silhouette faces./PHOTO; Courtesy
Across Africa, women have always given. They have mobilised resources through informal savings groups, faith-based networks, family support systems, and community care structures that sustain everyday life.
Yet for a long time, this giving has existed outside formal philanthropic recognition, rarely acknowledged as capital, influence, or leadership within institutional funding spaces.
Women in Africa Philanthropy (WIA) was formed to address that invisibility not by replacing existing systems of giving, but by repositioning African women as visible actors within philanthropy, leadership, and social investment.
WIA describes itself as a pan-African platform dedicated to advancing women’s leadership and economic inclusion through advocacy, training, research, and networks.
Rather than operating as a traditional grantmaking foundation, it positions women themselvesas entrepreneurs, professionals, investors, and philanthropists as the drivers of change.
In doing so, the organisation sits at an intersection that is increasingly relevant to Africa’s development conversation: where philanthropy, social investment, and leadership development overlap.
A platform built around visibility and connection
At its core, WIA functions as a convening and enabling platform.
Its work is less about disbursing funds and more about shaping access to skills, networks, influence, and narratives that have historically excluded African women from formal capital ecosystems.
This approach reflects a clear reading of the problem WIA is responding to.
Despite women making up a significant share of Africa’s entrepreneurial and civic activity, access to capital remains deeply unequal.
Women-led businesses continue to receive a disproportionately small share of venture and philanthropic funding, while men still dominate leadership spaces in finance, policy, and development.
WIA’s response is to focus on exposure, preparation, and positioning, enabling women to navigate and influence these systems rather than remain peripheral to them.
Programmes that prioritise leadership pathways
WIA’s programmes are designed to support women at different stages of leadership and enterprise, with a strong emphasis on mentorship, skills development, and visibility.
Rather than framing participants as beneficiaries, the organisation consistently positions them as leaders and decision-makers in their own right.
This approach is reflected across initiatives such as WIA Young Leaders, which targets emerging women leaders through structured mentorship and global exposure, and WIA54, a pan-African competition that highlights women-led startups from across the continent.
Other programmes focus on sector-specific challenges, including food security and small business development, often delivered through partnerships with international and regional actors.
What unites these initiatives is not a single sector focus, but a shared belief that leadership and access are foundational, that women equipped with the right tools and networks are better positioned to influence markets, institutions, and social outcomes.
What WIA does in practice
While WIA’s work spans multiple countries and sectors, its activities broadly fall into a few interconnected areas:
- Leadership and entrepreneurship programmes that combine training, mentoring, and exposure
- Curated networks that connect women to investors, policymakers, and corporate leaders
- Advocacy and storytelling that elevate women’s roles in economic and philanthropic spaces
- Research and data generation through the WIA Institute to inform policy and practice
These components reinforce one another. Training feeds into networks, networks amplify visibility, and research supports advocacy.
The model is less linear than project-based development interventions and more ecosystem-oriented, reflecting a belief that lasting change comes from shifting how systems recognise and engage women.
Navigating philanthropy without being a funder
One of the defining features of WIA is that it operates within philanthropy without acting as a conventional funder.
This positions the organisation differently from foundations that measure success primarily through grant volumes or project outputs.
Instead, WIA’s influence is relational and long-term, shaped by who participates in its networks and how those participants move through decision-making spaces.
This model has advantages. It allows WIA to work across borders and sectors without the administrative weight of grantmaking, and it enables flexibility in responding to emerging opportunities.
At the same time, it emphasizes indirect outcomes, influence, access, and leadership trajectories, which are harder to quantify but central to the organisation’s mission.
A place within Africa’s evolving philanthropy landscape
WIA’s emergence reflects broader shifts within African philanthropy and social investment.
As questions of local ownership, gender equity, and power become more prominent, there is growing interest in models that move beyond charity toward leadership and systems change.
WIA contributes to this shift by asserting that African women are not only recipients of development efforts but key actors shaping economic and social futures.
Its work also highlights ongoing tensions within the sector.
Access to elite networks can create opportunity, but it can also mirror existing inequalities if not continuously broadened.
Balancing inclusivity with influence remains a challenge not only for WIA but for philanthropy more broadly.
Why WIA matters now
In a moment where development finance is under pressure and philanthropic models are being re-examined, Women in Africa Philanthropy offers a different entry point into social change, one rooted in leadership, connection, and visibility.
Its relevance lies not in how much money it controls, but in how it contributes to reshaping who is seen, heard, and taken seriously within Africa’s philanthropic and investment ecosystems.
For Africa Solutions, WIA represents a growing category of organisations that operate between sectors, between capital and community, and between advocacy and practice.
Understanding how these platforms work and what roles they play is essential to understanding the future of African philanthropy itself.
