The Dangote Foundation and other global development actors on Sunday forged a successful alliance with Lives and Livelihoods Fund (LLF) and thought leaders to advance prosperity and sustainable change in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
This took place as the Lives and Livelihoods Fund (LLF) concluded its ‘Transforming Lives and Livelihoods Forum: Mobilize for Impact’ programme during the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Annual Meetings held in Algiers, the capital city of Algeria.
The pivotal event convened ministers, development experts, and financial leaders, to foster nuanced discussions that illuminated pathways to address poverty, inequality, and climate challenges across Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
At the forum moderated by James Carty, Head of Middle East and East Asia Gates Foundation, and Syed Husain Quadri, Director of Resilience and Climate Action, Islamic Development Bank, the forum’s sessions delivered strategic advancements through thoughtful exchange.
At the forum, one of the major developmental partners, Dangote Foundation, disclosed that they are in partnership with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also to strengthen their support for primary health care and agricultural programme in Nigeria with expansion to Niger and Chad.
“So, we are now expanding that relationship to the Islamic Development Bank through its window of Live and Livelihoods Funds,” the representative of the Managing Director of the Dangote Foundation, Zouera Youssoufou, and Head of Community Engagement and Polio Project of the Foundation, Mr. Ahmed Iya, said.
Youssoufou further disclosed to THISDAY exclusively at the forum that: “We are now participating in the Live and Livelihoods Fund with the same kind of support to improve health outcomes, agriculture, climate change, and resilience. We are doing that in order to support the sub-Saharan Africans, particularly Nigeria and Niger and Chad.
“We are now here to participate in this forum as the first time, so we are not just coming here as an observer now because they wanted Dangote Foundation to be part of the league of foundations that they are working with, not only in Africa but across the globe.
“The Dangote Foundation is here today to experience some of the innovations they have worked with in other countries, and some of the activities that are ongoing in other parts of the world.
“Based on that, we have now agreed that we all have the same common objective because already they have a partnership with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation just like us (Dangote Foundation).
“So, we are now trying to see how we can now further this relationship to reach out to more people, using some of the platforms that they have in order to support the developments in the regions of Africa.”
On the significance of the meeting to the Foundation and Nigeria, the Dangote Foundation representative said the benefits of the meetings and forum of the LLF and the IsDB respectively to Nigeria is huge.
According to her, “For example, all the programmes under the Islamic Development Bank is on how to alleviate poverty, provide access to good life, and how to provide infrastructural support for the region. And this is what we all need, and to support any alternative source to good livelihood.”
She also added: “You can see even on the Time Magazine that Aliko Dangote is one of the 100 philanthropists in the world. So definitely it is the largest foundation; it has the largest endowment, and we are in different sectors supporting different programmes.
“And we have also expanded our project out of Nigeria to reach out to other countries. Not only in Nigeria, but Asia, Africa, and around the globe. There is nowhere you go where Dangote Foundation is not ready to provide support for different programmes that would alleviate lives.”
Meanwhile, at the first panel of the LLF forum with the theme: ‘Bridging National and Global Development Goals’, featuring H.E. Ahmed Shiyam, Maldives’ Minister of Fisheries and Ocean Resources, H.E. Henry Musa Kpaka, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, and others, the session explored how LLF empowers national governments to fulfill global commitments, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), by providing tailored financing and technical expertise.
“LLF’s support was recognized for enabling the Maldives to enhance sustainable fisheries management, Sierra Leone to bolster agricultural productivity, and Tajikistan to strengthen health systems, aligning national priorities with international frameworks.
“The dialogue culminated in three countries pledging to adopt LLF’s community-focused models to advance policy coherence and local ownership, reinforcing global development goals,” the panelist stated.
The second panel tagged: ‘Financing Impact: Converging Capital and Collaboration for Inclusive Growth’, which included Greta Bull of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gurbuz Gonul of IRENA, Julia Neilson of the OECD, and Sofiane Mazari of Crédit Populaire d’Algérie, was entered on access to finance and debt sustainability.
The session highlighted LLF’s innovative financing model, which blends grants with concessional loans to fund critical projects in health, agriculture, and infrastructure without exacerbating debt burdens.
The panelists praised this approach for easing fiscal pressures on lower-income countries while enabling scalable investments.
The panelists proposed additional solutions, like the Mazari-championed Sovereign Sukuk to attract private capital for development projects.
Gonul advocated renewable energy financing to lower operational costs and enhance energy access, while Bull emphasized scaling women’s economic collectives to broaden financial inclusion, and Nielson proposed policy reforms to improve trade and investment frameworks, ensuring equitable access to finance.
These ideas, sharpened through rigorous discourse, are expected to inspire new programmatic commitments to bolster LLF’s financing framework.
The forum further sparked new collaborations among governments, donors, and private sector leaders, reinforcing LLF’s role as a key driver of sustainable development in the global south. The panel outcomes and key take away underscored LLF’s impact in enhancing millions of lives through diversified incomes, resilient infrastructure, and robust health systems, setting a benchmark for global cooperation.
The Lives and Livelihoods Fund (LLF) is a US$ 2.5 billion development initiative launched in 2016 and funded by an unprecedented global coalition including Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), Gates Foundation (GF), Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD), King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSRelief), and Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD).
Accordingly, its goal is to lift the poorest out of poverty across 33 IsDB member countries by addressing nine Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through projects in health, agriculture, and other humanitarian programmes.
Sunday Okobi
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