By Joyce Gyekye
The West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) has emerged a winner at the 2026 African CSO Awards, beating 1,248 competitors from 46 African countries to win the Supporters category.
The award, organised by EPIC-Africa, was announced on October 8 at the African CSO Ideas Festival in Nairobi, Kenya, in recognition of WACSI’s contribution to strengthening civil society organisations and advancing locally led development across Africa.
WACSI was named a winner in the category, which had 29 finalists selected from the submissions.
The Executive Director of WACSI, Dr Nana Asantewa Afadzinu, said the recognition affirmed the Institute’s founding mission of strengthening civil society and acknowledged its years of hard work and commitment.
For more than two decades, WACSI has worked to improve the institutional capacity, sustainability and influence of civil society organisations across West Africa and beyond.
The Institute provides training, coaching, research, peer learning and technical support to help organisations strengthen their governance, organisational systems, strategic communication, digital resilience and financial sustainability.
An impact evaluation of WACSI’s Change the Game Academy programme, published in April 2026, found that 92 per cent of participating organisations had improved their fundraising capacity.
More than 79 organisations across nine cohorts since 2017 have collectively mobilised 315,000 US dollars in new funding through the programme.
WACSI also promotes community-led development through its Reverse Call for Proposals, which enables community-based organisations to identify their priorities and creates opportunities for partners and donors to respond to those needs.
Receiving the award on behalf of WACSI, the Institute’s Head of Capacity Development, Charles Kojo Vandyck, said the organisation remained committed to strengthening civil society and creating opportunities for local actors to lead development.
The award aligns with WACSI’s 2023–2027 Strategic Plan, which prioritises strengthening civil society capacities, promoting an enabling environment for civic action and improving the Institute’s institutional effectiveness.
WACSI was established in 2005 by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, now Open Society Foundations Africa, and became operational in July 2007.
