Self Help Africa joins Global Poverty showcase in Shrewsbury
Self Help Africa teams up with four other development agencies to present a "1.4 billion reasons" anti-poverty event in Shrewsbury, in March.
The Hive Music and Media Centre will stage the "Global Poverty Project" showcase on the evening of March 23rd next, with Self Help Africa set to participate, along with Bridges, Build It International, Village Water and the Woodford Foundation at the event. The five agencies all have bases in Shropshire.
Rev. Merfyn Temple at the launch of his memoir. Below - in earlier life in Zambia.
Death of Rev. Merfyn Temple
The death has occurred at the age of 92 of one of Self Help Africa's oldest supporters.
A Methodist missionary for 50 years, Rev. Temple lived and worked in southern Africa for more than 30 years before returning home to England. He died recently at a care home in Honiton, Devon.
Believed to have been the first white person to join Zambia's United National Independence Party in the 1960s, Rev. Temple gained notoriety when he was jailed, at aged 86, after publicly criticising Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. He was expelled from Zimbabwe a short time later.
He captured his story in the memoir 'Zambia Stole My Heart', which was published a few years ago.
The late Merfyn Temple was a
long standing supporter of Self Help Africa (formerly Harvest Help), and a strong advocate for supporting small-holder farmers as an approach to ending poverty for millions in sub-Saharan Africa.
Thanksgiving services take place for Rev. Temple in Honiton on Friday, 2nd March, and in London on Saturday 31st March at Wesley's Chapel.
BBC Radio 4 Appeal
Gardeners Question Time presenter and popular celebrity gardener Pippa Greenwood has lent her support to Self Help Africa, with an appeal that went out on the airwaves on BBC Radio 4, last year.
Pippa presented the weekly charity appeal on behalf of Self Help Africa on the station on in May, and the appeal has already raised over £20,000 to support our work amongst Africa's rural poor. We are delighted that she has also come onboard as an ambassador to support our work in Africa.
Self Help Africa's following on twitter has grown to almost 5,000 in the past year.
If you use the social media platform and want to stay in touch with our daily updates click on the icon above and join our twitter family.
Global trip to raise £40,000
Two young adventure seekers are planning to cycle, run and raft more than 16,000 kilometres across the world have set
themselves a target of raising £40,000 for Self Help Africa with their effort.
Maghnus Collins-Smyth David Burns will set off from Istanbul, Turkey in April, and will traverse half the globe before arriving in Shanghai, China, in late Autumn. Their incredible expedition is being organised to benefit Self Help Africa's work.
Ambitious new development programmes that will seek to improve food security and the livelihoods of more than 1.2 million people are being started in Zambia and Ethiopia.
Close to €2.5 million has been secured from the European Commission for the projects, both of which will take place over a two-years period (2010-2011).
The Seed Entrepreneurship for Economic Development and Food Security (SEEDFS) project in Zambia will aim to increase food security and incomes of farming community by increasing access and timely supply of good quality seed, while in Ethiopia new EC backing has been received to expand Self Help Africa’s existing Agricultural Co-Operative Development Programme in Oromia and Southern Nations and Nationalties (SNRPP) provinces.
Up to 10 million people in East Africa faced the spectre of famine last Summer, as drought caused crop failures across wide areas of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.
“This East African crisis was real, and needed an immediate humanitarian fix. But it doesn’t need to be that way in the future”, says Ray Jordan, Self Help Africa's CEO.
“Steps can and must be taken to increase food production amongst small-holder farmers, who account for up to 80% of the population in affected areas. It is a bitter irony that the people who are most at risk of the current famine threat are communities who are best placed to solve the problem’,” he stated.
Increasing access for smallholder farmers to knowledge and skills, to land and natural resources, and to agricultural research and decision-making is vital if global hunger and poverty are to be eradicated.
A new report, launched by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Overseas Development in London underlines the key role that smallholder farmers have to play in efforts to feed a growing world population.
Produced by the African Smallholder Farmers' Group, of which Self Help Africa is a member, 'Africa’s Smallholder Farmers: Approaches that Work for Viable Livelihoods' presents nine accounts of successful approaches that have increased access to decision-making, assets, markets, science, knowledge and technology for smallholder farmers.
Supporting close to one million in Malawi cope with climate change
Self Help Africa embarks on a major new programme this Spring that will support nearly one million people in Malawi to adapt to climate variability.
The scheme, which has received funding support of more than £10m from the United Kingdom Department of Foreign and Overseas Development (DFID), Irish Aid and the Norwegian Embassy in Malawi will help more than 900,000 rural people across the Southern African country to cope with and adapt to changing climate. Work is being undertaken by a consortium of
international and local development partners across Malawi.
A sincere thanks to everyone who supported Self Help Africa in this year's Big Give Christmas Challenge. Hundreds of our supporters and friends backed the effort, which enabled us to raise a total of more than £45,000 in this year's appeal.
We are grateful for your support once more in 2011, and say 'thank you' also to The Big Give for doubling every donation that they received in this fantastic seasonal scheme.
A promotional video highlighting the key role that seed has to play for Africa's rural farmers has been named 'best video' in a campaign organised by The Gates Foundation.
The clip 'It Starts with a Seed' (above) was named the video winner in the Foundation's 'Answering the Challenge for Smallholder Farmers' initiative, launched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, last month.
Speaking about the video, Bill Gates said: 'I enjoyed this movie about seeds, especially because I’m so optimistic about the potential for improved seeds to help small farmers confront the drought, pests, and diseases that can destroy their crops. The best thing is that all this creative energy and talent was inspired by small farmers.'
Self Help Africa's new look annual newsletter is now out, and is available to check out online. Click here to check it out.
Self Help Africa's annual report is now available, giving an overview of our work across nine countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2010.
Click here to download a copy. Alternatively, you can read a copy online here
Conference on Trade and Ag
Self Help Africa partnered with two leading academic institutions to host an 'Africa Day' conference on trade, investment and agriculture, in Dublin recently.
A director at the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organisation, a champion of a radical-public private partnership for African agriculture, and the head of the Ugandan Investment Authority were amongst the speakers who contributed to the event - held at Trinity College, Dublin. The conference, co-presented by Self Help Africa, included contributions by UN FAO Director of Gender and Equity Dr. Marcela Villareal, the head of the Uganda Investment Authority Margaret Kigosa, and Keith Palmer, director of AgDevCo and a champion of the African Agricultural Corridors amongst its speakers. Self Help Africa's Zambia director Kalongo Chitengi also spoke.
Friends and supporters young and old made history last weekend, when close to 700 adults and children convened in a park in Sheffield to set a new world readathon record. 281 adults and 412 children took part in the readathon, which was organised as a fundraiser for Self Help Africa, and took place at Sheffield's popular Peace in the Park Festival, on Saturday afternoon, 4th June.
Self Help Africa - UK Second Floor, Westgate House,Dickens Court, Hills Lane, Shrewsbury, SY1 1QU Tel. +44 (0) 1743 277170
Self Help Africa - Ireland Kingsbridge House, 17-22 Parkgate Street, Dublin 8, Co. Dublin, Ireland Tel. +353 (0)1 6778880
Self Help Africa Inc. 41 Union Square West, Suite 631 New York, NY 10003, USA Tel. +1 212 206 0847
Self Help Africa is an international charity registered in Ireland and the United Kingdom Registered charity number: 6663 (Ireland), and 298830 (UK) Self Help Africa is a non-profit 501(c) 3 organisation in the United States.
