A Q&A with Dr. Anita Nyanjong
The Ipas Collaborative Fund is a central part of Ipas’s approach to advancing reproductive justice and supporting locally led change. As we work to grow the Fund and its impact, our own Dr. Anita Nyanjong, PhD has been appointed as the first-ever director.
Dr. Nyanjong is a human rights lawyer, global development and feminist leader with more than 17 years of experience spanning reproductive justice, gender equality, philanthropy and grantmaking, strategic partnerships, resource mobilization and locally led development across Africa and globally. Most recently, she worked at Ipas on strategic business development and partnerships and the global CTS Nexus (Child Marriage, Teen Pregnancy and School Dropout) initiative.
“I’m excited to lead the Collaborative Fund at a moment when locally led movements need sustained, flexible resources more than ever. I look forward to working with our partners to grow a fund that shifts resources and decision-making closer to communities and strengthens the movements advancing reproductive justice around the world.”
— Dr. Anita Nyanjong, Director of the Ipas Collaborative Fund
Here she talks about why investing in the Collaborative Fund matters now—and what’s next:
Why is Ipas expanding its investment in the Collaborative Fund right now?
Nyanjong: Around the world, the challenges facing women and girls are becoming increasingly interconnected. Advancing reproductive justice requires more than funding individual projects— it calls for stronger partnerships, locally led leadership, and collaborative approaches that can address complex systems and sustain long-term systems change.
At the same time, across philanthropy, there is growing recognition—and increasing urgency—around shifting resources and decision-making closer to communities, investing in local leadership, and working across sectors to tackle shared challenges. Against this backdrop, Ipas is strengthening its commitment to collaborative philanthropy through the Ipas Collaborative Fund.
What unique value do you think the Ipas Collaborative Fund offers?
The Ipas Collaborative Fund is an important way Ipas is working to foster more collaborative, equitable and locally led approaches to philanthropy in support of reproductive justice.
We’re able to do grantmaking a bit differently because of Ipas’s networked structure and locally led teams that are well connected in communities and can guide decision making and ongoing support for grantees.
Rather than operating the Fund as a traditional grantmaking mechanism, we’re developing it as a platform to build partnerships, mobilize new philanthropic and catalytic resources, strengthen local organizations and movements, and encourage shared learning across the sustainable abortion ecosystems we work to build.
What will you do first as the new director of the Fund?
The Fund is evolving, and we want to make sure we make smart choices now to grow our impact in the future. My initial focus will be to listen, learn, and engage with partners from across the ecosystems in which we work—to better understand where the Collaborative Fund can add the greatest value.
Taking this collaborative approach reflects Ipas’s belief that sustainable solutions are built with our partners, not for them. As our strategy develops, I look forward to engaging more with donors, partners and networks who share our commitment to advancing reproductive justice through more equitable and collaborative approaches to investing in change.
Interested in partnering with the Ipas Collaborative Fund? We welcome conversations with funders, philanthropic partners, civil society organizations and networks committed to advancing reproductive justice through locally led change.
Contact us at [email protected]