Alan Fowler appointed visiting Professor in African Philanthropy at Wits Business School

In a collaboration between the Wits Business School (WBS) and the Southern Africa Trust (SAT), Professor Alan Fowler has been appointed visiting Professor in the Chair in African Philanthropy at WBS.

Alan Fowler, Emeritus Professor at ISS and a former president of International Society for Third Sector Research (ISTR) says, 'This initiative, start-funded by the Ford Foundation, aims to take forward a pan-African perspective on the practice and epistemology of gifting on the continent, a topic of many ISTR African network conferences over the years.'

An inaugural conference to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in March this year will bring together academics and practitioners from across the continent to co-design a chair around four themes, namely; teaching, research, outreach to diverse audiences and the difficult issue of measuring performance.

African perspective on gifting

The work of the Chair will bring a home-grown African narrative and perspective on gifting , adding impetus to  continent’s development. It will also contribute to international debates about the role of philanthropy, for example in relation to the newly approved sustainable development goals. 

Stakeholder engagement during this process will include consultation with policy makers, public, private and civil society leaders, academics, foundations, social investors and high net worth individuals investing in the philanthropic sector. 

It is anticipated that the full profile of the chair will be approved before the end of June 2016.