Abuja: Ms Kimberly Bayer, Deputy Vice President for International Programmes at the Ford Foundation, has reaffirmed the organisation's commitment to long-term, trust-based philanthropy. Speaking during a meeting at the Foundation's West Africa Office in Abuja, Nigeria as part of the Building Institutions and Networks (BUILD) initiative, she underscored its impact and advocated for broader adoption of similar models within the philanthropy sector.
According to Ghana News Agency, BUILD is Ford Foundation's flagship investment in institutional strengthening, financing some of the Foundation's largest and most significant commitments globally since 2016. 'BUILD is our version of trust-based philanthropy.We believe that to confront inequality, we must invest in strong institutions-organizations that have the time, resources, and certainty to focus on their internal health so they can do transformative work externally. In today's uncertain world, resilience is not a luxury-it is essential,' Ms Bayer stated in a release.
The BUILD Grantee meeting in Abuja brought together over 20 existing and new BUILD grantees from across West Africa for a day of collaborative learning, peer exchange, reflection, and strategic dialogue. The sessions explored ingenuity in leadership, governance practices, and financial resilience. The engagement aimed to deepen partnerships and advance the Foundation's commitment to strengthening resilient civil society institutions across West Africa.
Welcoming the newest partners, Ms Victoria Dunning, Director of the BUILD Programme, described the initiative as 'an opportunity to invest deeply not only in mission and programmes, but in institutional resilience.' She noted that multiyear, unrestricted funding-when combined with dedicated support for institutional development-leads to stronger, more resilient organisations of all sectors, structures, stages, and sizes. It also deepens their connection to the communities they serve.
Explaining the BUILD initiative, Dr. ChiChi Aniagolu-Okoye, Regional Director of Ford Foundation's West Africa Office highlighted the institution's journey over the past decade. 'The Ford Foundation has been on the Building Institutions and Networks journey for about a decade now, since Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation, announced the FordForward strategy in 2015 that made building durable institutions and networks one of the foundation's highest priorities. And in that time, BUILD has grown into not just a valuable approach to grantmaking at Ford but stands as a strong model for how donors can support long-term resilience, equity, and impact. It is time for more donors to recognise that building strong institutions is a fundamental requirement for driving justice, equity, and transformational change,' Dr. Aniagolu-Okoye added.
BUILD equips partners with strategic clarity, internal capacity, and long-term stability they need to achieve impact and drive systemic change over the course of years and decades. Through the initiative, the Foundation has 'invested in long-term, flexible support that allows partners to strengthen internal systems, adapt to change, and lead from a place of stability.'
The week-long outing, which spanned Abuja and Lagos, provided a platform and opportunity to share learning and foster learning around institutional sustainability, and deepen engagement with the Foundation's BUILD grantees and key regional partners and staff. Dr. Judith-Ann Walker, Executive Director of dRPC, said the BUILD grant did not only fund programmes but had contributed to building an institution. 'It has transformed the way our organization thinks about sustainability, risk planning, and organisational strategy, and has given us the flexibility to formalise structures, plan long-term, and grow internal resilience,' she noted.
Rev. Fr. George Ehusani, Executive Director of the Lux-Terra Leadership Foundation, emphasised how the BUILD initiative had driven expansion and structural growth. 'The BUILD grant has allowed us to grow in ways we never imagined-from restructuring our organization internally to expanding our outreach across Nigeria. We're not just changing minds-we're transforming systems. The BUILD initiative has taught us that our structural strength is as important as our spiritual mission. A sustainable institution with integrity will outlive its founders and serve society for decades,' he noted.
Ms Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri, Director of Research and Policy at Spaces for Change (S4C), noted that the grant had helped the organization strengthen its governance architecture, expand regionally, and invest in long-term research and policy advocacy. The Ford Foundation is an independent organization working to address inequality and build a future grounded in justice. For more than 85 years, it has supported visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide, guided by its mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement.
With an endowment of $16 billion, the Foundation has headquarters in New York and 10 regional offices across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.
