For years, conversations about changing Africa’s narrative have often ended where they began—loud calls for the world to tell better stories about the continent.
But Moky Makura believes that is no longer enough.
Instead of simply asking people to think and speak differently about Africa, the Executive Director of Africa No Filter and her team have spent the last six years quietly building tools they hope will make that change happen.
They have developed a dictionary with accurate framing about the continent, an artificial intelligence tool that helps journalists identify bias in their reporting, and an online platform dedicated to showcasing opportunities across the continent.
Together, Makura’s team forms part of Africa No Filter’s wider Opportunity Africa initiative and its public-facing NotWaiting campaign, an effort to shift attention from the familiar images of crisis to the millions of Africans already creating solutions.
“Our organisation is trying to change the way the world sees Africa, but also how we as Africans see ourselves,” Makura tells TRT Afrika.
Power of words
For her, changing perceptions starts with something surprisingly simple: words.
One of the organisation’s latest products is How to Speak About Africa Today, a practical dictionary for more accurate, responsible language about the continent.
To many people, terms such as “capacity building” sound harmless. Makura hears something different.
“This is a dictionary on how to speak about Africa because language matters. If we keep using the same negative language, we’ll never change.”
She points out that programmes routinely described as “capacity building” in Africa would simply be called education or schooling almost anywhere else.
It is a subtle difference in wording, she argues, but one that reinforces the idea that Africa is somehow permanently broken and waiting to be fixed.
Africa No Filter hopes the dictionary will encourage journalists, development organisations and communicators to question those assumptions before they become headlines.
That thinking has also extended into artificial intelligence.
The organisation recently launched Africa Bias Buster, an AI-powered editing tool that reviews stories after they have been written—not to rewrite them, but to identify blind spots.
Unlike generative AI platforms that produce text, Bias Buster acts more like an analytical editor, reviewing existing drafts to flag missing African perspectives or phrasing that unintentionally reinforces stereotypes or missing voices from stories about Africa.
“It doesn’t tell you what to write or develop the stories for you,” Makura explains. “It points out the biases in your stories.”
For Africa No Filter, the consequences of biased storytelling go far beyond reputation.
Research commissioned by the organisation suggests that the way Africa is portrayed internationally carries a measurable financial cost. Persistent negative narratives, it says, contribute to an inflated perception of risk, forcing African governments to pay an estimated US$4.2 billion more every year in interest on sovereign debt.
That argument is increasingly echoed by the African Union, development institutions and financial experts, who say the continent is paying what has become known as the African Risk Premium or Prejudice Premium.
The UNDP’s Credit Rating Resource Platform argues that subjective assessments continue to influence how African economies are rated. According to the agency, countries across the continent could save as much as US$74.5 billion if credit ratings relied less on perception and more on objective economic data—money that could instead be invested in infrastructure, education and healthcare.
The African Union has also made changing the narrative part of its long-term development vision under Agenda 2063, supporting initiatives such as the AU Media Fellowship to encourage more balanced reporting about the continent.
Yet Makura insists that changing Africa’s story cannot be left to governments, institutions or newsrooms alone.
That is where #NotWaiting comes in.
Rather than asking people to post feel-good stories, the campaign asks a more personal question.
“What have you done?” Makura asks.
“Because until we start sharing it, no one’s going to see it.”
The campaign encourages Africans to tell stories about their own contributions—whether in their communities, businesses, classrooms or neighbourhoods—not because those stories are new, but because they are too often overlooked.
“What we’re doing is shining a spotlight on what is already happening, because it is already happening,” she says.
Makura believes Africans living abroad have an equally important role to play.
“I think it’s an advantage that we are in many, many places,” she says. “The diaspora play a very powerful role in taking our stories to a global market, but also in investing and building back home.”
For all the technology, research and campaigns Africa No Filter has produced over the past six years, Makura’s message remains remarkably straightforward.
Changing Africa’s narrative is not about ignoring conflict, poverty or governance failures. Those stories matter.
It is about making room for everything else.
“Because while the world continues to debate Africa’s future, millions of Africans are already building it,” Makara says.
