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Donate Africa Project
Developing nations need an additional $2.5 trillion if they are to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. That far exceeds anything developing countries can afford from their own resources. Developing nations need to move away from funding – where countries simply ask for more aid – to financing, where countries create the right environment to attract private investment.
The report – From Funding to Financing: Transforming SDG Finance for Country Success – recently published by the Global FutureCouncil on Development Finance lists key reasons why projects fail to attract enough funding, as well as suggesting some principles to ensure success. In sub-Saharan Africa the strength of civil society and the civil society varies across widely.
Our ‘Donate Africa Project’ Approach
Our Donate Africa project empowers disadvantaged people and communities in Africa to achieve sustainable economic and social progress, strengthen their communities and civil society and promote democracy and governance.
(a) For that to happen, we recognise that there needs to be a paradigm shift towards a holistic consideration of all the sources of capital that can be mobilized towards sustainable development, and move from traditional “funding” to a “financing” approach. AU Watch offers a range of services and ways to end poverty in Africa and we do that mainly through entrepreneurship and innovation. Our interventions aim to achieve large scale, positive changes through economic and social programs that enable communities to realize their potential. Our goal is to strengthen local capacity.
Building and strengthening capacities are crucial to our work with individuals, communities, media professionals, the AU and its member states and other CSOs. By sharing skills and knowledge – whether with policy makers, journalists, businesses, students, our volunteers, youths and other local and international organizations – we empower people to understand and claim their rights, make informed choices and improve their outlook to life. We intend to make a practical difference in the lives of people. We give practical assistance to our most vulnerable members of our communities. Whether we are participating in constructing a library or a girls training institute or litigating for the protection of human rights in front of the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights, or the Ecowas Court of Justice, our intention is to ensure that we make a difference to address regional challenges that demand AU attention and leadership. We provide practical help like grants, loans and technical assistance for projects benefiting the African youth, women and vulnerable communities. We assist the AU and its member states to achieve the goal of serving vulnerable communities through sustainable community development
(b) Our ‘Donate Africa Project’ gives cash and materials directly to people living in poverty and for those with the potential to make a difference. This is not a charitable hand-out that encourages dependence, but rather it is a hand-up that preserves dignity and encourages self-reliance.
Donate Africa Project is the first and largest African non-profit that lets donors like you send money and materials directly to people who need it most. We are of the view that people in disadvantaged position deserve the dignity to choose for themselves how best to improve their lives — cash and materials enables that choice.
We also give out equipment to deserving projects to end poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. we use a tailored approach, working closely with partners to adapt, adopt, and implement our cost-effective, evidence-based giving. Together, our goal is to assist the AU and its Member to eradicate poverty in Africa by 2063.
(c) We carry out a wide range of programs that enhance prosperity for millions of vulnerable and excluded people in the continent. We will do this by engaging Nepad, community-based groups, other non-governmental organizations, national and local governments, multilateral organizations, and the private sector in the process of implementing appropriate solutions for sustainable development.
(d) We also work with Nepad to spur national development partnerships, engage private and public sector resources in regional development, increase family incomes, and promote innovative links between communities and the private sector. AU Watch programs will generate thousands of jobs, protect vital natural resources, upgrade skills training and improved conditions for thousands of people.
Can you participate in our ‘Donate Africa’ project?
Our Donate Africa project undertakes a range of integrated development programmes. Explore some of our projects below.
The mission of the ‘Donate Africa Project’ is to assist vulnerable and excluded people and communities in the Africa to achieve sustainable economic and social progress, strengthen their communities and civil society. Through our commitment to engaged excellence we work towards transformations that reduce inequalities, accelerate sustainability and build more inclusive and secure societies. We do this neither as anadvocacy NGO nor asa think tank, but by combining elements of both in a unique mix that is articulated in our engaged excellence approach.
Enterprise development
Enterprise development is at the core of our work in our Donate Africa Project. We invest in the growth of agricultural enterprises so they become engines of impact that transform rural communities.Linking small scale farmers, cooperatives and producer groups to the market is key to lifting people out of poverty.
We support local businesses with the goal of creating jobs and giving people access to additional income and increased wealth. We support entrepreneurs and the creation of micro, small and community enterprises as a way to improve the capacity of specific communities, particularly the most vulnerable, such as displaced and disadvantaged people. Our programs provide capacity building, training and technical assistance, helping communities implement alternative development and creating new income streams that contribute to their overall development.
We invest in the growth of agricultural enterprises that support smallholder farmers. We seek out enterprises whose credit needs are too big for microfinance and too small or risky for commercial banks. We provide grants and loans to assist small farmers. To help businesses grow over the long-term, we mix that financing with highly-customized training to strengthen their financial management, governance, and agronomic capacity. With growth, these businesses become engines of impact that can raise incomes and create jobs, empower women and young people, sustain peace, and preserve vulnerable ecosystems.
PROJECT BUILD AND EQUIP OUR SCHOOLS
Did you know that around 90 million youth, ages 12-24 years, are out of school in Sub-Saharan Africa? Did you also know thatNigeria has the largest number of children in the world who are not being educated? Yes, it is official. The Nigerian government admitted it. Acknowledging the scale of the problem the education ministry’s Permanent Secretary AdamuHussaini (2017) said it was “sad to note” that Nigeria had 10.5 million children out of school. This is the first-time senior officials have admitted the size of the problem.
No child should be forced to study under a mango tree, or in a dangerous environment. With access to a good education, children can escape poverty
How can all of us ensure that we give our youths the education they so rightly deserve? Africa has the lowest primary and higher education enrolment rates in the world, and also the lowest share of academics worldwide. Similarly, it has the lowest number of media outlets and professionals in the world.
The girl child has fared particularly badly. In some communities it’s even a source of pride to deprive the girl child from getting an education and marrying her off even before the age of sixteen. Indeed if the AU and Africa is to construct a prosperous Africa at peace with itself, properly competing in the world economy, where our young men and women can find meaningful jobs after finishing school and college, instead of travelling the ‘back way’ to Europe and being sold off as slaves in Libya, or experimenting with extremist ideas and taking up arms to change the system in which they live, then Africa MUST spend a huge percentage of its GDP properly educating its growing and mostly discontented mass of young people. It is an imperative, if the AU and its Member States are to break the log jam of development and insecurity, and if 2063 is to be realized!
Strong communities are an essential part of the social fabric. AU Watch helps build resilient communities from where prosperity can grow. The starting point of a strong community is a well informed and educated population. Schools provide a platform on which human development can grow. At AU Watch, we provide the tools, technologies and methods that enable communities to become strong and dynamic creates a platform on which human development and social progress can happen. Our school system must be improved, starting with safe secure buildings.
What is worse,however, are the state of our schools. Many children and teachers are forced to endure the harsh elements outside – because there are no physical buildings. Even when there are buildings, some of them are quite dangerous.
In ‘Project Build and Equip all Schools, we are building safe and secure classrooms, so that children can focus on their learning, and their futures. We are also supporting many schools with all types of equipment.
Africa Library Project
Our ‘Donate Africa Project’ provides mobile access to reading and writing resources for local population, especially adults who can’t read and write. As part of our literacy training program, we also use board games like chess and draft to encourage independent, self-directed learning, as well as creativity and problem-solving. In addition, we encourage the local community to start clubs for girls and young mothers to participate and engage in the educational activities that AU Watch designs and provides.
Our Library Project coordinates book drives in the many places in Africa and partners with African schools and villages to start small libraries
In different AU Watch chapters, we are working toward establishing the ‘Kwame Nkrumah Unity Museums’. Is it not a tragedy that the AU and its Members does not have a museum that captures the history, politics and culture of the AU and AUMS? The museums will collect, conserve, and interpret Africa’s historical, political and cultural heritage to enable individuals, organisations and states to take part in creative and enjoyable learning experiences. Within the Kwame Nkrumah Unity Museum, we shall also establish:
‘BUY A DRUM AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE’
The ‘djembe’ is one of West Africa’s best-known instruments. This goblet-shaped drum is traditionally carved from a single piece of African hardwood and topped with an animal skin as a drumhead. The drum belongs to the membranophone class of instruments in the percussion family.
The ‘djembe’ drum is most likely about 400-800 years old, and was created during the Malian Empire by the Mandé people. It spanned the modern-day countries of Senegal, southern Mauritania, Mali, northern Burkina Faso, western Niger, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, the Ivory Coast and northern Ghana. Some say the name of the djembe came from the Bamana in Mali, who said “Ankedje, anke be” to call their people together, as the saying translates as “everyone gather together.” “Dje” means gather and “be” means everyone, which gave the drum used in these calls to order its name. The Bamanakans’ mythology tells of the original djembe, which was made of the hide of a giraffe-zebra hybrid called the gebraffe. There are at least a dozen stories of the history of the drum told by many master drummers. My master tells these stories and then steps back as even he, doesn’t purport to know the real truth.
Buy a drum and help make a difference to the eradication poverty in Africa. There are additional benefits to this project. Our drums are an important part of keeping or dance cultures alive, as we share it with other around the world. Buying one drum ensures that the rich tradition of dance and song are maintained.
‘When You Are Hungry Nothing Else Matters’ Project
In Africa, hunger is increasing at an alarming rate. Economic woes, drought, and extreme weather are reversing years of progress so that 237 million sub-Saharan Africans are chronically undernourished, more than in any other region. In the whole of Africa, 257 million people are experiencing extreme hunger, which is 20 percent of the population.
Our vision is an economically thriving and resilient rural Africa
Successive crop failures and poor harvestsin Zambia, Mozambique, and Angola are taking a toll on agriculture production, and food prices are soaring. In the past three growing seasons, parts of Southern Africa experienced their lowest rainfall since 1981. Other areas suffered widespread destruction from cyclones Idai and Kenneth in March and April 2019, near the time for harvesting.
As a result of these dire events, 41 million people in Southern Africa are food insecure and 9 million people in the region need immediate food assistance. That number is expected to rise to 12 million as farmers and pastoralists struggle to make ends meet during the October 2019 through March 2020 lean season.
Farming
With over 350 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa living in extreme poverty— more than the number of extreme poor in all other regions combined— the most cost-effective and sustainable solutions to ending poverty must be identified and rapidly scaled
The world’s 5 most unequal countries are all in sub-Saharan Africa.Despite economic growth, there’s increasing inequality, and widespread hunger and malnutrition. A growing population moving to towns in search of work is putting more pressure on farming.
Supporting Agriculture and Rural Development
We are acknowledged leaders in working with small holders and off farm processors within the value chain transferring technical knowledge of agricultural production and marketing, soil and water conservation, agroforestry, natural resources management. Our agroforestry programs have helped community-based farming organizations raise the incomes of small producers through sustainable agricultural practices that promote soil conservation and reforestation. Such programs in The Gambia have provided peasant farmers with alternative sources of income.
Sources: IFAD Rural Poverty Report 2019, FAO/WFO The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2019, Information Brief Small Farms: Current Status and Key Trends, Oksana Nagayets, 2019 IAASTD Report: Agriculture at a Crossroads.
We believe it is possible to equip millions with the resources to lift themselves out of poverty, but we cannot do it alone. We are collaborating with Farm Aphrika Academy to lift farmers out of poverty
Farm Aphrika Academy: Farm Aphrika Academy provides aspiring and experienced pig farmers with training, information and the tools they need to start and grow a pig farm, create jobs and wealth, and hopefully impact the lives of their families and communities. The course which runs for a week, four times in a year is free to all farmers in The Gambia. Part of the training also involves some practical work at one of our sites. Aspiring pig farmers are given a training package in pig production and pig farming business plan and a certificate of participation. For more information about participating in our training programme please send enquiries to [email protected] or [email protected].
One in 3 people living in sub-Saharan Africa are undernourished. Malnutrition is endemic, stunting children’s development and causing sickness, lifetime damage, and contributing to the premature death of millions of under-fives. Women and children are the worst affected.
Our goal is to encourage members of our communities to engage in farming as a business where sustainability is truly embedded through knowledge, engagement, collaboration and innovation.
email us at: [email protected]
414 million people across sub-Saharan Africa live on less than $1.25-a-day.This extreme poverty is concentrated in rural areas, where subsistence farming keeps people in poverty, working poor-quality land, unable to sell at market, and growing barely enough to eat.
WHY FARMING MATTERS
The NGO ‘Africa We Care’ states that unemployment rate in Africa stands at 75 per cent. It is estimated that by 2030, over 400 million Africans will need jobs. That is just 13 years from now. It is scary that many of our governments in Africa seem blissfully unaware of the massive discontent on the way if these young people out of school and colleges can’t find jobs.
Read what a May 2017 report (‘The Future of Jobs and Skills in Africa’), by the World Economic Forum state. ‘Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 13% of the world’s working age population; a number that is set to increase to more than 17% by 2030, the world’s second largest after Asia. With more than 60% of its population under the age of 25, Sub-Saharan Africa is already the world’s youngest region today – and, by 2030, will be home to more than one-quarter of the world’s total under-25 population. Over this period, the region is projected to expand the size of its workforce by more than the rest of the world combined, as its young population, the best-educated and globally connected the continent has ever had, enters the world of work. By leveraging this demographic opportunity, Sub-Saharan Africa has the potential to unleash new economic possibilities created by future industries and labour markets, dramatically raising labour productivity and per capita incomes, diversifying its economy, and becoming an engine for stable economic growth, high-skilled talent and job creation for decades to come.’
‘Yet, today, however, Sub-Saharan Africa is far removed from making optimal use of its human capital potential and under-prepared for the impending disruption to jobs and skills brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The World Economic Forum’s Human Capital Index, which measures the extent to which countries and economies optimize their human capital through education and skills development and its deployment throughout the life-course, finds that Sub-Saharan Africa, on average, currently only captures 55% of its full human capital potential, compared to a global average of 65%, ranging from 67 to 63% in Mauritius, Ghana and South Africa to only 49 to 44% in Mali, Nigeria and Chad’.
The truth is many of our governments are unprepared and likely not coming to our aid anytime soon. Africa is the only region where some governments are the largest employers. It is an unsustainable present not to talk of the future. Even in developed economies the contribution of civil servants to real tangible wealth is quite small. As ‘Africa We Care’ states, ‘in general the civil service in many African countries, is redundant, underemployed, and demoralized and in most cases, suffer from low morale.’
Wherever you look, the prognosis for the future African job market is not too promising. But it doesn’t have to be so. We do not have to accept despair! We can create a better tomorrow for ourselves and our children. We can change it! So, let’s just get on with it and help ourselves, our families and communities, because it’s quite likely that government of ours isn’t coming soon enough.
AU Watch Agricultural Society
AU Watch Agricultural Society – is an influential force in the direction and development of agriculture in the region through competitions, education and staging of events. It is committed to supporting agricultural development and rural communities in Africa. In its role as an advocate for excellence in agriculture, AU Watch Agricultural Society organizes events, and competitions, acts as an advocate to the use of technology in agriculture celebrates Africa’s achievements in agriculture and works to promote the viability of rural communities by ensuring that Africa remains a thriving and innovative agricultural producer.
Its role as an advocate for excellence in agriculture, AU Watch Agricultural Society organizes events, and competitions, acts as an advocate for the use of technology in agriculture, celebrates Africa’s achievements in agriculture and works to promote the viability of rural communities by ensuring that Africa remains a thriving and innovative agricultural producer.
In April 2020, we are launching a brand-new show in Accra, Ghana and are expecting hundreds of thousands of people to pass through the gates to experience the fun, entertainment and excitement the Show will bring.AU Watch Agricultural Show is a truly iconic African tradition. It’s the largest event of its kind in the continent and is full of opportunities that can expose your brand and products to hundreds of thousands of people over a three-week period.Organizations make the Show an essential part of their marketing and communication strategies because it provides valuable exposure, create promotional opportunities and direct engagement with the largest audience available at any community event in the continent.
African Governments, The Dangote Group, Coca Cola, the FBN Bank, Nigeria, Access Bank, UBA Bank, are just some of the iconic brands that will make an appearance at the Show, while many smaller enterprises see sponsorship as a springboard from which to launch their ideas, brands or products to a wide audience.
The Show offers sponsors opportunities across a range of investment levels. Our Sponsorship Team are specialists in the creation of high-impact bespoke packages and work closely with all our partners to ensure the return on their investment is maximized each year.
Given the variety of environments on offer and the diversity of content presented at the Show, the ways brands can engage with Show audience are boundless. Activities that can be undertaken at the Show include:
To discuss these and other opportunities, please contact Ms Theresa Frazer, Sponsorship Sales Manager on [email protected]
Project Feed all School Children
Every day, countless children across Africa turn up for school on an empty stomach, which makes it hard to focus on lessons. Many simply do not go, as their families need them to help in the fields or around the house. For all of them, a daily school meal can mean not only better nutrition and health, but also increased access to and achievement in education.
Like us, we are sure that you want to see all children in school. AU Watch is embarking on the grand objective of seeing all children in Africa in school, but also ensuring that they feed in school.
Please help us! No amount is too small.
Hunger affects 1 in 5 children in Africa. We’re on a mission to change that. Here’s how.
Every day, countless children in Africa turn up for school on an empty stomach, which makes it hard to focus on lessons. Many simply do not go, as their families need them to help in the fields or around the house.
For all of them, having food at school every day can mean not only better nutrition and health, but also increased access to and achievement in education. It is also a strong incentive to consistently send children to school
We try to feed all the children in schools that we work with. We work with school directors and parents who volunteer to cook the food for the children. With the donation of just one dollar we can provide two nutritious hot meals for a child.
How We Fight School HungerTHERE ARE TWO WAYS TO GIVE
Give to the Feeding Program:$15 Feeds a Child
Innovation
AU Watch is committed to improving the lives of people living in poverty and believes that financial education and access to financial services can be used to improve the lives of people living in rural and agricultural areas.
We have created a fund to assist innovators seeking to leapfrog Africa into 2063. Access to affordable micro-financeis vital if smallholders are to invest in developing their farming businesses.The Fund seeks to channel direct support to private sector organizations with projects that have developmental benefits, such as increased incomes, enhanced agricultural production or wider social benefits, for large numbers of rural people.
The Fund has two stages.
1.1 Stage One: Initial Application
This stage involves completion of the initial application setting out the project being proposed to the Fund for support.
The first collection of the 2021 Competition will start on 10 August 2020, and the second collection is scheduled for 5 October 2020at midnight East African time (+2 GMT). All applications submitted after this date will be considered in the next collection. The timelines for subsequent collections will be announced at a later date.
Please note that attachments will not be allowed. The first stage of the competition is judged solely on the content of this form.
Stage One: The initial application will be judged by examining the uniqueness of your idea, its potential for scale and the projected impact figures by a Committee for Rural Prosperity Selection Committee. If your application is successful you will be notified within eight (8) weeks of the close of a competition period and invited to progress to Stage Two of the competition. Unsuccessful applicants will also be notified with a brief summary containing the main reason(s) why their proposal was not carried forward. They will then have an opportunity to refine their applications and resubmit for consideration in subsequent competition periods.
Stage Two: Refinement of Business Plan. If you progress to this stage of the competition, you will be asked to refine your business plan and provide supplementary documentation for your application. You will be asked to complete a standardized financial model for your project which includes profit and loss accounts, balance sheets, and cash flow projections. You will also need to work with the Fund Manager to refine your development impact model. The application will again be reviewed by the Selection Committee. Winners will be selected from these submissions.
African Dream Project
Arguably, it is Africa and probably the world’s worst “to-do list”: stopping violent extremism, addressing Africa’s governance issues, human rights problems, its growing refugee crisis and migration of its young population to Europe, working to end Africa’s self-inflicted poverty, disease, hunger and corruption. The ‘African Dream’ project looks for practical, pioneering ways for communities and individuals to get out of poverty and contribute in making 2063 a reality. Like Anatole France, we are convinced “… that to accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.”
AU Watch has as one of its major goals, assisting vulnerable and excluded people and communities in Africa to achieve sustainable economic and social progress, strengthening their communities and civil society, promote democratic participation and inclusion, and prepare for and respond to climate change and other humanitarian crises, there by advancing the principles of the AU and its Nepad program.
We are convinced that through our commitment to engaged excellence we shall work towards transformations that reduce inequalities, accelerate sustainability and build more inclusive and secure societies. We do this neither as an advocacy NGO, nor a think tank, but by combining elements of both in a unique mix that we articulate in our engaged excellence approach. Our focus is women, youths and through our grant, aid and technical assistance program assisting small and medium size businesses. We are convinced that to alleviate poverty we need to empower the poor.
We are not afraid to be different or labelled ‘crazy.’
Take part in Project No Child Left Behind. Working with the AU, AUMS, local and international partners, AU Watch has, for example, set itself the grand and ambitious objective and target of ensuring that every African child learn how to read and write, within the next twenty years. An illusion? Certainly not. A dream? Yes, it is, for no dream is ever too small! “For those who dare to dream, there is a whole world to win.”
The project work to ensure that every African child is enrolled in school till the age of 16. That will also mean, getting every child in Africa off the street into schools. Working with the AU, Member States, other CSOs, communities and individuals, the organization aim to get every child, woman and man understand their rights; understand what the AU is doing and why.
At AU Watch our philosophy is simple. AU Watch arrives, does service delivery at scale and low cost, free of the donor baggage and expat culture of northern-based international NGOs. We operate social enterprises that are strategically connected to our development programs, and form crucial value chain linkages which increase the productivity of AU Watch’s and our members’ assets and labour, and reduce risks of their enterprises. These enterprises, ranging from agriculture to training institutes, also help to make us increasingly self-reliant.
By supporting schools, to helping farmers sell their crops for a fair price, to improving access to people with HIV/AIDS to healthcare – our long-term development projects are transforming lives. We work with the AU, Member States and communities to tackle the causes of poverty by a combination of hands on know-how, financial investment and education. Through our media, outreach and education programs, we give women and poor people a voice to speak out against the laws, actions and policies that keep them in poverty. We force the AU and its Member States to listen and take action!
As first responders we also assist in some of Africa’s worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people in difficult circumstances, especially those devastated by conflict and disaster. Our approach should not be seen as a return to neo-liberal development policies, but rather as an alternative development approach – pragmatic approach that works. We tackle the causes of poverty, hunger and hopelessness at the root. We aim to plant trees of hope.
To contribute to the African Dream Project please Click Here. But get connected. Have your say. Interested in sharing an idea or volunteering for us? Get in touch.
Interested? Get in Touch