DAKAR, Sénégal, December 11, 2018– EPIC-Africa (www.epic-africa.org), the pan-African organization using innovations in technology to bring greater visibility and transparency to the African philanthropy sector, has today announced the evaluators for the inaugural edition of the African Civil Society Organization(CSO) Excellence Awards. The African CSO Excellence Awards is a joint initiative between EPIC-Africa (www.epic-africa.org) and the Rockefeller Foundation (www.rockefellerfoundation.org). The Awards highlight the importance of organizational capacity to achieve program impact and showcase African civil society organizations who demonstrate organizational excellence despite daunting challenges.
The evaluation panel will be chaired by Mamadou Biteye, the Rockefeller Foundation’s Managing Director for Africa, and includes: COO for the Ecobank Foundation, Carl Manlan; Founder and Managing Director of Busara Africa, Taaka Awori; Grants & Partnership Officer for the TY Danjuma Foundation, Gima Forje; Organizational Effectiveness Expert, CR Hibbs; Program Officer for the Southern Africa office of the Ford Foundation, Vuyiswa Sidzumo; and Product Designer Kennedy Kirui from iHUB Kenya.
The full bios can be found here.
Adwoa Agyeman, co-founder of EPIC-Africa, says:
“The evaluation panel for this year’s award is a stellar collection of practitioners and thinkers in African philanthropy today. They are committed to strengthening African civil society organizations and using technology to bring innovation and dynamism to a sector that is so essential to Africa’s advancement. They are all recognized experts among donors, program officers, technology specialists, and organizational effectiveness researchers.”
The evaluators will award Excellence prizes in each of the eight main indicators 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. An overall prize is also awarded to the Civil Society Organization who shows exemplary success across all indicators.
Mamadou Biteye, chair of the evaluation panel, says:
“Organizational effectiveness is one of the major factors contributing to program impact and the sustainability of CSOs in Africa. I am honored to be a part of this panel with its unique mix of skills and expertise. I look forward to looking at the key indicators of organizational excellence with my fellow evaluators and helping to set the standards for transparency and impact that are so essential to ensuring stable organizations can carry out their missions for transformative change in Africa.”
Key dates: The African CSO Excellence Awards are open until December 31, 2018. Candidates will be shortlisted between January and March 2019 with the final winners announced in April 2019.
To get the most up-to-date news on the awards, follow EPIC-Africa on Twitter and Facebook or visit the website: African CSO Excellence Awards.
Media contacts
Chakera McIntosh
Communications Lead
EPIC-Africa
cmcintosh@epic-africa.org
Achieng’ Otieno
Communications Officer
The Rockefeller Foundation, Africa Regional Office
aotieno@rockfound.org
About EPIC-Africa
EPIC-Africa seeks to enhance philanthropic impact by filling critical data and capacity gaps in the philanthropic market infrastructure in Africa. We envisage a vibrant philanthropic ecosystem with diverse, influential, sustainable African civil society groups at the center. EPIC-Africa contributes to this transformative vision by enabling: Greater visibility, increased resources, widespread communication, more diversified and steady funding, transparency, accountability, and a resilient ecosystem.
About The Rockefeller Foundation
For more than 100 years, The Rockefeller Foundation’s mission has been to promote the well-being of humanity throughout the world. Today the Foundation is focused on securing the fundamentals of human well-being—health, food, power, and jobs—to ensure every family experiences dignity and opportunity in our rapidly urbanizing world. Together with partners and grantees, The Rockefeller Foundation strives to catalyze and scale transformative innovations, create unlikely partnerships that span sectors, and take risks others cannot—or will not. For more information, visit www.rockefellerfoundation.org.