First launched by EPIC-Africa in 2018, the African CSO Awards return with a renewed focus on Community-led Development (CLD). The Awards bring credible, community-rooted organizations into view, backing their work with evidence so funders, partners, and policymakers can find them, trust them, and invest in them. By celebrating what African civil society already achieves, the Awards strengthen solidarity across the field and make the case for resourcing African leadership on its own terms.

The Awards celebrate the organizations, leaders, and community actions already driving meaningful change across Africa. Their stories of community-led action, impact, and resilience are being shared now, highlighting the work underway across the continent.

The African CSO Awards do not include cash prizes. Their value lies in trusted discovery: winners gain visibility with the funders, partners, and peers who are actively looking for credible African civil society organizations. We document and share each winner’s story across the African CSO Platform and EPIC-Africa’s channels, turning proven impact into evidence that builds trust and makes these organizations more findable and fundable. Winners will be celebrated in person at the African CSO Ideas Festival in Nairobi on Octobre 8, 2026, where recognition becomes a starting point for collective action. 

CLD means that communities set their own priorities, design the solutions, and drive the action themselves, while external partners support rather than control. By community, we mean a group of people bound by shared identity, geography, or purpose, with the collective agency to define, lead, and sustain their own development. CLD emphasizes local leadership, inclusion, and accountability, and is often grounded in African traditions such as Ubuntu and Harambee.

Entries were open to African CSOs: non-profit groups founded, led, and operating in Africa, including NGOs, community-based organizations, and informal groups such as cooperatives, grassroots movements, or civic initiatives with a governance structure recognized by their community.

• Organizations (Doers, Supporters, Enablers) had to be active for at least two years, submit their own entry, and choose one category.
• Individuals (Emerging Leaders under 35, Lifetime Achievers with 25+ years of contribution) had to be nominated by someone else.
• International organizations (even when locally registered), for-profit, and government entities were not eligible.

Entries went through three phases: eligibility screening and shortlisting, detailed submissions with evidence and endorsements from shortlisted entrants, and a final review by a jury of independent African experts.