The Impact Room Philanthropy Age

Mosun Layode, Bheki Moyo, and Degan Ali discuss development funding and philanthropy in Africa.

Just 14 percent of large gifts by international donors get to local NGOs in Africa, and only 9 percent of large gifts by African funders are channelled to proximate organisations, according to Bridgespan research. The rest of the money goes to governments and international NGOs.
Why this happens – and what it means for on-the-ground organisations, programming, and final impact – is at the heart of this episode of The Impact Room, where we take a deep dive into African development funding and the thorny topic of decolonising aid.
Host Maysa Jalbout  explores the barriers to funding grassroots entities in Africa and why the status quo is so hard to shift – but also hear about some new solutions designed to “shift the power” from donor to implementer and create more equitable partnerships.
Mosun Layode, the executive director of the African Philanthropy Forum (APF), which was formed in 2014 to shift the needle on development funding on the continent, kicks off the episode with a detailed landscape analysis of leading funders and innovative initiatives.  Layode, who is also a board member of Candid and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, calls for greater collaboration among donors to amplify impact and tackle systemic issues. 
Professor Bheki Moyo, chair and director of the Centre on African Philanthropy and Social Investment (CAPSI), at Wits University Business School in Johannesburg, South Africa appeals to philanthropists to do more to fund African civil society working on “abstract” causes, such as human rights and policy issues, rather than just supporting “materialistic” initiatives such as building schools or donating computers.
Maysa's third guest, Degan Ali, is the executive director of Adeso, a development and humanitarian NGO working in the Horn of Africa.  She shares her views on why the current funding system for aid and development isn’t working, the opportunities for philanthropy to seed new approaches, and how donors can operate more equitably.

A long-time activist and leading voice in the aid localization debate, Ali has recently spearheaded the launch of the Pledge for Change, calling on iNGOs to commit more equitable partnerships and authentic storytelling to create a stronger aid ecosystem based on the principles of solidarity, humility, self-determination and equality.
The books, articles, and organisations mentioned in this episode include:
Higherlife FoundationThe Tony Elumelu FoundationAspire Coronation Trust (ACT) FoundationKujaLinkDr. Arikana ChihomboriHoward NicholsThe art of gathering: how we meet and why it matters -  by Priya Parker Shifting sands, shifting power - Social Investor Magazine

The Impact Room is brought to you by Philanthropy Age and Maysa Jalbout. This episode was produced and edited by Louise Redvers. Find us on social media @PhilanthropyAge

Ninety percent of children's brains are developed by the age of five - yet around the world, millions of young people are missing out on adequate nutrition, care, and stimulating play, causing them to fall behind, even more they have started school.
In this episode of The Impact Room, host Maysa Jalbout discusses the global crisis in early years care and asks what philanthropy and governments can - and should be - doing to fix it.

Maysa is joined by Theirworld chair Sarah Brown and preside Justin van Fleet, Hilton Foundation CEO Peter Laugharn, and Sabrina Habib, the founder of nonprofit social enterprise Kidogo. 

Sarah Brown and Justin van Fleet talk about their charity's new global campaign, Act For Early Years, which is calling for more investment into early years and a UN decade for action on early childhood care, education, and development.

Other campaign asks from Theirworld include: investment in a fully-trained, qualified and funded early years workforce; publishing of annual data on government spending on early childhood development; more family-friendly polices such as income support programmes, parental leave and affordable childcare for working parents; and the creation of a more integrated approach to early years interventions across sectors and government.

Act for Early Years is being part-funded by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, whose CEO, Peter Laugharn, outlines to Maysa why the early years matter so much and explains what his foundation is doing in this space.

Also appearing on this episode is Sabrina Habib, the co-founder of Kidogo, a nonprofit social enterprise giving give low-income families in Kenya access to affordable and quality childcare while also giving employment to - and empowering - local women. Explaining how she stumbled into the sector after being shown an informal “baby care” centre in Nairobi, Habib makes a passionate appeal to governments to realign their priorities.


For more about the #ActforEarlyYears campaign follow @theirworld on social media. 


The books mentioned on this episode include:
"Your Story Matters" by Nikesh Shukla"Wavewalker - Breaking Free" by Suzanne Heywood"The Go-Between" by Osman Yousefzada"Active Hope" by Joanna Macy"Loonshots" by Safi Bahcall

The Impact Room is brought to you by Philanthropy Age and Maysa Jalbout. This episode was produced and edited by Louise Redvers. Find us on social media @PhilanthropyAge

Elizabeth Tanya Masiyiwa and Neera Nundy join host Maysa Jalbout in The Impact Room to discuss gender equality and what philanthropy can do to advance its progress.

The Sustainable Development Goals were launched in 2015 to eliminate extreme poverty and support sustainable and resilient development. But eight years and a global pandemic later, many of the SDGs are hanging in the balance, none more so than goal number 5, with its target of gender equality.  On this, progress hasn’t just stalled, it has reversed, and according to the UN, it could take another 300 years to achieve gender equality.

In this episode of The Impact Room, Maysa examines what role philanthropy is - and / or should be - playing to accelerate progress towards SDG5. 

According a  Lilly Family School of Philanthropy study, just 1.9% of US charitable donations go to women and girls, this is despite the emergence of a new movement of so-called gender-lens philanthropy spearheaded by donors such as MacKenzie Scott and Melinda French Gates, through initiatives like Pivotal Ventures and Co-Impact.

What does applying a gender lens mean for philanthropy? How are funders changing how they give and what do organisations need to do differently?

A philanthropist and social entrepreneur, Elizabeth Tanya Masiyiwa is the executive director of her family's Higherlife Foundation, the CEO of Delta Philanthropies in the UK, and the founder of ed-tech startup, Akello.

Seasoned nonprofit leader, Neera Nundy quit her Wall Street job to co-found Dasra, which has grown to become India’s leading philanthropy platform.
They discuss with Maysa why gendered philanthropy matters, explain the importance of funding systems change, and share examples of initiatives and funders who are starting to make a real difference on the ground.  
You can read full text of the remarks by Antonio Guturres' at the 2023 Commission on the Status of Women here and for more of Melinda French Gates's interview with The Economist, click here.
The Impact Room is brought to you by Philanthropy Age and Maysa Jalbout. This episode was produced and edited by Louise Redvers. Find us on social media @PhilanthropyAge

Globally celebrated conservationist Dr Jane Goodall steps into The Impact Room to discuss her long career and explains why, despite being nearly 90, she still spends a large part of her time travelling the world meeting young people.

Speaking to host Maysa Jalbout during a recent visit to the UAE, Dr Goodall reflects on some of the challenges she has faced during her life, why good news matters, and what gives her hope.

Dr Goodall also discusses the UAE's hosting of COP28, gives her views on extreme environmental activism, and shares a message for philanthropists about how they can support conservation efforts.

The Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) works to protect great apes by encouraging better land management through community awareness initiatives, and campaigns against wildlife trafficking. Dr Goodall's Roots & Shoots initiative, is a youth-led action and learning programme operating in schools and communities across more than 60 countries.

Dr Goodall's book recommendation was Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien.


The Impact Room is brought to you by Philanthropy Age and Maysa Jalbout. This episode was produced and edited by Louise Redvers. Find us on social media @PhilanthropyAge

Jacqueline Novogratz, founder and CEO of Acumen, and Myrna Atalla, executive director of Alfanar, the Middle East's first venture philanthropy organisation, join host Maysa Jalbout in The Impact Room to discuss what businesses, philanthropists, and impact investors can do to support social enterprises.
A new generation of entrepreneurs are setting up mission-driven businesses to solve social problems in a sustainable way. These so-called social enterprises come in all shapes and sizes and span a variety of sectors and markets. Some focus on the provision of goods, like handicrafts or food, while others offer services such as online translation, access to off-grid energy or microfinance. But for all the success stories, many social businesses are still struggling to either scale effectively and compete in a for-profit marketplace, or wean themselves off a dependency on grant funding. 
In this episode of The Impact Room, we look at how the social enterprise ecosystem has grown over the past two decades, examine the ingredients for success, and hear how impact investment is changing the game.
Novogratz, whose nonprofit Acumen has pioneered the investment of patient capital into social business, shares her thoughts about how innovative partnerships can help scale and sustain impact-driven start-ups.
The author of New York Times best seller The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap between Rich and Poor, Novogratz, speaks passionately about some of Acumen's investees, talks about her hopes for achieving moonshot goals, such as universal electricity access, and gives advice to philanthropists about how they get involved.
Atalla, meanwhile, explains how philanthropy can support mission-driven businesses and reflects on the emergence of a new generation of entrepreneurs focussed on impact and climate-related issues. She also shares details of Alfanar’s two new initiatives, a US$50m regional impact investment fund, and a $5m pooled fund to provide operating grants and zero interest loans to  organisations driving women's economic empowerment in the MENA region.
Organisations referenced in this episode include:
Future EveFabricAid Easy Solar Promethean Power Systems Uncommon Cacao d.light Kheyti 

The books recommended by our guests were: 
“The Awakened Brain” by Lisa Miller “Home in the world” by Amartya Sen“Poetry unbound: 50 poems to open your world” by Pádraig Ó Tuama Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship by Teresa Chahine


The Impact Room is brought to you by Philanthropy Age and Maysa Jalbout. This episode was produced and edited by Louise Redvers. Find us on social media @PhilanthropyAge

Season three is on its way. Stand by to hear Maysa Jalbout back in conversation with philanthropists, development leaders, industry experts, and frontline organisations from around the world.
Forthcoming episodes will tackle a range of topics including: social entrepreneurship and impact investing; giving with a gender lens; funding for early years education; African philanthropy; and the decolonisation of aid.
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The Impact Room is produced by Philanthropy Age. For more information or to get in touch, find us on social media @PhilanthropyAge.
The Impact Room is brought to you by Philanthropy Age and Maysa Jalbout. This episode was produced and edited by Louise Redvers. Find us on social media @PhilanthropyAge