African CSOs are on the frontlines of development in Africa, yet their contributions remain largely invisible. EPIC-Africa compiled this report to bring attention to African civil society organizations – what they do, how they do it, and the organizational challenges that prevent them from achieving greater impact. This information is vital for individuals and organizations seeking to meaningfully engage with African CSOs.
About the Report
The report offers a rare snapshot of African CSOs based on a sample of close to 400 CSOs from 46 countries. It provides a more nuanced picture of the CSO landscape: areas of focus, typologies, sources of funding and their strategic ability and adaptability. The report also raises many unanswered questions and pushes us toward further research and analysis. For example, what is the profile of the over 15% of individuals who are donating to African CSOs? How effective are African CSO boards (90% of surveyed organizations said they have a board of directors)?
The report is based on findings from the first edition of the African CSO Excellence Awards which were organized to highlight the importance of organizational capacity to achieve program impact. The awards evaluated performance across eight key elements of organizational capacity: Strategic Ability and Adaptability, Leadership and Governance, Financial Health and Management, Human Resources and Staff Development, Operations, Communications, Partnerships and Alliances and Monitoring and Evaluation.
We hope that you will get a clearer understanding of the African CSO sector from this report and be inspired to delve further into the issues that impact the organizational capacity of African CSOs. Our objective is to give individual donors, researchers, funders and CSOs alike the tools to address some of the main challenges facing African CSOs.
