Vlog from the Field Lauren Bradford interviews Catherine Mwendwa (EAAG)

In this video, we interview Catherine Mwendwa, programmes officer at East Africa Association of Grantmakers (EAAG) about the most pressing issues facing the philanthropic sector in East Africa. This video is the second in a series of vlogs (a trendy tech word for video blog!) where Foundation Center staff interview foundation leaders and partners to dig into prevalent themes common to our shared missions and work. These vlogs are meant to be unpolished and off-the-cuff to share out in (near) real-time what we're learning and hearing in funder gatherings.

This video was recorded after our most recent Data Strategy and Capacity Building Workshop in Tanzania in April. Foundation Center partners with foundations and philanthropic associations around the world to support the development and implementation of locally-led data strategies. In East Africa, this work is progressing fast, and we are currently working with our local partners on developing a prototype for a data portal that will allow local philanthropists to share data amongst each other, gain a platform for strategic collaboration, and highlight their contributions to national development. For more background on our data strategy and capacity-building work, check out Foundation Center’s latest workshop reports from Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.