Introduction:

I have been reflecting on recent discussions on this platform concerning the future of global development philanthropy, particularly on the argument that the next wave of philanthropy should place greater emphasis on emerging regions and locally led approaches. These discussions led me to consider a related question in animal welfare: if Africa is set to play an increasingly important role in shaping future food systems, what does that imply for animal welfare funding? In this article, I hope to add an African perspective to that conversation.

For additional context, over the last 4.5 years, I have worked as an advisor for the Effective Altruism Animal Welfare Fund and worked closely with animal welfare organizations across Africa through my work with the Open Wing Alliance (where I work as the Senior Africa Lead) and other funders in the movement. These experiences have led me to become increasingly convinced that Africa deserves much greater strategic attention within discussions about the future of animal welfare.

My argument is not primarily one of representation or fairness. It is grounded on the claim that Africa is becoming a key continent where the structure of future animal agriculture is still being formed. If that is true, then it has implications for how we think about funding, movement building, research, and institutional development over the coming decades.

The Question We Should Be Asking:

Discussions about animal welfare funding understandably focus on current suffering. However, we should also consider future suffering by focusing on where animal agriculture is likely to expand and intensify, and where systems are still being shaped. This requires asking where animal agriculture is likely to expand most rapidly, where production systems are likely to intensify, where industry norms and regulatory frameworks are still being formed, and where interventions might influence systems before they become deeply entrenched.

These questions matter because some of the most impactful interventions are not necessarily those that address the largest problems today. Rather, they are interventions that influence how future problems develop.

Viewed through this lens, I believe Africa deserves consideration.

Africa Is Entering a Period of Transformation:

Africa is undergoing one of the most significant demographic and economic transitions in the world. According to United Nations Projections, the continent's population is expected to increase from approximately 1.5 billion people today to around 2.5 billion by 2050. By the end of this century, nearly 40% of the world's population is expected to live in Africa.

This demographic growth is occurring alongside rapid urbanization, rising incomes, and changing consumption patterns. Governments, development institutions, and agricultural stakeholders are increasingly promoting eggs, meat, dairy products, and other animal-source foods as important tools for improving nutrition, food security, and economic development. The FAO, for example, has highlighted the role of these foods in addressing malnutrition in low-income regions such as sub-Saharan Africa.

As demand grows, intensification of animal agriculture is likely to expand and become intensive. According to the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2025–2034, livestock production in sub-Saharan Africa is projected to increase by approximately 29% by 2034, with poultry, beef, and dairy accounting for much of this growth.

Taken together, these trends point not only to significant growth in animal agriculture but also to a broader structural transition in which many of the institutions, markets, and regulatory systems shaping that growth are still in formation.

We are at a Critical Juncture:

Unlike regions where industrial animal agriculture is already deeply entrenched, many African countries are still undergoing important transitions in their food systems. Corporate practices continue to evolve, consumer expectations are changing, supply chains are developing, and regulatory frameworks remain incomplete in many contexts.

This creates an important opportunity. Animal welfare advocates are not only working to improve existing systems; they may also have the chance to influence how those systems develop in the first place.

If Africa is entering a period of rapid agricultural transformation, the decisions we make now may influence animal welfare outcomes for decades to come. For those thinking seriously about the future of animal welfare, that possibility alone should warrant much closer attention.

Implications for Animal Welfare Funders:

Following the above, I see three broad implications for funders and ecosystem builders working on farmed animal welfare in Africa: strengthening the research pipeline, investing in organisations and leadership, and improving funding resilience.

1. Strengthening the Research Pipeline

Despite growing research work on agriculture and food systems in Africa^[1], many aspects of farmed animal welfare remain poorly understood. We still have limited empirical evidence on several dimensions of farmed animal welfare conditions^[2] across production systems, industry trajectories, the importation dynamics shaping the sector, corporate practices, consumer attitudes, and the effectiveness of different interventions.

Expanding the research pipeline through investments in local researchers, research institutions, and collaborations with EA-aligned organizations could help generate the evidence needed to inform better decision-making and support more targeted interventions.

2. Investing in African Advocacy Organizations and Leaders

Strong movements depend on strong organisations and capable leaders. While funding is essential, in practice, many African-led and African-founded organisations in the space operate under significant structural constraints, including limited access to sustained funding, mentorship, and technical support.

Encouragingly, efforts in this direction are already beginning to emerge. One small example of this emerging effort is the recently launched African Food Ecosystem Series, a training initiative designed to support early-stage founders and small teams working across food systems in Africa. I believe there is considerable room for further investment in leadership development and movement infrastructure across the continent.

3. Improving Funding Resilience

Over the years of doing this work, I have encountered several African-led and African-founded organizations doing high-impact work under conditions of persistent funding uncertainty. Many of these organisations operate with either no funding or only short-term, often one-year grants, meaning even moderately supported groups spend significant time and energy planning around the uncertainty of funding beyond the next cycle.

Building lasting change is difficult when organisations are constrained by short funding horizons. Multi-year funding, unrestricted support, and a stronger emphasis on organisational sustainability could help promising groups shift attention from short-term survival to long-term impact. Greater stability enables organisations to invest in people, strengthen internal systems, and pursue longer-term strategies that would otherwise be difficult to sustain

Conclusion

Ultimately, my argument is not that Africa deserves attention because it is underrepresented. Rather, I believe that the continent's growing importance to the future of animal agriculture should make it increasingly difficult to ignore.

If that view is correct, then some of the most valuable investments we can make today may lie less in scaling existing interventions alone, and more in shaping the institutional and market conditions that will determine the scale and distribution of future animal suffering.

For that reason, I believe Africa deserves far greater strategic attention within the global animal welfare movement.

I welcome comments, critiques, and alternative perspectives. I can also be reached at adhiamboaurelia049@gmail.com

Sources:
 

1. United Nations World Population Prospects 2024: Summary of Results (Pages 14-16): https://population.un.org/wpp/assets/Files/WPP2024_Summary-of-Results.pdf
2. FAO. Gateway to Poultry Production and Products (Section: Nutritional Value of Eggs):https://www.fao.org/poultry-production-products/en
3. OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2025-2034 (Pages 174-177): https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2025/07/oecd-fao-agricultural-outlook-2025-2034_3eb15914/601276cd-en.pdf
4. World Bank. Africa’s Cities: Opening the Doors to the World (Pages 1-12): https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/854221490781543956/pdf/113851-PUB-PUBLIC-PUBDATE-2-9-2017.pdf
5. Integrated crop-livestock systems - A key to sustainable intensification in Africa (Pages 1-6): https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/74947898/Integrated_crop_livestock_systems.pdf

6. An outlook on livestock welfare conditions in African communities — A review:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334149186_An_outlook_on_livestock_welfare_conditions_in_African_communities_-_A_review

Disclaimer: I used AI as an editorial assistant to help improve the flow, grammar, and structure of this article. The ideas, arguments, recommendations, and overall perspective are my own.

1. ^{^}

    This includes a substantial body of work from institutions and academic sources on African agriculture and livestock systems, including FAO reports on livof estock development, food systems transformation, and animal production ioManyf .n Sub-Saharan Africa; World Bank and IFPRI analyses on agricultural productivity, livestock value chains, and food system transitions; as well as peer-reviewed research on production systems, trade dynamics, and consumption patterns across the continent. While this literature provides important macro-level insights, it often contains limited direct focus on farmed animal welfare outcomes, particularly in rapidly evolving and informal production systems

2. ^{^}

    The hyperlinked research article provides that there is limited information on animal welfare conditions in African livestock production systems, particularly in smallholder and communal settings.