BENEFIT REPORT 2014
MESSAGE FROM AAA’S EXECUTIVES GREG STONE, CEO I believe business is about perseverance and keeping your eye on the ball, and in our case, the mission. We exist to help people out of poverty and see them come to realize better futures by working with us. This year and this upcoming year is a time of perseverance from the ripple effects of Ebola. We will continue our work stronger than we were before and with more knowledge, skill and experience about how best to partner handmade product and markets. My joy-filled moments this year have been seeing our team pull together, inspire each other and work tirelessly each day to serve men and women far from city centers, bringing them trade and `commerce. Cheers to a new year ahead!
ALICIA WALLACE
ALICIA WALLACE, COO This year has been a big year for us at All Across Africa. Not only for our growth and artisans, but also for the world and the view and perception of things made in “Africa” during the Ebola crisis. It’s heartbreaking to see the impact of Ebola on the communities directly impact and then on ‘Africa’ as a whole. Travel plans cancelled to regions not touched, trade significantly declining, and local companies seeing a downturn in their business. It’s a small recession for Africa as a whole. As 2014 closes and we enter into a new year we are excited and hopeful for what’s to come. This year my most joy-filled moments were spent with our creative volunteer team and staff in October. We were working to capture the impact, process and lives touched by this business model – it’s a time for us to meet one on one with women like Seraphine, an artisan sending 7 of her children to school because of her income with AAA. We were able to enter into her home and hear her story firsthand. It’s been a joy-filled year and a trying one. As we persevere through the wake and Ebola crisis that has affected our business greatly, I’m ready for a new year!
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TABLE OF CONTENTS PUBLIC BENEFIT PURPOSE 2014 SUMMARY BENEFIT TARGETS AND ACHIEVEMENTS 2014 ECONOMIC AND EMPLOYMENT DEVELOPMENTS BENEFIT REPORT THIRD PARTY STANDARD CONTACT INFORMATION
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PUBLIC BENEFIT PURPOSE ALL ACROSS AFRICA
(AAA)
the best of business practices through market development, training, and teaching to producers in Africa. Most importantly of all, AAA connects these producers to our developed external markets. Our business model reaches deep into remote villages in the developing world and provides jobs for rural forward for sustainable development in Africa. It’s the best of business and the best of the non-profit world -- it’s social business.
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Our focus is on the under-served areas of
rural Africa.
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PUBLIC BENEFIT PURPOSE
(cont.)
live in rural areas, and our focus is on the under-served regions of rural Africa.
in the short-term, but in
ROLE
It’s not always necessar-
Farmers
Women in rural Africa face a number of obstacles in providing for their
CHALLENGES
95%
POTENTIAL
impact is substantial.
REALITY
the long-term, the social
families.
Livestock Carers
Food & Water
60% of chronically hungry people are women and girls
Care-givers
43% of
agricultural labour force in developing countries are women
$ Land Rights
women reinvest
90% in their families
of their income
Healthcare
Education
Credit
women could increase farm yields
20% to 30% if they have the same access to resources
W e are pioneering a new way of helping rural families achieve their full potential. Instead of giving free handouts, we invest in the artisans to generate a permanent gain in their family income. By providing artisans with a “market bundle” that includes EDUCATION, FINANCE, MATERIALS, TRAINING AND MARKET ACCESS, nership between market and producer.
WE LISTEN TO OUR PARTNERS, THE PEOPLE WE WORK TO SERVE -THAT’S OUR DEVELOPMENT PHILOSOPHY training to create the highest quality product so that there is a market for their outstanding workmanship.
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2014 SUMMARY
We focused on rural and vulnerable populations to create jobs in local communities: training in reach included
3,200 AFRICAN ARTISANS who individually impacted 5.7 PEOPLE on average, totaling a reach of 18,200 PEOPLE across East Africa.
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BENEFIT TARGETS & ACHIEVEMENTS “create economic development and employment opportunities for rural impoverished and marginalized people throughout the continent of Africa.”
AAA Targets:
CREATE JOBS
that pay a fair wage and improve livelihood
OUR PRODUCERS are paid on average 4x what the local market would pay for their handmade products.
6 IN 10 ARTISANS purchased land or livestock 5.7 INDIVIDUALS on average are supported from 1 income
INCREASE ACCESS 85% OF OUR RURAL ARTISANS have bank accounts 45% OF OUR PRODUCERS have savings accounts as a direct result of AAA training
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BENEFIT TARGETS & ACHIEVEMENTS FOOD ARTISANS ATE
BEFORE WORKING WITH AAA: potatoes sweet potatoes
cassava bananas
(cont.)
FOOD ARTISANS ATE
AFTER WORKING WITH AAA:
rice corn vegetables
beans vegetables bananas tomatoes
cassava potatoes sweet potatoes
IMPROVE NUTRITION
for the artisans and their families
100% OF OUR ARTISANS have an overall improvement in their nutrition and ability to buy food
AVERAGE NUMBER OF MEALS
for artisans: 2 per day
INCREASE EDUCATION for artisans and their children
100% OF OUR PRODUCERS’ CHILDREN are in school 10 IN 10 ARTISANS have had a training course to improve their knowledge of savings techniques, bookkeeping and leadership methods
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2014 ECONOMIC AND EMPLOYMENT DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES
WEAVING JOBS Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi
Our current income-generating action takes many forms. Our largest program, basket weaving in Rwanda and Uganda, employs 3,000 men and women between the two countries. Orders for these baskets are placed and purchased weekly and keep the weavers working to supply product year-round. With their success, the producers have built bigger homes, sent kids to university and paid their children’s annual school fees. To our weavers across East Africa, baskets are change agents.
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SEWING JOBS Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi
Through our partnerships with sewing cooperatives in Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, All Across Africa has created sewing jobs for many men and women. Their sewn handbags, table linens, aprons and apparel is purchased and supplied to our international markets. We’ve also trained groups of rural village youth to become tailors, and have worked with established cooperatives looking for market opportunities. Many of our sewers make more money than college-educated schoolteachers in their village, and at times have been the highest wage earners in their area.
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JEWELRY MAKING JOBS Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi
All Across Africa is a partner with many different jewelry cooperatives across Africa. These include paper bead, clay bead, woven, and brass and aluminum jewelry cooperatives in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. The astonishingly wide variety of materials available across the African landscape helps create vast employment opportunities for many people.
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CARVING JOBS Kenya
The art of woodcarving dates back 450 years, and is a perfected skill passed down from one generation to the next. A young apprentice works among seasoned master carvers to learn the techniques of the craft, from splitting timber to carving and hand-polishing the finished forms. Many artisans specialize in sculpting a series of African forms, including the range of exotic and wild animals found in East Africa. No two pieces are ever exactly the same. Craftsmen model each form using simple tools made from animal hide, local wood and spring steel fashioned into adzes and knives. Amazingly, no machinery is used to transform a tree into hundreds of items both decorative and functional.
HORN AND BONE JOBS Uganda, Burundi
Horn and bone have long been used by cultures worldwide to create objects of utility (tools) and decorative art objects. In Uganda horn and bone are regarded as waste, and the art of recycling them into marketable objects is a master stroke of ingenuity. By collecting the raw material from local butcheries, artisans create beauty from garbage, powering a thriving industry that supports orphan heads of households and young men otherwise unable to find work.
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LEATHER MAKING JOBS Burundi
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Artisans use rustic and natural, free-range, Burundian beef leather to make beautiful handbags, sandals and wallets. These products are also embellished with East African beadwork in traditional and contemporary patterns and colors. Every piece is hand-stitched, and handbags are lined with traditional Burundian cotton kitenge (local fabric). All of the raw materials originate in Burundi. Great attention is paid to the finishing so that these traditional hand-made African products meet the standard demanded by international markets.
BENEFIT REPORT THIRD PARTY STANDARD ALL ACROSS AFRICA
used B-Corps third party standard. B-Corp was picked as the third party standard poration community as a reputable, unbiased and trustworthy third party standard. All Across Africa used B Corp’s third party standard and was rated an 92 out of 200 possible points. A standard business rates 50 out of 200 and a sustainable business rates 80 out of 200 when graded on a third party standard of achieving their social mission, respecting the environment and taking care of employees and workers. All corporation in 2013.
ALL ACROSS AFRICA’S SHAREHOLDERS Greg Stone Alicia Wallace
BOARD OF DIRECTORS STATEMENT
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Africa met its targets of economic and employment opportunities for rural and marginalized in Africa.
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