Tsitsi Masiyiwa brings local approach to END Fund as new board chair

More than a decade after its founding, a nonprofit that aims to end neglected tropical diseases is working to integrate more African voices into its advocacy for increased funding, new board chair Tsitsi Masiyiwa told Devex. Since 2012, The END Fund, a New York-based collaborative philanthropic fund, has been using the money and influence of its donors — including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, and billionaire MacKenzie Scott — to partner with governments and community health groups to provide treatments for NTDs, which are a group of parasitic and bacterial infectious diseases that disproportionately affect Africans. The END Fund is now working with more experts based on the African continent, which represents a “major shift generally in development and also in the philanthropic community,” Masiyiwa said. Masiyiwa, a Zimbabwean megadonor, stepped in as board chair last month after sitting on the panel for more than six years and filling the role of co-vice chair since 2022. She also is co-founder of both Higherlife Foundation and Delta Philanthropies with her husband Strive, a London-based Zimbawean billionaire businessman and philanthropist. Masiyiwa’s goals as board chair of The END Fund include helping the organization usher in more community voices into its efforts to persuade African governments to commit more resources to fighting NTDs, she told Devex. “Having witnessed the incredible impact of the organisation first-hand, I’m excited to lead our efforts towards even greater sustainability by empowering affected communities to take the lead in eliminating NTDs,” Masiyiwa said in a statement. Nearly 40% of the more than 1.7 billion people affected by NTDs worldwide live in Africa. Those diseases include intestinal worms, river blindness spread by infected black flies, and the contagious eye disease trachoma. “They are diseases that are carried by the poorest of the poor communities,” Masiyiwa told Devex. In communities like these, things like open defecation, which contribute to the spread of infectious diseases, are common, she noted. And it isn’t because people want to engage in such unsanitary behavior. It’s because they are often having to make choices such as installing a toilet or paying to send their children to school, she said. The END Fund’s programs target specific causes such as deworming. Last year, the organization supported the distribution of roughly $550 million worth of NTD treatments and helped fund training for more than 1 million health workers. Its funding plans target specific diseases. Moving forward, the organization wants to make sure “we are sensitive and empathetic to the communities that we are working in and in partnership with to eliminate the diseases,” she said. Masiyiwa also wants to help African governments and the private sector to see the benefits of investing in the elimination of NTDs, which when untreated can prevent people from working and earning a living and can lead to other issues such as food insecurity. “One of the key things that we have to do as The END Fund, and a role that I hope I can play effectively is advocacy and advocacy that is coming from a place of understanding what the challenges and the problems are as opposed to just talking to governments and approaching them in a manner as if they don’t understand what the problem is,” she said. “They understand the problems. There are limited resources. So, how do we collectively find ways of actually allocating budgets for some of these diseases that are neglected?” she said. Countries where The END Fund has successfully helped do that include Rwanda and Ethiopia, Masiyiwa said. But many other African countries do not have actual budgets for NTD prevention and elimination, and that is something that The END Fund wants to help change, she said. “Having offices on the continent and experts on the ground makes the job that much easier,” she said. Collaboration and inclusivity have been key themes in Masiyiwa’s philanthropic work in Africa, which has included being the founding board chair of the African Philanthropy Forum — a network of philanthropists. She is also the lead organizer of the African Gender Initiative, a network of philanthropists that aims to increase gender parity and funding for women-led organizations on the African continent. Gender equity also will be a top priority for Masiyiwa at The END Fund. NTDs affect everyone. However, because women are often the primary source of income in many rural communities, when they are sidelined by a NTD it can have a detrimental effect on entire households, Masiyiwa said. “Part of how I use my voice is bringing that important awareness that we’re not just talking about NTDs because at the center of that is poverty and gender inequality,” she said. Update, Sept. 6, 2023: This story has been updated to clarify strategy changes the END Fund is making on the African continent.