| | |  |  | Self Help Africa collaboration to help 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. | |
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|  | East Africa drought- millions at risk | Up to 10 million people in East Africa continue to face the spectre of hunger and famine, following a drought which caused crop failures across wide areas of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.
“This East African crisis is real, and needs 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. | |
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| Campaigning for African women |  | The US government is being petitioned to increase the share of development funding it provides to millions of African women farmers.
Self Help Africa launched its 'Change Her Life' campaign in Dublin recently - and urged members of the public to add their sign to a petition that will be sent to key funders and policy makers.
'We're not looking for increased aid, but for a fairer share of existing support to be allocated to programmes involving women,' said CEO Ray Jordan.
'At present African women farmers do up to 80% of the work, but receive as little as 5% of the support,' he said. He was joined at the launch by Ugandan diplomat Sylvia Gavigan (pictured). |
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| Vital role of smallholder farming in Africa | | 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 this week 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.
The report says that following decades of neglect and failure to invest in agriculture, an international consensus had emerged that more and better aid is needed. And it argues that small-scale farming systems must be prioritised, along with smallholder farmers' ability to access local and international markets. It calls on the UK Government to make a commitment to increase the amount of aid on this sector, and to focus agricultural aid on areas with greatest potential to support smallholder farmers. |
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| Self Help Africa hosts Famine event | Self Help Africa is an "indomitable champion" of the poor in the developed world, according to Irish President Mary McAleese.
The Irish President was speaking at a special conference, 'Hunger in the 21st Century: Ireland and the Fight Against Famine', to commemorate the Irish Famine of 1845-49, which was co-hosted by Self Help Africa and Concern Worldwide. Noting Ireland's long history of leadership in development aid, President McAleese made a call to action for those affected by hunger worldwide.
"Surrounded here as we are by full shops, full stomachs and limitless choice, it is hard to comprehend the other reality that is faced each day by 1 billion people who go hungry, who do not have enough to eat. One in six of the world’s citizens lives that life and their hunger is our responsibility and our call to action."
The event also featured Helen Clark, the former prime minister of New Zealand and current administrator of the United Nations Development Fund, as well as Kalongo Chitengi, Self Help Africa's country director in Zambia, who spoke about the central role of promoting farming as a business in reducing hunger. Kevin Farrell, the Irish government's special envoy on hunger and Angela O'Neill, regional director of Concern also spoke at the event, which was moderated by Roger Thurow, author of "Enough: Why the world's poorest starve in an age of plenty'. |
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|  | 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 was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 recently.
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| Award-winning documentary |  | A television documentary that looked at the lives of a community working with Self Help Africa in Ethiopia, has received a prestigious award.
'Africa Rising', produced and directed by Scottish film-maker Jamie Doran for C4, received the annual MDG Award at the annual One World Media Awards in London recently.
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|  | Farming has 'vital role' | Farming has a vital role to play in enabling millions of Africans to escape the poverty trap, former Irish farming president Padraig Walshe said on a recent fact-finding visit to Kenya.
Mr.Walshe, who is also the President of European Farmers Union COPA, said that the importance of increasing farm productivity had been brought home during his field visit with Self Help Africa to Kenya.
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| News from Africa | | The support that we get from the general public and our other donors makes our African programmes possible. Read below a sample of just some of the things that have been happening recently with the people with whom we are working in Africa. | | | | | | | |
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| $1m loan book for Ethiopia co-ops | Over 26,000 members of Self Help Africa-supported savings and credit co-operatives now manage a loan book of around $1m, a conference heard last week.
Five unions manage 185 individual co-ops across the country, with an average of 142 members in each of these co-ops. Repayment rates average over 98%, and average interest is 12%. Over 70% of co-op members are women, and there are currently 13,000 loans for activities ranging from livestock fattening to petty trading.
Self Help Africa's savings and credit initiative in Ethiopia receives on-going assistance from the Irish League of Credit Unions. |
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|  | | | Living on the Climate Frontline | International concern about climate change is rising, though international action lags behind. While there is a wealth of reports and data demonstrating the effect that climate change will have at global and regional levels, the voices of individuals on the front line are heard less often.
Joining with four other development NGOs, Self Help Africa has produced a report – Climate Frontline Africa – which allows these voices to be heard directly. They describe, in their own words, how climate change is affecting them, and how they are adapting. The report’s publication was timed to coincide with the international conference on climate change in Copenhagen last December.
No binding agreement was reached at Copenhagen, and attention has now begun to shift to the next major international gathering, COP 16, in Mexico in November and December 2010. Self Help Africa continues its work with communities on the front line of climate change, and will continue to press for proper funding for adaptation. | |
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| | Manhattan looks to Africa
|  | Manhattan took a new look at Africa in late October, when over 450 guests at the annual Change-Makers Ball heard that "The American dream is also Africa's dream".
Read more here |
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| | Gates acclaim for seed video | | | | 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.' | |
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| | Conference on Trade, Investment and Agriculture |  | Self Help Africa partnered with two leading academic institutions to host an 'Africa Day' conference on trade, investment and agriculture 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 took part in the event - held at Trinity College, Dublin in late May.
The conference included 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. Self Help Africa's Zambia director Kalongo Chitengi will contributed a paper on the role of agricultural development in economic growth. |
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| Cocktails and farming in Manhattan! |  | | | Over 350 people were at the first-ever Change Maker's Ball in Manhattan on November 12th, which raised vital funding for Self Help Africa's programs.
Click here for more.
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|  | 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. Or read a copy online here.
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| | |  | Self Help Africa's new look newsletter for 2010-2011 is now available.
Check it out online by clicking on
this link.
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|  | New Yorkers turn out for Togo | Thousands of New Yorkers turned out last summer for a day of celebrating in the sunshine - and helping small communities in Africa.
The pubs and restaurants on Stone St (Becketts, The Dubliner, Mad Dog and Beans, Stone St Tavern, Ulysses, Smorgas Chef, Waterstone Grill, Burger Burger and Adrienne's Pizzabar) joined together to throw a street-wide party to raise funds for Self Help Africa's work in Togo. | |
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| Euro backing for major new work |
Two ambitious new development programmes that will seek to improve food security and the livelihoods of more than 1.2 million people are being started by Self Help Africa in Zambia and Ethiopia.
Over $3.7 million has been secured from the European Commission for the projects, both of which will take place over a two-year period (2010-2011). | |
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| | Women & development |
'Women & Development' is the latest in a series of new short informational videos from Self Help Africa.
The film seeks to set out some of the challenges faced by African women, and also some of the measures that can and are being taken to ensure that women can play an active part in the development process in our programmes. | | | |
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| | | | 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 |
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| | Self Help Africa is a non-profit 501(c) 3 organisation in the United States.
Self Help Africa is an international charity registered in Ireland and the United Kingdom Registered charity number: 6663 (Ireland), and 298830 (UK) | | | | | | Powered by go2web
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