Only Africa can save Africa. Here is what we are doing about it.
Aid has its place, but development that lasts is led by the people who live with the result. The African Coalition for Development sets out what it is working on now.
New York — There is a sentence we use at the African Coalition for Development that some people find uncomfortable: only Africa can save Africa. The second half matters just as much. The world can partner with her.
We do not say it to turn anyone away. We say it because of what we have seen work. Projects designed far from the people they are meant to serve tend to end when the funding does. Projects that a community asked for, helped to shape and intends to keep are the ones still standing five years later. Leadership and partnership are different jobs, and the continent has too often been offered the second in place of the first.
So the coalition is built around practical development that Africans lead and that principled partners strengthen. This is what that looks like today.
Four things we do
Projects. We back community initiatives in education, food security, health, water, women's enterprise and infrastructure. Three are open for support now. Classrooms for 500 children in West Africa have raised $34,000 of a $50,000 goal. A women's enterprise fund in East Africa stands at $13,500 of $30,000. A community farming initiative in Central Africa has $8,800 of the $40,000 it needs. We give the figures because people who give deserve to know how far there is still to go.
Grants. We are building pathways for grassroots organisations and African-led solutions to receive funding directly, without having to pass through several intermediaries first.
Media. Pan African News Media, where you are reading this, and the Pan African Half Hour exist because who tells the story decides what the story is.
Recognition. Our 50 Under 50 platform honours leaders under 50, so that the next generation can see what is possible from people who look like them.
We do not do it alone
A coalition is only as good as its members. The coalition's include the Eli Adewole Foundation, Better You Africa, Focus Congo, the West African Youth Council and Congolese Young Leaders.
Every third Saturday the coalition meets online for Africa Forward Monthly, from 11am to 12.30pm Eastern time, to compare notes on what is working. And the campaign for the African Development Summit 2027 is now open to people who want to attend, speak, sponsor or partner.
What we are asking
If you are in the diaspora, you hold more than remittances. You hold skills, networks and credibility in two places at once. Bring them.
If you are a donor or a partner, come as a partner. Ask communities what they are building and help them build it.
And if you are on the continent, doing the work without a title or a budget: you are the one this is about. The coalition's job is to stand behind you.
This piece sets out the position of the African Coalition for Development, a US-registered 501(c)(3) non-profit that owns and runs Pan African News Media. Project figures are those published at africandev.org.
