Many of the poorest communities in the world are to be found in Africa. This is especially true for communities in sub-Saharan Africa. Those communities are suffering severely and face most of the urgent challenges of our century, from the need to reduce poverty, the fight against life-threatening illnesses, the efforts to guarantee sufficient education opportunities and managing and adapting to climate change.
Even substantial public development aid has failed hitherto to create the necessary prospects and conditions that could ensure a minimum standard of living and an independent and sustainable future for these communities. Private engagement can make a difference here. Even rather limited financial resources and commitment can have a great impact – provided that the project is designed for the longer term, that it involves local know-how as well as external expertise and that it considers economic, cultural and social traditions and customs. But which projects and organisations are doing effective and efficient work on the ground? How can I assess the work done by local organisations from afar? For most donors identifying and selecting good projects on a foreign continent is much more difficult than in their home region or country.
Therefore Active Philanthropy wants to actively promote effective giving in Africa. On this continent the big challenges of creating a better and just world are highly concentrated and more closely interlinked than anywhere else. If we want to improve our world only a little bit, we should start where the problems are most serious. That’s our strong belief.
We have recently established our Africa Logbook where Andrew Kingman is sharing his experiences with establishing and running non-profit organisations and projects in Africa. Andrew Kingman is an experienced practitioner from the CSO sector. He has worked in Africa since 1990 and has helped establish and led several non-profit institutions in the UK, West Africa, Kenya and now Mozambique.
Furthermore a report on effective funding in Africa and an expedition with site visits to projects on the ground are planned for the future.
