In Africa Panthera is creating the  Pan-African Lion Corridor that protects key lion habitat and connects core lion populations in order to preserve the species’ genetic diversity.  With our partners at the Kenyan-based Living with Lions, we developed the unique Lion Guardians Program in southern Kenya.  This program involves training local Maasai warriors to become the front line in reducing human-lion conflict.  They do this by informing Maasai cattle herders of areas occupied by lions, by helping farmers improve cattle husbandry and find lost livestock, and by discouraging lion hunting.

World Bicycle Relief specializes in large-scale, comprehensive bicycle programs. We provide management of the supply chain, technical knowledge, and logistics expertise.  The bicycles we distribute are specifically designed to withstand years of hauling heavy loads over Africa’s rough terrain, and we ensure that they can be locally repaired and maintained for prolonged use.

World Bicycle Relief:

• Works directly with suppliers to ensure that the bicycle design is the highest quality and that all bicycles are culturally appropriate.
• Employs local people to assemble and distribute bicycles.
• Partners with local community-based organizations.
• Trains field mechanics in maintenance and repair and to set up systems to supply spare parts.
• Evaluates the impact of bicycles in communities and improves programs accordingly.

A simple solution is available: a variety of sweetpotato that is particularly rich in beta-carotene, which the body converts easily into vitamin A. Just half a cup a day of this type of sweetpotato protects the health of children and also dramatically reduces maternal mortality rates. The sweetpotatoes — called orange-fleshed sweetpotatoes— are inexpensive and easy to grow, and children love their sweet taste.

To promote the production and use of orange-fleshed sweetpotatos, the International Potato Center developed Vitamin A for Africa (VITAA), a partnership program that brings together more than 70 agencies focused on health, nutrition, and agriculture.

VITAA works at the community level, targeting mother’s groups and food-producing organizations. VITAA demonstrates the benefits of the improved sweetpotatoes through nutrition education and other programs, and encourages farmers to grow them for their families and for sale. Many people now make their living selling the sweetpotatoes. People living in disrupted areas of Africa are also benefiting from them: in northern Uganda, where violence has forced many farmers to live in protected camps, the improved sweetpotatoes are making food supplies more secure, generating income, and improving the health of their families.

We respond to some of the most compelling challenges of our world. For example:

• In Sierra Leone, thousands of adults and children lost limbs in a brutal civil war. World Hope restored dignity, opportunity, and hope by providing prosthetic limbs for more than 3,000 people.
• In Liberia, after a brutal dictatorship left the country in shambles, people were desperate for ways to provide for themselves and their children. World Hope stepped in to lead the restoration of a microfinance program, which now provides opportunities to tens of thousands of people.
• Human trafficking, particularly in women and children, is modern day slavery. These individuals are forced into sexual slavery, domestic servitude, armed conflict, and begging networks, and are bought and sold for body parts. They suffer repeated rapes, beatings, forced abortions, and mental and physical abuse. Our anti-trafficking programs have provided emergency care for survivors of human trafficking, increased public awareness of the issue, and created anti-trafficking networks that link communities, law enforcement, and service providers.

Our programs are guided by four core values: transformation, empowerment, sustainability, and collaboration. We believe that for our programs to make a difference, local communities must be transformed, empowered to effect change, equipped to sustain the change, and engaged as partners. We focus on grassroots development, rather than U.S.-based development, and work to develop indigenous leadership and staffing.

Trees for the Future (TREES) is a grassroots program that helps people living on degraded land to improve their lives through environmentally sound development projects. Through our network of technicians, volunteers, and community leaders, we provide technical knowledge on agroforestry, reforestation, and sustainable development, along with planting materials. We help communities return their land to sustainable production.

TREES has worked with more than 300,000 families in nearly 12,000 communities in Africa and elsewhere. These families have planted over 60 million trees, restoring 87,000 acres of degraded land to sustainable high productivity.

In Senegal, for example, we are training farmers in agroforestry, fruit tree production, reforestation, and vegetable production. Families are seeing how agroforestry can revolutionize the way they collect firewood, fertilize their soil, feed their animals, and expand their lucrative vegetable gardens. What began as an effort to promote one agroforestry technique in one community has evolved into a district-wide, integrated agroforestry training program. We are currently training 80 families in 20 communities, and have planted over 750,000 trees through the program.

In response to the HIV/AIDS crisis, Save Africa’s Children (also known as the Pan-African Children’s Fund) seeks to expand the scope of care for AIDS orphans and strengthen the capacity of communities to care for AIDS-affected children. We also seek to reduce the number of children growing up in unsafe environments by partnering with African nationals who are serving on the frontlines of the epidemic and are providing safe care alternatives. We have helped more than 400 orphan care projects, reaching more than 100,000 children. Programs include:

• Education: We support community schools and education, providing school fees and  supplies, uniforms, and other items.
• Health: We provide HIV/AIDS palliative care, home-based care kits, feeding programs, and supplies to medical clinics.
• Capacity building: We support income-generating projects, borehole and well construction, agriculture, and the expansion of schools and housing.
• Training: We build the capacity for African countries to provide HIV/AIDS support through awareness, caregiver training, and youth clubs.
• Community-based care: We support those who are caring for orphans, day care centers, community mobilization groups, and women’s collectives.

In Kiswahili, kabissa  means “completely” – an apt name for a central online connection open to all. By connecting with others who care about Africa, members can:

• Report on what’s happening right now by posting blogs.
• Discover who’s doing what in and for Africa by using the search functions.
• Follow and support each other by using an array of online features.

Kabissa members are working on all levels: community, national and global. Activities range from working to reduce HIV/AIDS, promoting sustainable development, championing women’s rights and fostering the democratic process through technology and communication.

“I have been involved in Kabissa as a member since 2003. I am continually excited and inspired by the work Kabissa is doing for the African nonprofit sector at the community and national levels. It is inspiring to read about groups such as the Maasai Women Development Organization who promote economic, political and social equality of Maasai women. Without Kabissa, it would have been difficult to know about these and countless others.”    Neema Mgana, Kabissa Board of Directors

“When spiderwebs unite, they can tie up a lion”
– Ethiopian Proverb

The Firelight Foundation believes children grow best in families and that the most effective strategy for addressing the needs of children made vulnerable or orphaned by HIV/AIDS and poverty is to strengthen the capacity of families and communities to provide for their care. To do this, we support grassroots organizations throughout Sub-Saharan Africa that help households and communities provide food, clothing, and shelter, education and comfort to children in need.  The Foundation supports programs that are organized by local leaders, encourage communities to create appropriate solutions to problems, and strengthen the community’s capacity to address its own needs. In 2008, we helped community organizations throughout the continent reach almost 100,000 children and 50,000 caregivers.