Dr Stigmata Tenga, Executive Director, African Philanthropy Network, says using private resources for social good is the most important investment in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
She said that was the only way to ensure development from the local level to national.
Dr Tenga said this at the 2023 Ghana philanthropy conference on the them: ‘Philanthropy for sustainable development: Opportunities, challenges and the future’.
She said the aim of the conference was to break and find synergies in putting better concrete actions on how philanthropy could play a role in sustainable development.
‘Philanthropy when practiced under the values of African culture is a key strategy for development. There are so many forms of philanthropy that need to be validated and accepted as they are, or molded to become part of what is happening today on the continent, but that is key to achieving our long-term sustainability.’
She called for the development of philanthropic collaborations and partnerships
based on the values of trust, respect, inclusivity and solidarity to involve more young people in the development process.
Mr Jeroen Verheul, Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana, said it was important for Africans to mobilise and harmonise philanthropy in all its different forms to support the achievement of the SDGs.
‘Community philanthropy, business philanthropy and big men philanthropy are all forms of philanthropy that can be used by individuals, corporate institutions and governments through different approaches to achieve the SDGs.’
Mr Verheul added that apart from harnessing philanthropy for the SDGs, Ghana must also harness active citizenship to improve society and the economy.
Alhaji Amidu Ibrahim Tanko, Executive Director, STAR-Ghana Foundation, said the conference would help to discover how to sustain philanthropic efforts and move beyond crisis response to recovery and long-term development.
‘It will also help us to move from seeing communities in the geographic sense and move them to the centre
of our compositions and actions around philanthropy, involving them as active and conscious participants in the whole enterprise, and to move towards philanthropy that addresses the underlying causes of poverty and exclusion.’
Source: Ghana News Agency