American Religious Groups Seize Opportunity in Aid Vacuum
As Donald Trump's sweeping cuts to foreign aid programmes create uncertainty across African healthcare systems, American evangelical organisations are rapidly expanding their influence on the continent. The Independent's investigation has uncovered a coordinated push by conservative religious groups to shape African policies on family values, sexuality and reproductive rights.
Multiple conferences have taken place across Africa in recent months, with activists reporting greater numbers than ever before. The events form part of modern missionary efforts aimed at halting the advance of sexual and reproductive rights, involving several potential legislative bills from a new Pan-African family values charter to draft anti-gay legislation in Kenya.
Conferences and Controversial Rhetoric
When one activist attended the Pan-African Conference on Family Values in Nairobi last May, they didn't expect to hear speaker Sharon Slater, head of Mormon group Family Watch International, reference Adolf Hitler within minutes of taking the stage. Slater used Hitler's quote "He alone who owns the youth, gains the future" while suggesting international charities were targeting Africa's children.
The event at Nairobi's Boma Hotel sparked protests and petitions calling for its cancellation. Through recordings, documents and photos, The Independent pieced together what occurred during the six-day conference, revealing how American conservative-endorsed gatherings have become engines behind efforts to reverse rights across Africa.
Slater later clarified that the Hitler quote was "not meant to be or understood to be literal comparisons" and that her group firmly rejects hate ideologies. However, she emphasised that youth remain vulnerable to ideological agendas embedded in comprehensive sexuality education programmes.
Funding Increases and Political Access
Financial filings reveal that Family Watch International doubled its spending in Africa between 2022 and 2023, primarily supporting conferences to the tune of $261,000. This year, speakers apparently see an even bigger opportunity in the vacuum left by Trump's aid reductions.
Thomas W Jacobson from the Global Life Campaign told attendees that Trump cutting "millions...even billions of dollars" from "evil programmes" through USAID was a positive development, even if it means less money flowing to African nations.
Travis Weber from the US evangelical lobby group Family Research Council made the conference's aims explicit, outlining a three-phase plan: roll back existing policies promoting LGBT ideology and abortion to Africa, amend others, then introduce new ones. Weber urged groups to "step forward into that void" created by Trump cancelling approximately 80% of programmes supporting developing nations.
The high-level access these organisations are achieving concerns activists. In Sierra Leone, the first lady attended the Strengthening Families event in June, while in Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni and his wife participated in the Entebbe conference, with the president thanking Slater for her work.
African Progress Under Threat
Campaigners fear hard-won progress on healthcare and rights could be undermined. Sub-Saharan Africa has seen significant improvements in maternal mortality, HIV rates and healthcare access this century, saving millions of lives through expanded contraception information and safe abortion access.
Erick Mundia, a lawyer at reproductive rights charity Ipas in Nairobi, points out that these rights have been agreed to by African states through the African Union and UN, where African countries are voting members. "No African country has ever been forced to be part of a treaty or convention by the AU," he emphasises.
The Maputo Protocol, drawn up through the AU two decades ago and signed by 49 of 55 members, guarantees sexual and reproductive healthcare for all women within signatory countries. A new proposed charter on African family values circulated at the Nairobi and Entebbe conferences contains sections that appear to challenge these rights, urging states to reject agreements advancing reproductive rights or "normalising LGBTQI ideologies."
Esther Kimani of reproductive justice alliance Fos Feminista expresses anger at American and European movement leaders flying into Kenya to lecture Africans about their own values. "What they're saying is that us Africans don't even know what our African values look like," she states, noting the irony of waiting for "white men from Europe and America to come and teach us what African values really are."
As global opposition to sexual and reproductive rights grows alongside shrinking aid, highly conservative groups are "moving aggressively to fill in those gaps," according to Kimani, potentially jeopardising decades of healthcare progress across the continent.
