Batonga Foundation

“Batonga hires an independent accounting firm to prepare the federal form 990. Upon submission of the draft, the form 990 is reviewed by the executive director. A copy of the final draft is distributed to the full board of directors before filing with the internal revenue service.”

“The board of directors reviews the conflict of interest policy on an annual basis. Potential conflicts of interest are also regularly monitored. Should a conflict exist, board members recuse themselves and do not participate in discussions with other board members, vote on the issues, or otherwise influence the decision-making process related to the matter.”

“The officers of the board of directors do not receive any compensation for their membership to the board of directors. For the executive director's compensation, the compensation committee of the board (the board chair, founder and committee chairs) reviews and discusses compensation on an annual basis. For team members below the e.d., the organisation has worked with a third party consultant to identify a salary grid that is aligned with the employment market in each country of operation (usa and benin for 2021). Managers use this salary grid to decide on level of compensation for existing and new hires.”

“Batonga makes its governing documents and conflict of interest policy available to the public upon request. Our financial statements are published yearly in the annual report. Batonga also shared additional detailed financial statements with donors (both individuals and institutional) upon request.”

“3. Amplifying african voices, particularly those of francophone african women, through our conversations for africa platform and our nos voix comptent advocacy initiative. Conversations for africa is a high-level video series which brought together african activists, artists and leaders to explore together the most pressing issues facing the continent, particularly as they are experienced by women and girls. Published on youtube in may 2021, the first conversation in the series featured ghanaian hip-hop artist, director, and author blitz bazawule and burundian poet and human rights activist, ketty nivyabandi, was moderated by batonga founder and grammy-award winning singer/songwriter angelique kidjo, and explored sexual and reproductive health and rights in africa. Conversation 2 was also facilitated by angelique kidjo, focused on the topic of gender based violence on the african contient, and featured ugandan feminist activist, strategist and consultant jessico horn, south african lawyer, activist and model, thando hopa, and senegalese former division 1 basketball player turned model and artistic director, badara ndiaye. Conversations for africa's second conversation on gender-based violence was published in late june 2021. The third and final conversation in our generation equality forum series was recorded in october and was published in march 2022. Hosted by frdrique leininger, editor-in-chief of elle magazine in cte d'ivoire, conversation 3 brought together african grassroots youth leaders, anika dorothy jenne, chanceline mevowanou & sylvain obedi, to discuss how the generation equality forum served african youth and how future events and institutions can effectively make and hold space for african youth. Batonga's nos voix comptent (or "our voices count") initiative was launched in 2020 with the intention of building a critical mass of informed participation and engagement among francophone african women's organizations and activists before the generation equality forum in 2021. Phase 1of the nos voix comptent initiative, in 2020, involved raising awareness of the forum itself among francophone african women's organizations and activities through a series of webinars and newsletters. Phase 2, which concluded in april of 2021, involved the consultation and collection of data from 2490 women from 18 countries & led by 10 on-the-ground partner organizations. This consultation aimed to capture the priorities and needs of francophone african women so that their voices could be heard at the gef later that year. The results of this consultation were summarized in a report with strong data and recommendations. The online consultation included 862 women from 18 countries 80% urban 20% rural the on-the-ground consultation included 1628 women from 3 countries (cameroon, senegal & benin) 71% rural 28.6% urban phase 3 of the nvc initiative centered around the generation equality forum itself in june 2021 and the advocacy of nvc's members. Nvc's leaders and members presented and amplified two advocacy reports, the nvc consultation recommendations, and the digital inclusion recommendations for how to ensure that low internet access communities could be more fully engaged in international events such as the forum. Nvc partnered with un women west africa to try and engage governments who were still not officially part of the process. As a result, nvc members met with 6 representatives from 6 national governments, benin, senegal, cameroon, burkina faso, drc, and france to present these reports. Nvc played a facilitation role in 3 official gef events as well. Finally, after the forum, nos voix comptents members formed seven member-led advocacy working groups to enable actions around the advocacy goals outlined by the consultations with over 300 working group registrants.”

“Consultants: program service expenses 354,302. Management and general expenses 7,011. Fundraising expenses 2,000. Total expenses 363,313. Audio/visual: program service expenses 0. Management and general expenses 1,464. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 1,464.”