March 29, 2024

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Global funders renew commitment to shift negative stereotypes about Africa

Africa No filter-Photo: File

28 November, Johannesburg: Five Global funders have renewed their commitment to support the narrative change organization Africa No Filter for another two years. The donor collaborative, which was started in 2020, has been advocating for better representation of Africa in the media and arts and culture space since its inception.

The five funders — Mellon Foundation, Luminate, Open Society Foundations, Comic Relief and the Conrad Hilton Foundation — will join Ford Foundation and Bloomberg, who still have active grants that expire in 2023.

The latest partnership agreements bring an additional $3.5 million into the ANF funding pool. The grants will allow Africa No Filter to continue supporting storytellers by investing in research, grantmaking, advocacy and community building as part of their work to shift stereotypical narratives about and within Africa.

Moky Makura, Executive Director at Africa No Filter, said: “Our funders are remarkable in that they work together, pooling their funds and allowing us to drive an African agenda. Through their support, we are able to remind the world and ourselves that we are so much more than the stereotypes of disease, poverty, conflict, poor leadership and corruption that still persist. Creativity and innovation also live here.”

To date, Africa No Filter has partnered with more than 200 storytellers from photographers, content creators, authors, researchers, filmmakers to playwrights, visual and performing artists, as well as arts, culture and media organizations across Africa and the Diaspora including Pan African newspaper The Continent, Art x Lagos, Legally Clueless podcast and True Africa. There’s also bird, the first news agency in Africa that produces stories of arts, culture, entrepreneurship, innovation and human interest.

Advocacy projects include The Global Media Index 4 Africa. A partnership with the Africa Centre New York and the University of Cape Town, the Index will put 20 leading global media platforms under the microscope to analyze how they tell Africa’s stories.

The organization’s research reports include Climate Change in Africa: Are Africans sleepwalking to disaster? How African Media Covers AfricaThe Business in Africa Narrative Report, Africa’s Soft Power: Can Africa’s creativity transform the continent? and Africa – innovator or imitator? Exploring narratives around Africa’s technological capabilities.

Other than research and grantmaking, Africa No Filter is also working to build a community of storytellers who are equally passionate about shifting stereotypical narratives of Africa.

The common thread in all of the organization’s work is that it advocates for better representation of Africa.

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