Collateral Benefits is a platform that aims to uplift the voices of African and Afro-descendant people from all walks of life. Through a series of Perspective Papers, it ensures that African and Afro-descendant intellect, wisdom, and experiences can contribute to and shape the global conversations on the critical issues of our time.
The platform launched its first paper, documenting critical African perspectives on the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, in May 2020 with Africa 2.0. It has since released three additional papers, which were compiled in collaboration with We Will Lead Africa.
Read the papers below:
Perspective Paper I: Bringing together 27 opinion pieces from 17 thinkers and doers, this perspective paper provides a nuanced, multi-country-multi-sector outlook on both the challenges and opportunities for Africa resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. It shows that, even in dark times, we stand witness to positive steps and positive change and humbly offer our voices to the conversation; so that when we emerge from our lockdowns, the narrative has changed for the better, for the benefit of all.
Perspective Paper II: Voices of African Womxn: The second paper shares the perspectives of 40 African and Afro-descendant women, highlighting the unique way the pandemic is impacting women as well as their vision of a way forward. Released in December 2020, it centres the experiences, vision, and action of African women across a variety of themes that have shaped 2020, including racism, gender-based violence, mental health, business, and innovation. Despite many of the perspectives speaking of challenge and ongoing inequality, at the core of this paper is a sense of possibility, radical transformation, and potential that the future holds for African and Afro-descendant women everywhere.
Perspective Paper III: Voices of African Leaders: Published on January 2021, ‘Voices of African Leaders’ offers 31 responses to the prompt, ‘What leadership narratives do we want more of to take Africa forward, now and for the future?’ In these perspectives, we see everyday leaders who are filling needs and taking opportunities to be actors in making a difference for progress. We also hear an expressed hope that we, formal and informal everyday African leaders, will take up this call at scale, to achieve the collective, pan-African, and positive change impact we need.
Perspective Paper IV: Voices of the African Diaspora: Paper IV is a contribution toward the creation of a collective memory of what surviving, overcoming, and transcending COVID-19 has been like for people of African descent around the world. These marvellous contributors provide 43 unique perspectives, building on 38 national identities and experiences, from all the continents of the world. Their insights and discussions focus on migration and belonging; recognition, justice and human rights; education, digitalisation and social transformation; healing and healthcare; entrepreneurship, leadership and innovative networks; and ingenuity, creativity and personal growth.
About the Collateral Benefits curators
Susana and Sarah are the co-founders and co-editors of the Collateral Benefits platform. Yabome served as WWLA partner and an editorial team member on three of the four Collateral Benefits papers.
Susana Edjang has over 15 years of experience in international development. She is a co-founding member of Afroinnova, an African diaspora innovation platform; and a member of the Advisory Board of the Collective for the Renewal of Africa (CORA), the African Women on Board (AWB) network, as well as the Council of the UK’s Royal African Society.
Sarah J. Owusu is a co-founder of the storytelling platform We Will Lead Africa (WWLA) that focuses on documenting and sharing African perspectives and stories of everyday African leadership in order to shift global narratives. She is an award-winning organisation development practitioner and coach, and applies her expertise to the innovation space through the boutique consultancy, InkDot.
Yabome Gilpin-Jackson is a multi-award-winning leadership and organisation development consultant, academic, writer, and curator of African identity and leadership stories. She has presented on and taught about ‘African Leadership: Now and for the Future.’ Yabome speaks on the issue of global African identities, which led to her writing and publishing short story collections entitled Identities, Ancestries, and Destinies. She regularly lectures and has peer-reviewed publications in her areas of interest.