Sound Connects Fund grantees attend capacity building workshop in Namibia

The workshops are held in Southern African countries that the fund works in. This year’s workshop is held in the Namibian capital Windhoek until 30 June, where five organisations are being funded.

The workshop programme is led by M&E specialist and researcher Simbarashe Mudhokwani from Dev Focus and Stuart Rothgiesser, an internationally recognised expert in advocacy storytelling at Roth Communications. The two facilitators have curated the weeklong programme to give the 14 SCF-awarded organisations in attendance an opportunity to learn about monitoring and evaluation, financial and business management, leadership, and fundraising, to name a few areas of interest.

Additionally, the grantees will engage in exchanges on current and pertinent issues affecting the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) in Southern Africa, and will get a chance to learn from the experts and each other about good practices for project implementation. They can also look forward to engaging with the Namibian CCI industry and its key players during an industry engagement event. The programme is available in English and Portuguese.

On Day 1 of the workshop (26 June), the grantees presented the projects they are currently implementing.

“The presentation from our Zimbabwean colleagues made me realise that we need to be more intentional and inclusive with regard to ensuring that musicians with disabilities are invited to participate in our project activities,” Open Arms Trust’s Brian Wheeler from Namibia said.

Antidote Music’s Siphilele Magagula from eSwatini said: “The SCF workshop has been an inclusive sounding board for our ideas and goals. It is helping us to collectively interrogate and better frame our concepts and purpose in order to better implement our projects and serve our communities beyond this project.”

Ntha Foundation’s Nthanda Manduwi from Malawi added: “The workshop has been insightful so far. We’re learning about other organisations and the work they are doing, and the similarities and differences between us and them. We learnt how to define and crystalise our mission statement – stating our ‘why?’ and further connecting into what we do and how we do it.”

About Sound Connects Fund

Implemented by the Music In Africa Foundation (MIAF) in partnership with Goethe-Institut, the SCF is a multifaceted initiative that aims to accelerate development and increase the capacity of the CCIs in Southern Africa by offering financial support in the form of different sized grants and comprehensive capacity-building programmes to eligible creative and cultural industry organisations based in Angola, Botswana, eSwatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The SCF is made possible with funding from the ACP-EU Culture programme, a project implemented by the Organisation of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and the European Union (EU).

About the Music In Africa Foundation

The Music In Africa Foundation is a pan-African, non-profit organisation based in Rosebank, Johannesburg, with satellite offices in East, West and Central Africa. The MIAF’s mission is to support the African music sector through promoting knowledge exchange and creating opportunities and capacity for music professionals. The Foundation does this in two ways: digitally via the Music In Africa website (www.musicinafrica.net) and offline through training programmes, artist mobility programmes, workshops, concerts, lobbying, conferences and other related initiatives.

About Goethe-Institut

Goethe-Institut is the cultural institute of the Federal Republic of Germany with a global reach. The institute promotes knowledge of the German language abroad and fosters international cultural cooperation. It conveys a comprehensive picture of Germany by providing information on Germany’s cultural, social and political life.

About the ACP-EU Culture Programme

Implemented by the Organisation of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and funded by the European Union, the ‘ACP-EU towards a viable cultural industry’ programme (ACP-EU CULTURE) intends to boost the potential of the cultural and creative sector and its contribution to the social and economic development of the ACP countries.