Philanthropy 's Support for Youth in Africa: Issues and Considerations

In our Conversations With episode on Supporting Youth Activism Mean Supporting Youth Activists, we talked with activists Prudence Chavula from Malawi and Teboho Mohloai from Lesotho about navigating some of the challenges that confront them in doing their work. Both have taken the lead in advocating for social justice, especially for girls and young women. And we were joined by Jonathan Gunthrop of SRHR Africa Trust who shared how his organization is experimenting with supporting "youth hubs" to overcome the hurdles facing young activists in East and Southern Africa.

Africa's youth population is the youngest with a median age of 20 and the second largest in the world. So regardless of philanthropy's focus in African communities, young people are at its core. But an important question is to what extent they are engaged as architects and managers of the various programs created to serve them? And are they able to access resources to support the initiatives and programs they create to address their needs?

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation prepared a research brief for International Youth Day, Action Needed Now to Support the Continent's Greatest Asset. Among the issues it highlighted are the consequence of not thinking about the skills needed to actively participate in the technology-centered Fourth Industrial Revolution. In our Conversations With episode on the African Youth and the Future of Work, Seth Muli of the Youth Bridge Trust talked about their work in forming partnerships with a range of public and private stakeholders to help them break away from antiquated skills training paradigms.

The African Union's 2019 State of African Youth Report gives a comprehensive picture and assessment of how African countries are addressing the employment, education, health, and rights concerns of young people. In Kenya for example, 18-35 years are 51% of eligible voters. According to a 2021 survey by the Youth Cafe, their major concerns are high prices and taxation, unemployment, and poverty. But an Afrobarometer survey conducted in 18 African countries, found that both young people and their elders agree that governments aren't doing enough to help young people.

In our previous blog on philanthropy and higher education in Africa, we discussed the ways philanthropy is supporting higher education through funding for colleges and universities, higher education infrastructure organizations, and scholarships and fellowships. As part of their civic education, young people are encouraged to be active in their communities which include volunteering and advocating for social justice and equity. However, when the mechanism for their engagements such as social movements or self-organized initiatives falls outside of formal organizational structures, funding organizations are more often than not hesitant to support them.

Youth hub like the ones Jonathan Gunthrop described in Supporting Youth Activism Means Supporting Youth Activists provide some types of support for activists and are helpful for funders who find it difficult to support movements and different types of organizing spaces. In her paper "Institutional Philanthropy and Popular Organizing in Africa: Some initial reflections from social movement Activists " Halima Mohammed discusses the different approaches to movement building that seldom align with the organizational structures that funders are more comfortable supporting. And although there are signs that philanthropy realizes its limitations, the considerations go beyond questions of form and function.

As both Prudence Chavula and Teboho Mohloai highlighted in talking about their community engagement, while they are applauded for their initiatives to address issues of equity, the resources to support their efforts often call for them to organize in ways that don't align with their mission or values. Young people not only lack the resources but often don't see the need for formal organizations or hierarchical structures when they can work together in the digital space in a more collective and less bureaucracy fashion.

In their paper on Youth and Covid 19 Prevention in Africa, Dr. Alcinda Honwana and Nyeleti Honwana gives examples of initiatives developed by young people using their digital space expertise to combat the impact of the pandemic. In discussing their paper, Dr. Honwana noted that for philanthropy organizations supporting young people isn't really a question. "Whether you are intervening in health, whether you are intervening in education, whether you are intervening in social movements, whether intervening on the environment, young people are there."

Young people across Africa are taking the lead and private philanthropy can be an important partner. But to take advantage of this opportunity to leverage resources and increase impact, private philanthropy will have to demonstrate its flexibility and willingness to be responsive to the communities it serves by finding ways to interface with the variety of organizing structures that maximize the impact of what groups are trying to achieve.