Ayanda Mashaphu is a program assistant with the foundation’s Southern Africa office, where she coordinates grants, provides administrative support to program officers, and facilitates communication with grantees.

Prior to joining Ford, Ayanda was a civil society resourcing officer at CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation and a research assistant at the School of Public Management and Administration at the University of Pretoria. She also worked in the Southern African Development Community region, focusing on cross-border trade, agriculture, and issues of regional integration.

Ayanda’s concentrations are social justice philanthropy, gender equality, and climate/energy diplomacy with an emphasis on just energy transition. She is proficient in global grantmaking compliance requirements and business sustainability models. She is a former vice chairperson of the Model United Nations’ Pretoria chapter and a former entrepreneurship and leadership director of the Young Catalysts for Change Africa, a student organization at the University of Pretoria. She completed her state protocol training with the South African diplomatic academy and corporate management branch of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation in South Africa.

Ayanda earned an honors degree in public management and administration and an undergraduate degree in international relations from the University of Pretoria. She holds various academic and international conferencing awards conferred by the South African Institute of International Affairs, the School of Public Management and Administration, and the United Nations Association of South Africa.