ANF August Newsletter

Hello Reader, 

Find out how we’re disrupting stories about climate change in Africa and meet a narrative champion organisation that wants young people to lead Africa and the world’s development agenda.

What’s Happening at Africa No Filter

1. We’re changing the narrative on climate change: Africa’s climate stories are typically told through a disaster lens. This narrative does little to fast-track climate action. Our partnership with the Climate Emergency Collaboration Group and the Africa Climate Foundation aims to provide a new script that shows a continent that’s turning disaster into opportunities through innovations, jobs, entrepreneurship, and financing. These are the stories that will be produced as part of the Shifting the Narrative on Climate Action in Africa project. They’ll be published by bird news agency. More info here. 

2. We launched a new grant for filmmakers: The Last Mile Film Fund will offer grants to productions that stay away from common stereotypes of Africa in movies, including crime, corruption, underdeveloped cities, and portraying Africans as undereducated and underexposed. Films must be in the final stages of production and be ready by August 2023. The callout is available in English, French and Arabic. Deadline: 20 Sept.

3. We joined innovators and global leaders to talk about the African Diaspora: We were in Cali, Columbia, to attend the second edition of AFROINNOVA. It’s a platform of diaspora innovators working to elevate and empower African and Afro-descendant peoples with the goal of changing narratives and realities. On the agenda? The global power of visual media and how it can be leveraged to elevate and celebrate Black culture and identity.

4. We’re recognising the people who are putting Africa in the news for the right reasons: Starting with F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, whosesummer break in Africa showed the continent as a fun and adventurous destination. He was in Namibia, Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda and not once did he talk about poverty or wanting to uplift Africans. It’s a refreshing take on how celebrities travel the continent. Read more.

Keeping up with ANF Narrative Champions

1. Africa’s youth are the continent’s biggest demographic and asset, but their voices are represented at the highest decision-making tables. Youth At The Table Ghana's inaugural mentorship conference connected 130 university-aged delegates from across Ghana to engage with industry leaders and learn about current global career trends, paths, and opportunities to encourage youth participation in the country and the world’s development agenda. The event was viewed by more than 50 000 people online.

2. How do you put emerging artists on the global stage and markets while ensuring they have local audiences? Rele Arts Foundation’s Young Contemporaries 2021/2022 programme hosted a two-week mentorship workshop to connect 30 emerging artists with industry leaders, curators, and gallerists. Six artists from the boot camp took part in the Young Contemporaries 2022 exhibition. The exhibition was attended by 2,500 people and viewed by more than 10,000 people online. The artwork sold out, and 100% of the proceeds went to the artists.

3. Diverse media representation leads to diverse representation. HEVA Fund’s Ascend Program set up a cohort of 15 young women, queer, trans and gender non-conforming media practitioners with capacity building, consulting, networking, skills building and guidance to enable diverse media representation. Participants were also mentored on the business of media.

4. Tune into Adele Onyango’s Legally Clueless podcast to find out what young Kenyans in Nairobi, Nakuru, Mombasa and Kisumu have to say about innovation, creativity, identity, and how they view Africa. The series has 266,247 views on YouTube and 168,970 audio episode streams.

Shifting Narratives
- documenting the narrative progress we’re seeing 

Nigerian soccer player Asisat Oshoala has been nominated for the Ballon d'Or Awards, making her the first African woman to be nominated for one of the sport's most prestigious prizes. The reigning African women’s player of the year plays for Barcelona Femeni in Spain. She scored 20 goals in 19 games during the 2022 season.

Google is the new home of the Timbuktu manuscripts. More than 40 000 manuscripts have been digitalized and archived on Google Arts and Culture's Mali Magic portal. They were written from the 11th to the 20th century. The project is a first of its kind by the platform in terms of scale and making ancient manuscripts accessible online.

We were excited to see the trailer for Viola Davis’s The Woman King, inspired by the historical all-women army from the Kingdom of Dahomey (Benin). African women are barely represented in Hollywood movies, and when they are, it’s usually stereotypical. The movie shows African women as powerful. It also co-stars South African actress Thuso Mbedu.

That’s it. Remember to follow us on social media at @Africanofilter.

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