The Women Reshaping African Narratives on Philanthropy

A quiet but profound shift is underway in African philanthropy. For decades, the dominant narrative cast Africa as a recipient — a place where aid arrived from the outside and flowed downward. That story is changing, and African women are leading the change.

The infrastructure they have built speaks for itself. The African Women's Development Fund (AWDF) has channelled over $26 million in grants to more than 1,200 women's organisations across 42 African countries — a pan-African grantmaking network created by women, for women. CAPSI's Women in African Philanthropy Initiative goes further, giving African women a platform to define and direct their giving on their own terms, across the full spectrum of class, language, race, religion, and nationality.

Across the continent, a growing cohort of African women are doing more than giving. They are building institutions, shaping policy, and designing the communities they want to see.

This piece spotlights the women who are most visibly driving that shift — and rewriting the public conversation on Africa's development.

1. Moky Makura — Nigeria

Moky Makura has served as the Executive Director of Africa No Filter since 2020. Earlier in her career, she led Africa-wide communications for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Tony Elumelu Foundation. Makura has been a TV presenter, producer, author, publisher, and a successful entrepreneur with decades of experience amplifying African’s untold stories.

Africa No Filter currently supports more than 500 storytellers along with a variety of media, arts, cultural, and advocacy groups throughout Africa and the diaspora. They provide a variety of grants, ranging from small funds for emerging artists under 35 to large operational grants of up to $100,000 for media organisations.

Her role in shaping the discourse

Narrative is viewed by Makura as infrastructure rather than communication. She contends that negative narratives impact investment flows, how funders interact with Africans, and ultimately how Africans view themselves. She has transformed narrative change from an abstract concept into a grantmaking discipline with accountability and supporting data, creating a field rather than merely a program.

2. Dr Stigmata Tenga — Tanzania

Dr Stigmata Tenga is the President of Tanzania's Foundation for Civil Society and Executive Director of the Africa Philanthropy Network (APN). She is a skilled anthropologist with over twenty years of experience as a consultant in process facilitation and institutional development. Her work encompasses civil society, community organisations, and national and local governments throughout the continent, strengthening the bonds that unite African giving together.

Dr Tenga has transformed APN from a network of grantmakers into a continent-wide platform that includes individual, corporate, and diaspora philanthropists. She believes that the best way to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to utilise private resources for social good.

Her role in shaping the discourse

APN's own Sizing the Field research revealed that there is a lot of informal giving taking place across the continent that official data always misses, a gap that Tenga focuses on covering. She does not subscribe to the idea that African philanthropy only matters if it goes through official paperwork and big organisations. Instead, she stands out for insisting that community-driven and informal giving are just as real and important when it comes to building better futures.

3. Mosun Layode — Nigeria

Mosun Layode is a development expert with twenty years of experience in nonprofit leadership and international development. She is the Executive Director of the African Philanthropy Forum (APF), a community of partners whose strategic giving, investment, and influence foster shared growth in the African continent.

Before this, she served as the Executive Director of WIMBIZ and LEAP Africa, leading nonprofits in Nigeria. Layode currently works extensively throughout Africa with both established and emerging philanthropists dedicated to the inclusive and sustainable development of the continent.

Layode played a key role in establishing APF in Africa, expanding its membership base, brand, and influence in the philanthropic community. Under her leadership, APF produced the African Philanthropists’ Toolkit and the Why Give Series to document and promote local strategic giving.

Her role in shaping the discourse

For Layode, progress is more than just a topic of discussion; it entails funding audacious concepts, acting swiftly, and guaranteeing that more women are represented at the philanthropic decision-making table. She is especially dedicated to bridging the gap between large donors and the regional groups carrying out the actual work on the ground. Ultimately, her goal is to see African-led voices guiding how philanthropic funding flows—not just deciding who receives it.

4. Françoise Moudouthe — Cameroon

Françoise Moudouthe is a Cameroonian-born pan-African feminist who is passionate about promoting women's rights and sisterhood within African feminist movements. In November 2020, she was appointed CEO of the African Women's Development Fund (AWDF), a pan-African grant-making organisation that supports and nurtures African women’s rights organisations.

Before AWDF, Moudouthe established Eyala, a bilingual platform that amplifies the voices of African feminists. She is also a key figure in the development of Girls Not Brides, a global initiative to end child marriage across Africa. She is known for her work on gender equality and women's rights, leveraging her strategic advocacy skills to promote gender and social justice in Africa and worldwide. Under her direction, AWDF has expanded its work at the nexus of grantmaking and the development of feminist movements, distributing over $26 million in grants to over 1,200 women's organisations in 42 countries.

Her role in shaping the discourse

Moudouthe directly challenged the philanthropic sector at the Philea Forum 2025, drawing a comparison between the panic she saw in institutional philanthropy and the tenacity of African feminist movements that have persevered through cycles of loss. Moudouthe advised that philanthropy should learn from movements rather than control them. She advocates for ongoing, flexible funding that supports African women's organisations, not just their initiatives.

5. Memory Kachambwa — Kenya

Memory Zonde-Kachambwa is the Executive Director of FEMNET—the African Women's Development and Communication Network, and a prominent advocate for women's rights with over 20 years of experience at national, regional, and global levels. She is helping lead the Generation Equality Forum Action Coalition on Economic Justice and Rights, chairs the SheDecides Guiding Group, and co-chairs NGO-CSW Africa.

She works to amplify women’s voices, influence policy, and strengthen partnerships that promote social justice and inclusive development on the continent. With her at the helm, FEMNET has grown into an effective pan-African feminist force, tackling issues like climate justice, economic justice, and sexual and reproductive rights. Today, they have more than 800 members in 49 African countries.

Her role in shaping the discourse

Kachambwa refuses to split philanthropy from politics. For her, supporting women's rights without also challenging the systems that undermine those rights. FEMNET regularly presents hard data to the table—whether it’s at Ministers of Women’s Affairs meetings, African Union GIMAC sessions, or even during global climate talks at COP28. This isn’t just about giving; it’s about ensuring that action has real impact where it matters most.

6. Tsitsi Masiyiwa — Zimbabwe

Tsitsi Masiyiwa is a co-founder of the Higherlife Foundation, an initiative committed to designing and implementing programs that contribute to improved outcomes across education, health, sustainable livelihoods, and crisis preparedness in Africa. She is a philanthropist, social entrepreneur, and one of the most recognisable African women in philanthropy today. During the COVID-19 era, she co-chaired the African Union's African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT), which helped the continent receive over 400 million vaccine doses.

She has been working for over two decades to translate individual and high-net-worth philanthropy into lasting institutional infrastructure. With over 30 years of experience, the Foundation has supported more than 400,000 learners from early childhood to doctoral levels and currently sponsors the school fees of 20,000 learners annually in Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and Burundi.

Her role in shaping the discourse

Tsitsi Masiyiwa is devoted to empowering young people in Africa with education opportunities and access to technology. Masiyiwa is creating governance structures, accountability mechanisms, and funding pipelines. In 2022, she launched the Africa Gender Initiative to mobilize $50 million towards a $1 billion gender fund, demonstrating her commitment to reducing Africa's gender gap.

7. Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli — Nigeria

Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli is an expert in food ecosystems, a social entrepreneur, author, innovator, and one of the most prominent names on any list of African women in philanthropy. She is the founder of LEAP Africa, a youth-focused leadership development organisation committed to raising leaders who will transform Africa.

Since 2024, she has served as President and CEO of the ONE Campaign and co-founded Sahel Consulting and AACE Foods. Nwuneli has over 25 years of international development experience, and her work centres on fostering impactful solutions in the global social innovation landscape, with a focus on Africa.

LEAP Africa has delivered leadership programmes to over 50,000 youth and entrepreneurs across 26 Nigerian cities and in Ghana, and published 10 books on governance, ethics, and leadership. Through Sahel Consulting and AACE Foods, she applies market-based thinking to food security and nutrition challenges across West Africa.

Her role in shaping the discourse

Nwuneli is a vocal advocate for African data and research, driving African solutions. She challenges the sector to think beyond grant funding and to create sustainable social enterprises. She has deeply impacted African philanthropy by fostering leadership, agricultural transformation, and sustainable development through LEAP Africa and other initiatives in which she has been a key player.

Conclusion

As we conclude International Women's Month, we must pause to reflect and acknowledge the works of women who are reshaping African narratives on philanthropy and development. And when you look at the work African women are doing in philanthropy, some things stand out immediately. They don’t just patch up problems; they address the root causes. They focus on changing the systems that create issues in the first place. They also understand the importance of storytelling for real change, and they make sure to capture every story along the way.