inclusion, or should we change our focus when it comes to making informal MSMEs compliant? How far have we come with financial inclusion? In the last few years, financial inclusion has become an important […]
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The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Africa’s SMEs: Some Big Gaps with Lot’s of Space for Growth!
MSMEs (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises) in Africa Micro, small, and medium enterprises (also known as MSME’s) are the vast array of startups which characterise our economies. They range from small one-man operations on the roadside or a barber’s chair or the influencer behind a computer, to larger more affluent businesses with numerous employees, robust […]