Imagine an African government with a desire to encourage connection, transparency and collaboration among their donors. Imagine a group of foundations who have chosen not to operate in silos, but instead to share their work, find synergies and combine their resources for wide and sustainable impact.

Such an office exists within the Government of Liberia. It is a pilot project based within the Office of the President and financially supported by private dollars, that embraces reporting and the tracking of outcomes. A tracking system available for the world to see (via the web), provides an avenue of accountability by the country’s citizens and the world at large.

During the recent AGAG retreat my colleagues questioned, fairly, the issues of sustainability, and whether or not being housed within the government will dampen the integrity of the project. I could be proven wrong, but because there are many players involved — not just those from private foundations– it reduces the likelihood. The office has connected with nonprofits working on the ground, individual donors, and other leaders within civil society. Instead of remaining anonymous, the funders of the project have created a grassroots movement to get others donors involved; to let the world know about the project with the hope it might be a replicable model.

For those of you questioning the accountability of the Liberia leadership, be reminded we are all accountable. You can’t simply question whether or not someone is accountable; you must also be willing to step up if you find that they are not. That responsibility now belongs to you as well.

Regarding sustainability, honestly, only time will tell. But the leadership within the government and those foundations involved are committed to nurturing the project over the remaining two years. Not just through funding, but also by helping develop relationships, systems, and when appropriate, stepping away (often difficult for us) to let the leadership lead.

And for those of you who continually question the authenticity of African leaders – choosing to lump all into the same proverbial barrel - chances are you have plenty of corruption to deal with on your own soil. Let this leadership be free to choose a path of integrity and innovation for their people.

Yvonne Moore is the Executive Director of the Daphne Foundation, a family foundation focused on the causes and consequence of poverty in New York City and in Western Africa. Her foundation is part of a three-year pilot project, The Philanthropy Secretariat, based within the Government of Liberia. The focus of the Secretariat is to connect foundations investing in the country’s re-development to help increase impact, sustainability and improve their connections to and between other foundations, government and civil society.

Foundations are a source of funding to support the work of a range of organizations making a difference in their communities. But often, they also help to strengthen a sector by connecting organizations to each other.

The recent AGAG segment of “Conversations With/Dialogues On” highlighted an example of this. The Global Fund for Children (GFC) organized a knowledge exchange workshop to bring together organizations working in english and french-speaking countries in West Africa focusing on children. If you missed it, I encourage you to listen to audio excerpts and read a summary on the AGAG website.

Networking is important and central to building and sharing knowledge. Unfortunately, it is often hard to trace specific results back to the connection of ideas and people made during these types of events. Yet, sharing our stories and what we have learned is at the center of our lives.

The McKnight Foundation Collaboration Crop Research Program is another example of making important connections. This competitive grants program connects researchers from many different countries working to increase food security for resource-poor people in developing countries. The collaborative research projects are grouped in “communities of practice” and includes a range of stakeholders including scientists and farmers. There are communities of practice in west, southern, east and the horn of Africa. The program links experts from countries across the globe.

In 2008, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation make a five year grant to the McKnight Foundation for $26.7 million dollars to support the project. The CCRP website is wealth of information about the projects including progress reports and impact. The leadership team pairs the McKnight International Program Director, Jane Maland Cady with the CCRP Scientific Director, Rebecca Nelson, who is employed by and based at Cornell University.

Two good examples of making connections and building knowledge useful in building strong communities in Africa. If you know of some other interesting examples, I invite you to share them with me. Send them to nmutima [at] agag.org.

I tend to be an “information junkie.” So that means I often get waylaid when doing research. Sometimes my curiosity pays off and I stumble across something exciting such as The Ujima Project which is funded by AGAG members the Open Society Institute and the Ford Foundation.

The Ujima Project describes itself as a “new experiment in journalistic transparency.” It collects and assembles information from sources about spending by governments, NGOs and businesses in African countries. The list of lobbying activities is as fascinating as the list of USAID spending is mundane and list of weapons sobering.

Information overload takes on an entirely new meaning when you realize not everyone has access to it. Despite all of the offerings of the internet, in many African countries access is both uneven and expensive.

The project grew out of the Great Lakes Media Institute that was established to train Rwandan journalists. The site was developed by a software firm based in Uganda. It is still in the beta stage, but worth watching.

The need for a better national health care system is a topic of discussion not only in the United States but in African countries as well. Among funders supporting development efforts in Africa, the impact of funding and the consequences of the lack of coordination is an on-going and mostly frustrating conversation.

AGAG has done two reports on the U. S. private funding landscape for health in Africa. The first in 2004, examined support for health continent wide, and the second, in 2007 examined funding for health and basic education programs for children and youth in ten southern Africa countries. Both reports reflect the concentration of disease specific funding and the lack of support for other areas including strengthening health care systems.

Two members of AGAG have recently announced a significant investement in improving health systems in African countries.

The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) launched the African Health Initiative in 2007, to fund partnerships between local governments in selected African countries, researcher, and practioners.

DDCF announced four partnerships. Three of them will be in Mozambique, Rwanda, and Zambia. The fourth will support two countries, Tanzania and Ghana, in sharing their innovative pilot programs in primary health care and hopefully addressing the difficulties both countries have encountered in scaling them up to a national level.

DDCF’s total investment if about $44 million and the programs will last from 5 to 7 years. The grants range from $ 8 million for Rwanda to almost $15 million for Tanzania and Ghana.

Another AGAG member, the Rockefeller Foundation (RF), also has a program to support health systems called the “Transforming Health Systems Initiative (THS).” The THS program launch was announced last month and includes two of the countries where DDCF will be working - Ghana and Rwanda. This program was launched with an initial investment of $100 million over five years for three countries (including Vietnam). The idea is to apply lessons learned to future programs.

In June, two articles in the journal The Lancet, raised some questions about the impact of global health funding in poor countries. The article on ” An assessment of interactions between global health initiatives and country health systems” addressed the charge that disease specific funding has weakened health systems in the poor countries. While inconclusive, it does encourage the opportunity to take advantage of opportunities to strengthen partnerships across areas of the health sector and among a range of actors — which is what both the DDCF and RF programs promote.

Another article in the same issue Financing of global health: tracking development assistance for health from 1990 to 2007 looks at the impact of the mix of old and new actors funding health.

Through the IROKO project, AGAG is seeking to bring together health funders to promote more dialogue and help funders to be more aware of each other’s efforts. I will be talking more about this project as it unfolds over the next few months. We are working on a landscape of health funders. If you fund health in Africa and would like to participate, please send me an email to info at africagrantmakers.org..

Most funders working in Africa might not have head of Fazel Hasan Abed. But then again, those working in poverty alleviation might be very familiar with the former Shell Oil Executive’s organization, BRAC. Started by Abed in 1972 in Bangladesh, it has grown into one of the largest organizations working to reduce poverty. Based upon its impact in Bangladesh, it appears to have a model that works. The question is, will it work in West Africa? Several funders think it will.

BRAC is already working in Tanzania where it has run programs in a range of areas including microfinance, small enterprise, agriculture, health, and youth since 2006 and employs over 800 people. BRAC received $15 millions from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to support this work. In Uganda it has created more then 1,000 jobs and works in similar areas. With an investment of $15 million, the Soros Economic Development Fund, Open Society Initiative for West Africa, Omidyar Network, and Humanity United are betting on BRAC to replicate its success in Bangladesh in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Both the Soros Economic Development Fund and the Open Society Institute for West Africa are part of the philanthropic activities of George Soros. Omiday Network and Humanity United are part of the philantropic interests of ebay founder Pierre Omidyar, and his wife Pam, who is the founder and board chair of Humanity United.

It is no doubt that BRAC and its founder has proven that it’s holistic from the ground up approach have yielded results. It established an “independent in house” research and evaluation division in 1975 that has conducted evaluation of its programs and made them available to the public..

Both Liberia and Sierra Leone are countries emerging from prolonged conflicts that have wrecked their physical infrastructures and strained the endurance of its citizens. And on top of that, like everywhere else, both countries are faced with the impact of the global economic downturn.

Funders supporting development projects in Africa might do well to keep an eye on BRAC’s experiences in these two countries in West Africa. It will be interesting to see if the success in Bangladesh will bring change in these West African countries and the cross fertilization of experiences will yield a more customized approach suited to the realities and context of Liberia and Sierra Leone.