Reimagining Development: Who Gets to Define Success?
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On 1 – 3 September 2026, the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI), EPIC Africa, AFFORD UK, Reos Partners and the reimagining international non-governmental organisation (RINGO) organised a convening dubbed Africa at the Centre: Leading Change, Shifting Power convening, which brought together over 250 actors in the civil society ecosystem across over 30 countries around the world to find a new model of development practices, one that will recognise the agency of actors within the global majority. During the convening, conversations about shifting power repeatedly returned to a fundamental question: what happens when Africans are not simply asked to participate in development, but are empowered to define what development means?
This question came into sharp focus during one of the thematic labs, “Reimagining Development from an African Worldview: Mindsets and Narratives.” The lab created a space for participants to move beyond familiar conversations about funding, aid and institutional development to interrogate underlying sector assumptions. By examining what is already working across Africa and confronting uncomfortable truths, participants explored the mindsets, relationships, practices and structures that must evolve for development to become genuinely African-led.
One central conclusion emerged clearly: Africa is not starting from nothing. Participants pointed to the continent’s history of self-rule, indigenous institutions such as chieftaincy, vibrant civil society, the growing influence of young entrepreneurs, continental initiatives including Agenda 2063 and the African Continental Free Trade Area and institutions like the Africa CDC. These are not merely signs of potential; they are evidence of existing agency.
Yet the development architecture continues to create a paradox. Africa possesses institutions, knowledge, resources, social capital and systems of solidarity, while many development decisions remain shaped by external priorities, financing structures and measures of success. The fundamental challenge, therefore, is more than simply how to bring more resources into Africa, but who determines how those resources are used, whose priorities they serve and what counts as success.
When the Metrics Cannot See Africa
This question was powerfully reinforced by Eseroghene Emerhi, Philanthropy Advisor, whose provocation challenged the assumption that African communities are waiting for external actors to define development for them. Her story of Pa Tony, a 100-year-old highlife musician in Port Harcourt and one of the last surviving members of Cardinal Rex Lawson’s band, offered a striking example. Pa Tony carries a century of cultural memory and represents a musical tradition that influenced generations, yet within conventional development frameworks, he remains virtually invisible.
Because no standard baseline, target, indicator, or beneficiary category adequately captures the value of his contribution, Emerhi observed: “By every instrument that our sector uses to measure development, Pa Tony does not exist.” The statement is more than a critique of measurement; it is a challenge to the assumptions embedded within development itself. If systems count disbursements and outputs but cannot recognise dignity, trust, cultural memory, or mutual respect, the problem lies not with communities, but with the lens through which we view them.
Consequently, the lab urged participants to rethink impact on their own terms. Rather than relying on rigid external frameworks, African development actors must evaluate how to measure trust, account for dignity and support sustained progress long after a funding cycle ends.
From Consultation to Power
Reimagining development also means reimagining participation, shifting community roles from passive consultation to genuine decision-making authority. Drawing on the experience of the Kiisi Trust Fund, Emerhi highlighted an approach that supported more than 30 grassroots organisations while deliberately transferring governance power to local populations. Communities articulated their own priorities, including dignity, education, connection to land and the importance of being trusted with financial and strategic choices.
While this decentralisation was slower and generated administrative tensions between communities, boards and other stakeholders, that friction reflected authentic power-shifting rather than failure. A striking outcome was that communities long accustomed to being described by external institutions began describing themselves in their own words and in their own languages. Shifting power is not simply changing who sits at the table; it is changing who gets to decide what the table is for.
Confronting Internal Challenges and Systemic Gaps
Without romanticising African agency, participants confronted internal realities that constrain locally led development. Critical systemic gaps remain across the continent, including governance weaknesses, leadership succession issues, national plan implementation failures and sector fragmentation driven by competition among civil society organisations for limited resources. Furthermore, financial dependence on external donors continues to skew organisational priorities, while rigid metrics fail to recognise intangible assets like trust and cultural continuity.
Addressing external power imbalances requires simultaneously addressing these internal vulnerabilities. Achieving lasting transformation calls for stronger domestic institutions, enhanced accountability, greater transparency and increased focus on local resource mobilisation. Partnerships must move away from traditional donor-recipient dynamics toward relationships built on mutual respect, shared responsibility and African ownership of priorities and decisions.
Taking Back the Pen
The central imperative emerging from the convening was the concept of a “transfer of the pen.” Because the power to define success is the power to write the story, African actors must have greater authority to determine what progress looks like, what deserves investment and what futures are worth pursuing. This shift requires moving from dependency to agency, from externally dictated agendas to locally determined priorities and from viewing Africa primarily through the lens of need to recognising its assets and capabilities.
Instead of asking “What can others provide?” African institutions must ask “What do we already have, and how can we strengthen and mobilise it?” Africa’s development story does not begin with an empty page; the definitions, knowledge, institutions and community practices already exist. What must change is who is trusted to recognise them, resource them and write the story around them.
And as Emerhi reminded participants, “what Africa needs now is not fewer dreamers, but more people willing to imagine beyond the status quo and act with conviction.”
The Path Forward
Transitioning toward an African-led development model is not merely a technical adjustment; it represents a fundamental reconfiguration of power. Addressing systemic gaps, from recalibrating how success is measured to securing local decision-making authority, requires a deliberate commitment to “transferring the pen.” This journey demands more than policy shifts; it necessitates an active investment in indigenous knowledge, institutions and community assets. Moving forward, the trajectory of African development will be defined not by those who provide financing, but by those who live the reality, establishing a framework where African leadership serves as author, editor and final voice.
About the author
Justice Paa Kwesi Junior Abban Abban
JusticePaa Kwesi Abban is a purpose-driven young African leader focused on building people, empowering young people, strengthening communities and turning ideas into meaningful social impact.
