Blog

  • The First Ever Community Foundations of Zimbabwe Convening:  Our pledged support for community philanthropy.

    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…

    “READ MORE”

  • Compliance is still a key factor for determining the financial inclusion of MSMEs.

    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…

    “READ MORE”

  • The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Africa’s SMEs: Some Big Gaps with Lot’s of Space for Growth!

    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…

    “READ MORE”

  • Full blog – The Big Bet: Engaged Communities

    Full blog – The Big Bet: Engaged Communities

    ,

    The discussion on the assets within communities is slowly disappearing from Development discourse, thanks to a preoccupation with state behaviour. Our big bet this year is on engaged citizens working collectively in communities and establishing associations are vital conditions for democracy and inclusive development to thrive.  We will spend time trying to unravel how local associations work…

    “READ MORE”

  • Lessons Learnt: the policy advocacy lab experiment

    Lessons Learnt: the policy advocacy lab experiment


    Leveraging Advocacy Labs to Solve the Public Problem of (UN)-Employment Reflections by Matron Muchena Introduction I am an Associate at SIVIO Institute. My responsibilities include the day-to-day coordination of several activities within the Centre for Civic Engagement. In our centre, we have, since (26 August 2023) been experimenting with the idea of advocacy labs. The…

    “READ MORE”

  • Africa Giving and Shared Responsibility

    Africa Giving and Shared Responsibility


    Last week on Friday, we SIVIO Institute launched our 2023 signature initiative – AfricaGiving. It has been a long and challenging but exciting journey to get here and there is still a long journey ahead. AfricaGiving is many things to different people, on the one hand, it is about our culture, and what defines us as a people. Bheki…

    “READ MORE”

  • Philanthropy and the Law in Southern Africa

    Philanthropy and the Law in Southern Africa

    , ,

    Originally posted on Wings: https://members.wingsweb.org/news/651286 By Tendai Murisa and Shelly Satuku at SIVIO Institute The past decade has seen a nascent philanthropy/giving/solidarity movement in Southern Africa, like many other parts of the continent. There has been an increase in institutionalised forms of giving across the region through foundations led by High-Net-Worth Individuals (HNWI), community-based forms of solidarity…

    “READ MORE”

  • My Reflections on the Policy and Advocacy Lab

    My Reflections on the Policy and Advocacy Lab


    What comes into your mind when you hear the term advocacy? In my case, whenever I explain my work to people, they always ask if I am now a politician. I have come to realise that most people associate advocacy with politics. Then again, everything is political. Prior to joining SIVIO Institute, I envisioned advocacy…

    “READ MORE”

  • SAVE-OUR-SELVES: A Quick Note on Horizontal Philanthropy, Survival and Development

    SAVE-OUR-SELVES: A Quick Note on Horizontal Philanthropy, Survival and Development


    If you have found yourself reading this, I’d like to imagine that you already have a good enough understanding of what philanthropy is. So, I’ll delve into a brief explanation about the ‘horizontal’ part of it all- but of course, not without a little background.Philanthropy was not a new concept to me when I started…

    “READ MORE”

  • The Return of Hyper-inflation and Suggestions for Fixing the Problem

    The Return of Hyper-inflation and Suggestions for Fixing the Problem


    Knock Knock, Who is there? It’s me.. Who are you? C’mon have you already forgotten me. I was here ten years ago…? I wasn’t here ten years ago Oh I see…my name is hyper-inflation I used to hang out with that fella Gono. Hyper-inflation is back albeit in a slightly different from what we saw…

    “READ MORE”