AFFORD

Migration as a creative force: culture, innovation and the cities where it happens

AFFORD UK has been participating in the International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) in this week, engaging in global discussions on migration governance under the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM).

Our presence has been focused on ensuring African and diaspora perspectives are meaningfully represented in these conversations, particularly in relation to investment, development and community-level impact.

The IMRF is the primary global platform for reviewing progress on the implementation of the GCM, a non-binding framework for cooperation on all aspects of migration.

On Wednesday, our executive director Stella Opoku-Owusu took part in the Migration as a Creative Force - Goals Lounge event.

You can watch the session back on United Nations Web TV here:
https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1x/k1xsr4n1ee

Here's a taste of what was covered:

Cultural policy is underutilised as a lever for integration and social cohesion.

The Goals Lounge explored how national and local governments can better connect cultural investment with migration governance – and what role foundations and international organisations can play in brokering these connections.

Migration has always been a source of cultural innovation and creative energy. The most vibrant cities in the world – from New York to Berlin to Lagos – have been shaped by successive waves of migrants bringing new ideas, aesthetics, languages and practices. Yet this contribution is systematically underrepresented in migration policy debates.

Cities are at the forefront of cultural exchange and integration, making local leadership critical. Mayors and municipal authorities are often ahead of national governments in developing inclusive approaches – and in recognising migration as an asset rather than a burden.

Creative industries – from museums and galleries to film and television – are increasingly engaging with migration themes, both as subject matter and as an employment and entrepreneurship pathway for migrants and diaspora communities.

The Venice Biennale, international film festivals, literary prizes and major cultural institutions have in recent years centred migrant voices and stories. This session asked what it takes to move from one-off moments of recognition to sustained structural change – in funding, commissioning, programming and hiring.

Check it out.

⚡💡🪫🔌🌍 REGISTER NOW 🌍🔌🪫💡⚡
Exploring the potential of African diaspora investors in energy crowdfunding
Upcoming webinar | 12noon, 7th May | Report launch and prize draw
https://lnkd.in/eeAyVhDZ

⚡Africa’s clean energy financing gap is widening.
⚡More than 600 million people still lack electricity.
⚡Traditional aid and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) are not enough to meet this challenge.

💶 🔄 💸 🔄 💷
💡But the African diaspora, with an estimated $53bn in annual savings and a proven track record of remittance flows, represents one of the most immediate and scalable opportunities to mobilise capital for sustainable energy projects. 💡Crowdfunding platforms can transform modest, regular contributions into structured investment flows capable of driving systemic change.

AFFORD UK has been working with our partners at Energise Africa and Energy 4 Impact (via their research programme, CrowdPower) to understand how diaspora investment can help expand energy access across the continent.

🇬🇭🇰🇪🇳🇬🇺🇬
We are now delighted to publish the report Exploring the Potential of African Diaspora Investors in Energy Crowdfunding (Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda), which explores the potential of African diaspora investors to mobilise capital for sustainable energy projects through crowdfunding, with a particular focus on Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda. Drawing on literature, survey data, and key informant interviews, it examines the motivations, behaviours, and barriers shaping diaspora investment and identifies strategic pathways for scaling engagement.

A webinar will be held at 12pm on Thursday 7th May to present key findings of the report.

Speakers at the event will include report authors for AFFORD Dr. Sainabou Taal (lead researcher) and Danielle Hawa Jones (research associate), as well as Ray Coyle, CEO at Energise Africa and a representative from CrowdPower. AFFORD executive director Stella Opoku-Owusu will moderate.

Register to attend the webinar here.
https://lnkd.in/eeAyVhDZ

Late last year, more than 350 people completed our diaspora investment survey about energy crowdfunding in Africa – information that has been fed into the report. Everyone who completed the survey was entered into a free prize draw for a return flight plane ticket to Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria or Uganda from any location in the world.

The prize draw will also be conducted at the webinar.

⚡💡🪫🔌🌍 REGISTER NOW 🌍🔌🪫💡⚡
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5YwRQFGGT364C5DeuMpZ5w #/registration
Exploring the potential of African diaspora investors in energy crowdfunding
Upcoming webinar | 12noon, 7th May | Report launch and prize draw

⚡Africa’s clean energy financing gap is widening.
⚡More than 600 million people still lack electricity.
⚡Traditional aid and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) are not enough to meet this challenge.

💶 🔄 💸 🔄 💷
💡But the African diaspora, with an estimated $53bn in annual savings and a proven track record of remittance flows, represents one of the most immediate and scalable opportunities to mobilise capital for sustainable energy projects.
💡Crowdfunding platforms can transform modest, regular contributions into structured investment flows capable of driving systemic change.

AFFORD UK has been working with our partners at Energise Africa and Energy 4 Impact (via their research programme, CrowdPower) to understand how diaspora investment can help expand energy access across the continent.

🇬🇭🇰🇪🇳🇬🇺🇬
We are now delighted to publish the report Exploring the Potential of African Diaspora Investors in Energy Crowdfunding (Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda), which explores the potential of African diaspora investors to mobilise capital for sustainable energy projects through crowdfunding, with a particular focus on Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda. Drawing on literature, survey data, and key informant interviews, it examines the motivations, behaviours, and barriers shaping diaspora investment and identifies strategic pathways for scaling engagement.

A webinar will be held at 12pm on Thursday 7th May to present key findings of the report.

Speakers at the event will include report authors for AFFORD Dr. Sainabou Taal (lead researcher) and Danielle Hawa Jones (research associate), as well as Ray Coyle, CEO at Energise Africa and a representative from CrowdPower. AFFORD executive director Stella Opoku-Owusu will moderate.

Register to attend the webinar here.
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5YwRQFGGT364C5DeuMpZ5w #/registration

Late last year, more than 350 people completed our diaspora investment survey about energy crowdfunding in Africa – information that has been fed into the report. Everyone who completed the survey was entered into a free prize draw for a return flight plane ticket to Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria or Uganda from any location in the world.

The prize draw will also be conducted at the webinar.

Roundtable on Innovative Development Finance Mechanisms for Africa

Hot on the heels of the recent Harambe Ubuntu Philanthropy & African Resource Mobilization panel discussion on Capital, Movement and African Agency, AFFORD UK and TrustAfrica convened a consultative roundtable to discuss the evolving landscape of development finance, specifically focusing on how Africa can achieve self-reliance amidst shrinking Official Development Assistance (ODA) and unpredictable Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

The core objectives were to identify and amplify existing solutions, best practices and scalable frameworks for African-led development finance, moving beyond problems to concrete, actionable strategies. A key aim was to connect innovators with institutions, policymakers with practitioners, and established best practices with necessary support structures.

Hosted and chaired by Bell Ribeiro-Addy, chair of the APPG for Afrikan Reparations, alongside AFFORD executive director Stella Opoku-Owusu and Dr Ebrima Sall, executive director of TrustAfrica.

Participants underscored the need to:
- Acknowledge and leverage indigenous African philanthropy and resilience,
which has historically supported communities through various crises.
- Address the 'implementation gap' by creating enabling infrastructure and
environments for existing innovations.
- Shift the narrative around foreign aid, recognising that Africans have always been innovative and self-reliant.
- Build robust, sustainable funding mechanisms that offer continuity and
predictability, reducing dependence on fluctuating external goodwill.
- Mitigate corruption and illicit financial flows that deplete African resources.
- Promote inclusive engagement across the diaspora, beyond traditional hubs.
- Leverage crises as opportunities for growth and structural change.
- Focus on long-term sustainability by empowering the private sector and small
businesses, not solely relying on philanthropy.
- Secure government buy-in and supportive policies for diaspora-led initiatives.

Other contributors included:
Urgent Action Fund Africa, Prof. Gibril Faal OBE, JP of GK Partners and Eugene Nizeyimana of African Business Chamber (AfBC).

CAPITAL, MOVEMENT and AFRICAN AGENCY
The old funding model has broken. Western aid is retreating. The multilateral order is shifting. And the question of who funds pan-African and feminist movements, and on what terms, has never been more urgent.

AFFORD UK, represented by executive director Stella Opoku-Owusu participated in the recent Harambe Ubuntu Philanthropy & African Resource Mobilization panel discussion on Capital, Movement and African Agency.

Convened during Skoll Foundation World Forum week, the conversation explored the changing global aid landscape and the opportunity it presents for a new philanthropic architecture. One where African capital, held by and for African movements, is built to outlast any political moment.

Other speakers included:
Prof. Gibril Faal OBE, JP. – RemitAid
Lerato Mashianoke – Fondation CHANEL
Dr Ebrima Sall – TrustAfrica / Harambee-Ubuntu

The panel explored innovative funding models for African social change, including diaspora micro-contributions, blended investments and sustainable infrastructure for connecting African businesses with the global diaspora.

The event spotlighted the importance of collective action, youth leadership and community-driven philanthropy, and how knowledge, history and inclusive partnerships, rooted in Harambe (collective action) and Ubuntu (shared humanity), can shape a new, more responsive funding architecture for Africa.

The event brought together philanthropists, impact investors, diaspora leaders and academics to argue that what comes next is not a return to aid. It is something far more powerful: a model rooted in African solidarity, African leadership, and a long-term commitment to pan-African and feminist transformation that no foreign government can defund.

This event was organised by TrustAfrica and Urgent Action Fund Africa and hosted by the Harambee~Ubuntu Pan-African and Feminist Philanthropies Initiative, in collaboration with The Feminist Centre for Racial Justice at SOAS University of London, Fondation Chanel and AFFORD.

Upcoming webinar | 7th May | Report launch and prize draw
Exploring the potential of African diaspora investors in energy crowdfunding

Africa’s clean energy financing gap is widening, with more than 600 million people still lacking electricity. Traditional aid and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) are insufficient to meet this challenge.

The African diaspora, with an estimated $53bn in annual savings and a proven track record of remittance flows, represents one of the most immediate and scalable opportunities to mobilise capital for sustainable energy projects. Crowdfunding platforms can transform modest, regular contributions into structured investment flows capable of driving systemic change.

AFFORD has been working with our partners at Energise Africa and Energy 4 Impact (via their research programme, CrowdPower) to understand how diaspora investment can help expand energy access across the continent.

We are now delighted to publish the report Exploring the Potential of African Diaspora Investors in Energy Crowdfunding (Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda), which explores the potential of African diaspora investors to mobilise capital for sustainable energy projects through crowdfunding, with a particular focus on Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda. Drawing on literature, survey data, and key informant interviews, it examines the motivations, behaviours, and barriers shaping diaspora investment and identifies strategic pathways for scaling engagement.

A webinar will be held at 12pm on Thursday 7th May to present key findings of the report.

Speakers at the event will include report authors for AFFORD Dr Sainabou Taal (lead researcher) and Danielle Hawa Jones (research associate), as well as Ray Coyle, CEO at Energise Africa and a representative from CrowdPower. AFFORD executive director Stella Opoku-Owusu will moderate.

Register to attend the webinar here.
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5YwRQFGGT364C5DeuMpZ5w #/registration

Late last year, more than 350 people completed our diaspora investment survey about energy crowdfunding in Africa – information that has been fed into the report. Everyone who completed the survey was entered into a free prize draw for a return flight plane ticket to Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria or Uganda from any location in the world.

The prize draw will also be conducted at the webinar.

The ABC-DRC: BRIDGE Programme, funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), supported by British Embassy Kinshasa and delivered by AFFORD UK and MDF | Empowering People, Creating Impact has been strengthening the Democratic Republic of Congo's SME ecosystem by mobilising hashtag participation as a strategic bridge for deeper UK–DRC commercial engagement.

While diaspora hashtag and technical expertise have been central pillars of the programme, the broader objective has been to position the diaspora as a catalyst for wider UK investor participation – ranging from angel and venture capital to institutional finance and strategic business partnerships.

The programme has also delivered strategic value to the hashtag by advancing the UK Trade Strategy in the hashtag – a high-potential frontier market. It seeks to build an emerging pipeline of investment-ready Congolese enterprises aligned with UK strengths, including financial services, digital infrastructure, climate-adjacent industries, and value-added agriculture – whilst creating structured commercial entry points for British firms and investors, reinforcing the UK’s role as a global hub for international finance and diaspora capital.

The Demo and Policy Day held in hashtag last last week was the ABC-DRC BRIDGE programme’s flagship one-day event, designed to convene key stakeholders, share learning from the programme, and collaboratively define next steps.

The Demo section was a practical, market-facing platform for SMEs that have completed the incubation and acceleration components of the programme. The Policy section focused on strengthening the enabling environment for SME development in the DRC, with particular attention to the role of diaspora participation as a bridge to deeper UK–DRC commercial engagement.

The session brought together key public and private stakeholders to inform, validate, and promote a more conducive policy and institutional landscape for SME growth and diaspora engagement.

It also provided a structured platform for SMEs participating in the ABC-DRC: BRIDGE Programme to articulate common bottlenecks and constraints to policymakers, supporting both DRC ecosystem reform and the UK’s strategic economic engagement in a high-potential frontier market.

The three Accelerator track award winners were:
1. Grace Rubambura (TANDAH)
2. Christian Rubemb (Congo Vert Gr)
3. Aurélie Nguwa Ntongi (Nguwa Product/Laurier)

The two Incubation track award winners were:
1. Kabwe François Mbaya (MBAKA RECYCLIT)
2. Sylvain Mubenga (MainMoney)

Special mention too to Marie Louise CIRHIGIRI of Matunda Ya Kwetu.

AFFORD DDI INDEX LAUNCHED

For more than 30 years, AFFORD UK has been a pioneer and innovator in policy and practice of diaspora and development.

The launch of the AFFORD Diaspora Direct Investment (DDI) Index – The Gambia in Addis Ababa on 13th February, as part of the African Union Summit, confirms our status as a catalyst in the sector.

AFFORD’s development of this product was supported by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung African Migration Policy Centre (FES-AMPC) and GK Partners (GKP).

The AFFORD DDI Index has the potential to make DDI and other forms of diaspora finance as well-known and understood as remittances. It can be used for a wide range of policy and comparative analysis, and will become available to all practitioners and policymakers operating in the field of development finance in the near future on the AFFORD and FES-AMPC websites. Look out for news on our socials.

DDI is direct investment where the investor, who has control or significant influence on the management of the enterprise, has origins or heritage in the country where the investment is made, irrespective of their nationality.

Prof. Gibril Faal OBE, JP, co-founder and director of GKP, said: ‘The whole purpose of the study was to develop and pilot a robust methodology for a DDI index that can be applied to all African Union member states. The big picture is to get 55 of these for 55 countries.’

Stella Opoku-Owusu, AFFORD’s executive director, added: ‘As diaspora finance continues to grow amidst ODA (Official Development Assistance) decreases and FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) fluctuations, DDI should be of growing interest and importance to policymakers and development practitioners across the continent.

‘This index has the potential to provide policymakers and development practitioners with granular data on the nine types of DDI, outlined in the Gambia example. It provides us with a real opportunity for developing policies that direct diaspora investment into the sectors that need them, or policies that enhance diaspora direct investment types.

‘The vision is to roll this out across all the African countries, and to institutionalise it so it becomes an annual exercise. We hope FES-AMPC will continue to work with us on this and we encourage others with financial resources to join us on this journey of operationalising the DDI index.

‘Ambition and dreams are great but not possible without strong interest from and the firm commitment of African member states and governments. This is a piece of work that moves the continent closer to its goal of financing its own development.’

AFFORD offers sincere thanks for the insight, hard work and dedication on this project of Professor Gibril Faal, management consultant and founder of MEIR Gambia Pa Musa Sidibeh, AFFORD associate and research and training consultant Paul Asquith and AFFORD’s engagement and capacity manager Richard Matey Leigh.

To find out more about plans and next steps contact Richard at [email protected]

Are you a French-speaking member of the African diaspora based in the UK with experience in business, investment or entrepreneurship?

AFFORD UK, in partnership with MDF | Empowering People, Creating Impact, and supported by UK International Development from the UK government and the British Embassy Kinshasa, is currently delivering an development programme in the Democratic Republic of Congo ( ).

A core component of this programme is our Mentorship & Coaching Facility, and we are now inviting applications from experienced diaspora professionals to join us as mentors.

We are looking for business leaders, entrepreneurs and investors to be matched with high-potential SMEs in the DRC and provide one hour of mentoring per week over a short, structured period. This is a paid opportunity and a chance to make a meaningful contribution to enterprise growth and private sector development.

If this sounds like you — or someone in your network — we would love to hear from you.

Deadline to apply: Sunday, 25th January.

Application takes less than 5 minutes.

Apply here:
ABC-DRC: BRIDGE – Mentoring and coaching application form
https://forms.gle/ZA6y94wfJxX1xh2i6

ℹ️ 📢 🇨🇩 Participez à la séance d'information sur le programme ABC-DRC : Building Resilient Investment & Diaspora Growth Ecosystems (BRIDGE) demain, lundi 5 janvier 2026, à 14 h (GMT+1).

Cliquez ici pour vous inscrire.
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_je4Kc0YsQCKB1tKuYCfpJw #/registration

Le programme ABC-RDC : BRIDGE est un programme d'incubation et d'accélération de deux mois, qui se déroulera entre janvier et mars 2026. Il est financé par le département britannique du développement international, soutenu par l'ambassade britannique à Kinshasa et mis en œuvre par l'African Foundation for Development (AFFORD UK) en partenariat avec MDF | Empowering People, Creating Impact .

Le programme est conçu pour soutenir 15 start-ups et PME congolaises (basées en République démocratique du Congo (RDC), principalement à Kinshasa) en phase de démarrage et actives dans les secteurs de l'économie verte, des services numériques, des technologies financières, des technologies agricoles et des technologies de la santé.

Cet appel est également ouvert aux start-ups et PME de la diaspora opérant en RDC.

Le programme vise à renforcer les capacités commerciales et la préparation à l'investissement grâce à un cours structuré d'incubation et d'accélération, combinant formation, mentorat, préparation à l'investissement et exposition aux investisseurs.

Les entreprises détenues par des femmes, dirigées par des jeunes, climato-intelligentes et vertes sont encouragées à postuler.

Si vous pensez que ce programme vous convient, postulez dès aujourd'hui !

Version française :
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe25dewSZuTs__dkOUqq_e0rz-OguSBtet9cGRKL9aUanc8sg/viewform

Version anglaise :
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeSql3kE9WsapQa_WAViNERCXCAQ6NhYBG0AKoOsgjPeNr0ug/viewform

🗓️ Date limite de candidature : 11 janvier 2026.

💻 Vous trouverez plus d'informations en anglais et en français ici.
https://afford-uk.org/abc-drc-building-resilient-investment-and-diaspora-growth-ecosystems-bridge/