In March, Melinda French Gates and Tsitsi Masiyiwa officially launched the Co-Impact Gender Fund in a collaborative international effort to invest in gender equality transformative initiatives post-covid-19 pandemic. Melinda French Gates of the Gates Foundation, and Tsitsi Masiyiwa, Board Chair, African Philanthropy Forum announced the launch of the Gender Fund in a video posted on YouTube, on Thursday, 17 March 2022
Tsitsi Masiyiwa who will be leading the Africa Gender Fund initiative said, “I am really excited to be leading this effort and to bring together a group of African philanthropists to support the work of the fund and we are calling this the Africa Gender Fund.” Tsitsi Masiyiwa who has been in philanthropy for over 25 years emphasized the role of philanthropy in development. “From my perspective, philanthropy can do more and advance a more effective and just approach to giving so we must tackle this collaboratively in order to make those deep-rooted changes that we would like to witness,” said Mrs. Masiyiwa.
The Africa Gender Fund is supported by Cartier Philanthropy, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, The Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation, MacKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett, Melinda French Gates, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Thankyou Charitable Trust, Target Foundation, Tsitsi Masiyiwa, and Delta Philanthropies
