Africare
Africare is a non-profit organization based in the United States which provides development aid for Africa. Africare was founded in 1970 by former Peace Corps members who had worked in eastern Niger, as well as a Nigerian diplomat. Africare now provides aid for approximately 25 countries in every major region of Sub-Saharan Africa. The Media Relations Manager of Africare is a member of the International Advisory Board of the African Press Organization (APO).
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[edit] Organization
Africare is the oldest and largest African-American led organization in the field of development aid for Africa. Since its founding in 1970, Africare has delivered more than $710 million in assistance and support through over 2500 projects to 36 countries Africa-wide. The organization employs over 1000 people, largely indigenous to the countries and to the areas where it works.
Africare's programs address needs mostly in the areas of food security and agriculture, health and HIV/AIDS, water and sanitation, and emergency and humanitarian aid. Africare also supports water resource development, environmental management, basic education, microenterprise development, governance initiatives and women's empowerment.
[edit] Mission and Vision
Africare's mission statement reads, "Africare works to improve the quality of life of the people in Africa." [1]
Africare's website states that Africare's vision is, "...being the premier Africa-focused non-governmental organization (NGO) working in partnership with African people to build sustainable, healthy and productive lives and communities, and to be a leading voice addressing African development and policy issues." [2]
[edit] Countries of Operation
As of 2008, Africare operates programs in the following countries:
Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Countries assisted in prior years include:
Burundi, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Egypt, Eritrea, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritania, Namibia, Somalia, and Sudan.
[edit] History
In 1970, when Africare was founded, West Africa was in the midst of one of the most severe droughts in its history. Among those providing help -- medical aid to the Maine-Soroa town Hospital in Diffa, Niger -- were 17 American volunteers, led by William O. Kirker, M.D., and Barbara Jean A. Kirker, who named their group "Africare". The Kirkers themselves had been working in Africa, to improve African health care, since 1966, but eventually they needed more support. Diori Hamani, then president of the Republic of Niger, appealed to the United States on the effort's behalf, asking : "Why don't black Americans, whose ancestors came from the continent, respond to the needs in Africa?" [3]
C. Payne Lucas, then the director of the Peace Corps Office of Returned Volunteers in Washington DC had served previously in Niger and knew the president from that time. He and others decided to form an organization to answer Hamani's appeal.
In 1970, Africare was incorporated in Hawaii, with Kirker as its founder and first president. In 1971, Africare was permanently re-incorporated in Washington, D.C.; Lucas became the executive director (later, that title changed to "president"), and Kirker joined the Board. In addition to Kirker and Lucas, other incorporators were Oumarou G. Youssoufou, a Nigerian diplomat, and Joseph C. Kennedy, Ph.D., then in the Peace Corps. It began with a $39,550 budget, a U.S. headquarters in the basement of Lucas's home and one project in Niger.
Africare first concentrated on helping to alleviate the effects of severe drought in West Africa. By the mid 1970s, Africare had shifted its emphasis to development programs in the areas of food, water, the environment and health -- expanding in the late 1980s to include microenterprise development, governance, basic education and, as it became necessary, HIV/AIDS response, as well as emergency humanitarian aid.
[edit] Recent History
In mid-June 2002, C. Payne Lucas retired after 31 years as president and Africare hired its third president, Julius E. Coles, a 28-year veteran of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the first director of the Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center at Howard University and, most recently, director of the Andrew Young Center for International Affairs at Morehouse College.
Dr. Darius Mans assumed the position of President of Africare on January 4, 2010. Prior to joining Africare, Dr. Mans served as Acting Chief Executive Officer of Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). Dr. Mans has over 30 years of development experience with a major focus on African countries. Prior to being tapped as Acting Chief Executive Officer for MCC, Dr. Mans was the organization’s Vice President of Implementation where he oversaw the strategic and operational approaches of MCC’s entire compact implementation portfolio of over $6.3 billion in 18 countries. Mans also served as MCC’s Managing Director for Africa, where he drove an increase in commitments to Africa by $1.6 billion. [4]
[edit] List of notable awards and honors
- 1975 Africare's president received honorary doctorates from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (1975), and Fisk University for Africare leadership.
- 1980 - 1990 Africare President C. Payne Lucas received National Orders of Benin (1990), Cote d'Ivoire (1984), Niger (1980), Senegal (1982) and Zambia (1986), the nations' highest awards for humanitarian service.
- 1980 The Capitol Press Club selected Africare's C. Payne Lucas as its Humanitarian of the Year for his leadership of Africare.
- 1983 C. Payne Lucas was a member of the American delegation to Geneva, led by U.S. presidential appointee Shirley Temple Black, which convened a donors' meeting to discuss the famine in Somalia.
- 1984 United States president Ronald Reagan presented C. Payne Lucas with the Presidential End Hunger Award.
- 1986 The Phelps-Stokes Fund presented Africare with the Aggrey Medal for accomplishments in establishing enduring links of friendship and cooperation between the United States and Africa.
- 1990 Africare was the first recipient of the Land Grant College Distinguished Bicentennial Award.
- 1991 C. Payne Lucas was the first African-American recipient of the American Political Science Association's Hubert H. Humphrey Public Service for Africare leadership.
- 1993 Lucas was appointed to the Board of Directors of the African Development Foundation.
- 1995 Lucas led a US government mission to Rwanda and Burundi to explore ways to reduce the tension between Hutus and Tutsis.
- 1996, 1998 - 1999 The U.S. Embassy in Angola has twice recognized local Africare employees with its annual humanitarian award. The award's first recipient, in 1996, was Pedro Siloka, the provincial coordinator of Africare programs in Bie Province. Siloka survived the 18-month "Battle of Kuito" and organized emergency feeding centers that saved several hundred lives. The second Kuito employee, Diogo Castigo, was honored for his work in late 1998 and 1999, when fighting resumed.
- 2000 The Washington Capital Area chapter of the United Nations Association cited Africare's emergency relief work in Angola.
- 2001 The Greater Washington Urban League presented Africare with the Ronald H. Brown International Community Service Award. The National Conference on Black Philanthropy presented Africare an award for Outstanding Achievement in Philanthropy. The Magic Johnson Foundation, Inc., honored Africare for helping African children affected by HIV/AIDS.
- 2002 The Southern Christian Leadership Conference honored Africare for supporting national civil rights and humanitarian endeavors.
- 2003 The Amistad Achievement Award was given to Africare President Julius E. Coles by the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, for contributions to the African continent.
