Press Note
World Bank - Foundations Kenya Dialogue
Philanthropy for Development
The World Bank Nairobi Office, headed by Colin Bruce, World Bank Country Director for Kenya, Eritrea, and Somalia and the Ford Foundation East Africa Regional Office, headed by Tade AkinAina are organizing a dialogue from March 1-2, 2006 that will focus on the innovative role foundations play in addressing development needs. The dialogue, Philanthropy for Development, is an unprecedented event that will bring together representatives from the World Bank, Government of Kenya, and international and local foundations to explorehow foundations are approaching Good Governance, Youth Empowerment, and Gender and Development.
“The purpose of the dialogue is to share knowledge and success stories that address these subjects, and to identify potential areas for collaboration and for scaling up programs,” says Colin Bruce, Country Director for Kenya. “It is a unique opportunity to explore partnerships with foundations. We need to remember that partnerships should be based upon the willingness to understand that the differences between partners can be a source of strength when the partners have developed a common understanding of each other. We hope this conference will provide the space to develop a common understanding.”
Participants will include representatives from international and Africa based foundations, the Government of Kenya, the World Bank, and observers from the donor, private sector, and NGO communities. It will be structured as a conference with ample space for discussion and interaction.
The event will begin with a presentation by Dr. Edward Samibili, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Planning, Government of Kenya that will focus on Kenya’s Development Agenda. Tade Akin Aina, Head of the East Africa Office of the Ford Foundation will chair a session on Philanthropy and Development that will include talks on the growth of philanthropy in East Africa by Arif Neky, Regional CEO, Aga Khan Foundation and Investment in Communities: The Value of Corporate Philanthropy by Gerald Mahinda, Managing Director, East Africa Breweries Ltd. There will also be plenary sessions on Good Governance, Youth Empowerment, and Gender and Development where foundations will share their success stories.
The dialogue is an opportunity for the World Bank and government of Kenya to gain a deeper understanding of how foundations approach development and how best to target contributions to bring about lasting change.
“When we think about the work of foundations in development,” says Eleanor Fink, the Bank’s Foundations Coordinator who helped to organize the event, “the value added is not just about the number of dollars foundations bring to Africa or the notionthat they can’t solve development challenges such as hunger and HIV/AIDS that require huge resources.It is about how foundations use innovative approaches to tap creative resources in ways that will enable cottage industries and small scale enterprises to contribute to local development. It is also about how foundations bring about change on community levels that offerconcrete proof that things can be improved.”
“This dialogue is another further opportunity to recognize the role Foundations (both international and national) have played in development in Africa in particular and throughout the world in general”, says Tade Akin Aina. “Many of us do not know that there have been indigenous Trusts and Foundations that have been working in the areas of poverty reduction and social justice in Kenya for as long as 50 years. The dialogue provides a great opportunity for Foundations to engage the Word Bank and other stakeholders in national and global development and to explore ways of collaborating and cooperating on the ideals and goals that we all minimally agree on.”