Self Help Africa

Self Help Africa

Non-profit Organizations

Farming For A Future

About us

Self Help Africa works with rural communities to help them improve their farms and their livelihoods. We aim to alleviate hunger, poverty, social inequality and the impact of climate change. Our approaches are community-led, market-based and enterprise-focused, To ensure people can access: - Nutritious food - Clean water - Decent employment and incomes All while sustaining natural resources. Charity Number: 20008895

Website
http://www.selfhelpafrica.org
Industry
Non-profit Organizations
Company size
201-500 employees
Headquarters
Dublin
Type
Nonprofit
Founded
1984

Locations

Employees at Self Help Africa

Updates

  • Self Help Africa reposted this

    View profile for Feargal O'Connell, graphic

    CEO Self Help Africa

    Impressed, honoured and humbled. A few words to sum up my recent visit to Malawi, which I’ve really enjoyed sharing an insight into, through my posts here over the last few weeks. First of all, I want to pay tribute to the fantastic Self Help Africa Malawi team, delivering impactful programmes to directly reach more than 1.6 million people in across districts in 2023 alone. None of this happens without our Malawi team, and exceptional leadership from our Country Director Kate Hartley-Louis and Deputy Country Director, Programmes, Smorden Tomoka to name just two amongst a team of exceptional leaders. As a former country director myself, I know that the results and impact achieved above, doesn’t happen by accident. Strong leadership and an exceptional team is the bedrock upon which we can build and deliver truly life-changing programmes. Malawi holds so much opportunity and I was blown away by what I saw during my time there. There’s an incredibly vibrant civil society. Engaged district governments, that want to serve their communities, and a national government open to constructive and pragmatic dialogue with civil society in order to co-create the solutions to the challenges we're trying to overcome. There’s so many opportunities for partnerships in Malawi, especially in WASH in relation to agriculture, nutrition and health. At the same time, the impact of the climate crisis here is heartbreaking. There’s a lot to be done. Malawi will continue to be a country of amazing importance to Self Help Africa, particularly given our legacy and history as an organisation. We stand ready with our Malawi team, led by Kate, to continue to work together in effective and efficient partnerships to do everything we can here, given the enormous challenges that face this country and the region. I’m pictured here with SHA Board Member Hadi Husani and members of our fantastic Malawi team: Smorden Tomoka, Agatha Chitawo, Wezi Gibson, Baxter Givens, Joseph Kiyambuti and Kate Hartley-Louis.

    • Hadi Husani, Smorden Tomoka, Feargal O'Connell, Agatha Chitawo, Wezi Gibson, Baxter Givens, Joseph Kiyambuti, Kate Hartley-Louis
  • View organization page for Self Help Africa, graphic

    24,492 followers

    An innovative new e-voucher system, implemented through strategic partnerships with the private sector, is making a positive impact on the self-reliance and food security of refugee farmers in Uganda's Adjumani district. 👩🌾 The Sustainable Food for All project, led by Self Help Africa, thanks to funding from Irish Aid, is improving refugee smallholders' access to improved seeds and agricultural inputs. 🌱 Out of 952 participants in Adjumani, 44% are refugees, demonstrating the project's strong commitment to including displaced populations, with a focus on women and young people. Read more: https://bit.ly/3AsM4ts

    E-Voucher System Boosts Food Security for Refugee Farmers in Uganda

    E-Voucher System Boosts Food Security for Refugee Farmers in Uganda

    https://selfhelpafrica.org/ie

  • View organization page for Self Help Africa, graphic

    24,492 followers

    A big thanks to our super supporter Mike Last who's undertaking an incredible cycling challenge in aid of Self Help Africa. 💚 🙏 Mike has just completed cycling the length of Ireland from Mizen Head to Malin Head and in September he will cycle the length of the UK from Land's End to John O' Groats over 9 days. 🚴♂️ ⬆️ He has already raised over £1,100 so far - you can support Mike's amazing efforts by donating here:

    Mike's British Isles ride for Self Help Africa

    Mike's British Isles ride for Self Help Africa

    justgiving.com

  • View organization page for Self Help Africa, graphic

    24,492 followers

    Our world is facing an unprecedented number of global crises. As we commemorate World Humanitarian Day today, it is estimated that close to 300 million people will require humanitarian assistance in 2024. Amhara, Ethiopia, is one place where millions of people have been left requiring life-saving humanitarian assistance since the declaration of a State of Emergency around one year ago, owing to a deadly combination of conflict, drought and crop failure. With support from the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Self Help Africa has been delivering a multi-sector emergency response in East Gojjam, Amhara, including multi-purpose cash transfers and non-food items distribution, and other support to people living here. The climate crisis is hitting hardest, those who are least responsible. Malawi and Zambia are amongst those countries that have also declared a State of Emergency in recent times, in this instance due to the effects of El Niño. The impact of an ongoing drought has ruined crops, crippling long-term food supply for millions here. In response, Self Help Africa have adapted our programmes here to respond to rising humanitarian need. In Malawi, we’re scaling up our irrigation efforts, as well as providing cash transfers and continuing to promote drought-resistant and off-season seed. In Zambia, with the support of Irish Aid, we’re setting up irrigation in Gwembe, on the banks of the Zambezi River, to allow people to grow food, as well as seed to grow food during what’s usually the off-season. As a short-term emergency measure, we’re also providing cash transfers for people to buy food at the market. All of these efforts have been made possible thanks to the dedication of our Self Help Africa teams, actively working in sometimes fragile, and often demanding conditions. We also want to take this opportunity on #WorldHumanitarianDay, to join the call to #ActForHumanity, and to pay tribute to humanitarian workers all over the world, and call for their protection in conflict zones.

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  • View organization page for Self Help Africa, graphic

    24,492 followers

    Sheikh Tijan Jallow is a member of our Self Help Africa Gambia team, and a passionate young farmer! He had the chance to leave his home in The Gambia and emigrate, but he stayed. "I have three gardens. I see a lot of opportunities in agriculture... In this country we have to grow what we eat, and eat what we grow." Watch as Sheikh Tijan speaks about how our Transforming Access to Markets project has worked with young people to form their own agro-business schemes. Today, on International Youth Day and every day, we're working with young farmers to grow more and earn more from their farms.

  • View organization page for Self Help Africa, graphic

    24,492 followers

    We're delighted to be heading back to the Global Green Village at Electric Picnic next weekend with Cultivate.ie 🎪 💚 We're looking forward to a weekend of sharing stories of our impact with festival attendees and there will also be plenty of fun activities based around agriculture and food security so stop by and say hello! Here's a reminder of what we got up to last year: 

  • Self Help Africa reposted this

    View profile for Feargal O'Connell, graphic

    CEO Self Help Africa

    During my recent visit to Malawi, I was pleased to have the opportunity to meet with Kate Brady, Ireland’s Chargé d'affaires to Malawi. Our partnership with the Irish Government is of vital strategic importance to Self Help Africa and I was delighted to see this strong collaboration first-hand while in Malawi. Through an engaging meeting, we discussed the significant economic issues facing Malawi, and the maize shortages to be experienced in the country this year, triggered by El Niño. Kate and I have a shared view of the importance of collaboration in addressing these challenges. I look forward to Self Help Africa continuing to play our part as part of our important work with Irish Aid. I was joined by Self Help Africa Malawi Country Director Kate Hartley-Louis and Head of Governance and Strategic Initiatives Wezi Gibson.

    • Kate Brady, Wezi Gibson, Kate Hartley-Louis, Feargal O'Connell
  • View organization page for Self Help Africa, graphic

    24,492 followers

    What do you do if you don't have refrigeration to keep your food fresh? In Malawi, one option is through solar drying. Meet Gripina, a member of a food preservation project in Malawi, who shows us how she preserves food through a solar drier. This method has allowed families to preserve their food for months, increasing food security for many families across Malawi. Watch this video to learn more 👇 #Malawi #foodsecurity #foodpreservation

  • Self Help Africa reposted this

    View profile for Feargal O'Connell, graphic

    CEO Self Help Africa

    Many management and leadership scholars tell us we’re living in a “VUCA” world: volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. Looking at the polycrises we’re facing around the planet, they have a point. That being said, even if we are faced with deeply complex “wicked” problems - as the same scholars describe them - it’s a mistake to automatically reach for the overly-engineered and technocratic solutions. Sometimes it’s best to KISS: keep it simple, stupid. On my recent visit to Malawi I was pleased to see the impact of one such simple solution: gravity-fed irrigation, delivered with support from Irish Aid. I had the chance to visit Muolokera irrigation scheme in Dedza, where Self Help Africa, with Irish Aid funding, has supported rural communities with the construction of an irrigation canal. The canal measuring more than a kilometre, is irrigating 35 hectares of farmland. Over 100 smallholder farmers are cultivating various crops. And one of the main crops? None other than the Irish potato*. I heard from farmers on the life-changing difference that this irrigation system has brought to their lives. From paying tuition fees for their kids, building houses and more. It’s a testament to the power of partnership. A collaboration between farmers’ cooperatives, Self Help Africa, the Irish Government, the Malawian government, CUMO Microfinance and more. Overall, we’ll work with nearly 20,000 families to improve their food and nutrition through this wider project. My hope is that when low-tech, low cost interventions like this irrigation project show promise will be invested in. The key is bringing successful approaches like this to scale. * The ‘solanum potato’ is known widely across Africa as the “Irish potato” as many solanum potato varieties grown in Africa originated in Europe and specifically Ireland.

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