Offices
Johannesburg, South Africa
Dakar, Senegal
Nairobi, Kenya
By the Numbers
Expenditures by Year
![A paralegal stands with his bicycle on a road near Kampala, Uganda, in June 2013. Photo credit: © Sven Torfinn/Panos for the Open Society Foundations A man stands on the road with his bicycle.](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/6bc8061b-09b8-420b-8b92-e160bbe7d975/3-20130626-torfinn-lahi-uganet-hiv-001-3000.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C2000&w=760)
Open Society–Africa works with a range of civil society groups to promote just democracies and economic policies that advance equality.
![A woman whose son was killed by police raises her fist in protest against police brutality, in Nairobi, Kenya, on June 5, 2020. A woman raises her fist at a protest](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/3dd9751a-87ed-42bf-960c-b9b8652cae38/20200616-meinherdt-kenya-police-brutality-coronavirus-3000.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C2000&w=760)
We strive to amplify people’s voices, through conscious organizing, to express themselves and participate in public life, to challenge and disrupt the exercise of unchecked power, and to hold public and private institutions to account for their actions. In Kenya and South Africa, for instance, we have supported “citizen audit” programs, where local groups use publicly available information on government contracts and plans to check on whether the promised goods and services—from schools to lavatories—were actually built and to what standards.
![People protesting military rule gather outside the army headquarters in Khartoum, Sudan, on April 25, 2019. © Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty A crowd of protestors](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/c7583fb6-8d91-493a-ae80-90e6e83f5b8a/20230303-kose-sudan-khartoum-military-demonstration-3000.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C2000&w=760)
Against the background of instability in the southern Sahel, in Central Africa, in the Horn of Africa, and in other geographies, we support groups that take a rights-based approach to security sector governance and accountability, and that work to counter militarism. This includes advocating for full civilian control of military institutions and countering efforts to use claimed threats to national security to undermine democratic institutions and accountability.
![Observers for the National Election Watch at work in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on November 16, 2012. Photo credit: © Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Two election observers in Sierra Leone check a computer with live data from a polling station.](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/5e871aa6-6737-4b83-9d11-34315b9f1c58/2-2012-sanogo-sierra-leone-election-monitors-3000.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C2000&w=760)
We support groups that promote accountable, just, and inclusive democracies governed by law in which rights are promoted and protected. This includes our work to promote free, fair, and peaceful elections, such as the creation of a web-based “situation room” that supports election monitoring efforts by independent civil society groups during recent elections in Nigeria and Senegal.
![People wait outside a medical tent to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at a hospital in Harare, Zimbabwe, on March 29, 2021. Photo credit: © Tafadzwa Ufumeli/Getty A group of people waiting in line outside of a medical tent](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/3b22bdf6-4ef5-49ba-a7af-c065baf3e7b4/20210506-ufumeli-zimbabwe-coronavirus-vaccine-3000.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C2000&w=760)
Open Society–Africa supports progressive economic and social norms, policies, and practices that create opportunity and promote equality and rights. This has shaped our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which underline deep global inequalities—versus the countries of the Global North—in access not just to vaccines, but also to diagnostic testing and treatments, particularly in Africa. We are pushing to expand affordable access to health care with a drive to support Africa-based research, development, and manufacturing enterprises that will form the basis of resilient, secure, and effective health care delivery.
George Soros began his philanthropy in South Africa, giving scholarships to Black South African students in 1979. The Foundations’ work in Africa has expanded dramatically since then, and notably provided support to a range of civil society groups that helped drive a wave of democratic change starting in the 1990s.
With the end of apartheid, we opened our national foundation in South Africa in 1993, followed by our first African regional foundation—the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa—in 1997. Our Open Society Initiative for West Africa, based in Dakar, followed in 2000. The Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa opened its doors in Nairobi in 2005, after Kenya held multiparty elections in 2002. In 2022, the separate regional foundations merged into a single regional entity: Open Society–Africa with offices in Dakar, Nairobi, and Johannesburg.
Highlights of Our Work in Africa
Starting to Build a More Open World
![A mass meeting of professors and students at Cape Town University, in Cape Town, South Africa, on September 19, 1985. Photo credit: © Bernard Bisson/Getty A hall full of students with their fists in the air](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/63f1e8dd-afd9-4463-97d9-bc68c6ccf004/1979-bisson-south-africa-cape-town-university-3000.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=104&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C1953&w=160)
Nurturing Democracy and Addressing Inequality in Post-Apartheid South Africa
![A housing development in the Northern Provinces region of South Africa, in 2000. Photo credit: © Siphiwe Sibeko for the Open Society Foundations Two women and a baby in a house](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/94f9b8e4-73ba-4721-bb65-4bf0bfd6c165/1994-sibeko-nurcha-15-3000.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=104&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C1953&w=160)
Expanding Open Society Work in Africa
![A paralegal prepares to meet with a detainee in Lilongwe, Malawi, on August 19, 2010. Photo credit: © Ed Kashi /VII for the Open Society Foundations Two men with paperwork inside a police station](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/a2e8ac2c-3711-4fbe-b1a3-9c3794f1b905/1997-kashi-malawi-paralegal-2861-3000.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=104&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C1953&w=160)
Helping People Living with HIV and TB in Africa
![A nurse prepares a vaccination for a patient who suffers from multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. Photo credit: © Pep Bonet/Noor for the Open Society Foundations A doctor wearing a mask](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/2284cfce-7f76-4212-82dc-1f498f463629/2007-bonet-lesotho-tb-17-3000.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=104&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C1953&w=160)
Supporting Development in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone and Liberia
![A beneficiary of a microcredit loan in George Brook, Freetown, Sierra Leone. Photo credit: © Aubrey Wade/Panos Pictures for the Open Society Foundations A woman and child carrying a rack of fish](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/209c1371-56e0-4c10-97ea-731c4316447e/2009-wade-liberia-brac-3664-3000.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=104&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C1953&w=160)
Holding Soldiers Accountable for Rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo
![A victim of sexual assault looks at her attacker as he is being sentenced by a military court in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on November 17, 2008. Photo credit: © Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty People in a tent](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/ac9d5512-ded5-4007-9d91-3a459cc7df62/2011-schmidt-congo-court-rape-3000.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=104&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C1953&w=160)
Reducing Harm from Drug Use
![A worker holds a tray and injection kit that will be handed out to drug users as they enter North America's first government-sanctioned injection site for addicts in Vancouver, British Columbia, on September 15, 2003. Photo credit: © Andy Clark/Reuters/Newscom A person holding a tray with supplies](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/a916045d-cca9-43e0-8c3e-e0d11060d78a/2017-clark-vancouver-harm-reduction-3000.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=104&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C1953&w=160)
Read more
Hate Speech
In Africa, Taking on Viral Hate
![Kenyan lawyers participate in a virtual pre-trial consultation with a judge and Meta's legal counsel in Nairobi, Kenya, on April 12, 2023. Photo credit:
© Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Kenyan lawyers stand around a computer for a virtual meeting.](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/a31e78f3-fa9d-4589-b00b-d2a85c057b56/20230510-karumba-kenya-facebook-court-3000.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=200&q=80&rect=0%2C63%2C3000%2C1875)
Facebook users in some African countries are exposed to higher levels of violent content, hate speech, and misinformation. The consequences can be deadly. A legal challenge seeks to force the social media giant to fix it.
Vaccine Justice
The Quest to Boost Africa’s Fight Against COVID-19
![A production scientist works with samples at Afrigen Biologics in Cape Town, South Africa, on February 3, 2022. Photo credit: © Shelley Christians/Reuters A scientist wearing protective gear in a lab](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/6794c2bd-c07a-4477-a7ee-4d4ec108c726/20221005-christians-south-africa-vaccine-hub-3000.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=200&q=80&rect=0%2C63%2C3000%2C1875)
While Africa consumes 25 percent of the world’s vaccines, only one percent of vaccines are manufactured there. The mRNA vaccine manufacturing hub in South Africa is working to change that.
Vaccine Justice
Q&A: Africa’s Fight for Vaccine Equity
![Medical staff prepare COVID-19 vaccine doses for school teachers and staff in Tembisa, South Africa, on June 23, 2021. Photo credit: © Sharon Seretlo/Gallo Images/Getty Two women holding vaccination vials and syringes](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/a2717e01-3cee-4994-80ef-114b807b684d/20220321-south-africa-vaccination-teachers-3000.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=200&q=80&rect=0%2C63%2C3000%2C1875)
As the pandemic enters its third year, African Alliance founder Tian Johnson shares reflections on how to make progress in the push for vaccine equity and what African civil society organizations are asking for now.