By James Amoh Junior, GNA
Accra, June 28, GNA – Ms Jenny Hodgson, the Executive Director of the Global Fund for Community Foundations, has urged civil society actors in Ghana to embrace community philanthropy as a foundational pillar of sustainable development.
She stated that the future of civic action must be rooted in local trust and resources rather than dependency on foreign aid.
Speaking virtually during a high-level panel discussion at the 2025 Ghana Civil Society Forum in Accra, Ms Hodgson emphasised that the era of short-term, top-down donor interventions was rapidly becoming obsolete.
The Forum builds on insights from its 2022 and 2024 editions, positioning Ghana’s civil society ecosystem as a key player in Africa’s transformation.
She, therefore, urged stakeholders to “shift the power” by investing in grassroots systems that centre community ownership and collective action.
“We must ask ourselves: how do we make civil society credible and attractive to our local communities? Too often, civil society is perceived as an extension of foreign interests, rather than as an engine of homegrown solutions,” she said.
Reflecting on nearly two decades of promoting community philanthropy globally, Ms Hodgson said local giving should not be underestimated as a viable source of development financing.
She referenced examples like Nepal’s TEWA Women’s Fund, which has built a network of 8,000 local donors through a strong culture of transparency and community ownership.
“This is not about replacing external funds with local money. It’s about recognising that every money given locally carries value beyond its monetary worth – it’s an expression of trust, ownership, and belief in the power of the collective,” she noted.
Ms Hodgson explained that many communities already possessed the resources and social capital to drive change but were often displaced or overshadowed by international donor systems that did not value indigenous knowledge or community-led approaches.
Highlighting the 2016 “Shift the Power” Global Summit in Johannesburg and the 2023 follow-up in Bogotá, she said the momentum for grassroots-led development was growing and Ghana had a significant opportunity to be part of this global reimagining of power dynamics in aid and philanthropy.
“We cannot wait for traditional actors to tweak their practices. We must elevate what’s already working on the ground. Civil society must start with a conversation – who are we, what assets do we have, and what does accountability look like to our people?” she challenged participants.
Her remarks formed part of a spirited dialogue on the future of development financing at the third national Ghana Civil Society Forum (GCSF), held under the theme: “Reimagining Development Financing and Civic Action – Challenges, Opportunities, and the Way Forward.”
The two-day event, organised by STAR-Ghana Foundation in collaboration with partners including Oxfam, WACSI, and the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, drew over 500 participants from CSOs, government, the private sector, academia, faith-based organisations, and the media.
Joining the panel, Ms Tendisai Chigwedere, Programmes Officer at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, echoed similar sentiments and called for a deeper Pan-African response to the global funding crisis.
She described this moment as “a critical juncture where foundations must reimagine how they partner, listen, and co- create with African civil society.”
Ms Chigwedere, who works within the Gender Equity and Governance Program at Hewlett, said the foundation was committed to building inclusive societies where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
She said Hewlett’s standard approach now included multi-year core support, capacity building, and minimal reporting requirements to allow CSOs to work with a long-term vision for transformation.
“While the philanthropic sector can’t fill the gap left by shrinking development aid, we are doing our part by staying close to our existing partners, accelerating payments, and addressing real-time needs like cybersecurity and legal protection,” she explained.
Identifying as a Pan-Africanist and community organiser, Ms Chigwedere cautioned that if African stakeholders did not act swiftly and strategically, “our fate will again be decided for us – without us.”
She urged African CSOs to harness their own philanthropic traditions, structures, and resistance models to reclaim agency over their development futures.
Mr Mohammed Awal Alhassan, Executive Director of Norsaac, reflecting on the recent, abrupt withdrawal of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) from Ghana, noted that development partners could change course suddenly, often leaving local organisations scrambling for resources.
He cited the USAID’s launch of a country strategy document in October with a five-year outlook, only to exit the country just a few months later, as a key example of the volatility of external funding.
The Executive Director described how Norsaac, alongside other Ghanaian organisations, was encouraged by USAID to lead localisation efforts.
However, the process was still externally influenced as international NGOs pitched to Ghanaian CSOs to join their consortiums, shifting the power dynamics back to global actors.
The Panelist called for CSOs to think beyond financial sustainability and reframe their roles in terms of trust-building, relational accountability, and long-term liberation goals.
Ms. Samina Bhatia, Deputy Development Director of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in Ghana, stressed the urgent need for Ghanaian civil society to lead transformative change in the face of dwindling international development assistance.
Ms. Bhatia said that although themes such as self-sufficiency, institutional efficiency, and local ownership had long been on the national agenda, the current global economic context demanded accelerated action.
“The international landscape has changed, and with it, the amount of development assistance available has significantly declined. That’s the reality we must now grapple with,” Ms. Bhatia said.
GNA
Edited by Christian Akorlie