Africare Commemorates its 50th Anniversary

Africare Commemorates its 50th Anniversary with Planned Sunset of all U.S. Operations and Assisting in Standing Up a New "PanAfricare" on the Continent

By PRESS RELEASE PR Newswire

Africarehouse Washington, DC

CROWNING AN IMPRESSIVE FIFTY-YEAR

legacy of high-impact programming within Africa, the Africare Board of Directors and President & CEO Robert L. Mallett announced both the planned cessation of Africare operations in the US and the endorsement of a newly created independent entity, "PanAfricare" based in Senegal, West Africa. The birth of PanAfricare will coincide with the planned sunset of Africare. The new PanAfricare has established its own board of directors and will operate autonomously from the existing organization. Africare will transition its entire portfolio of projects to PanAfricare. As the legacy Africare closes its operations, a new "Friends of PanAfricare" has also been established. Its sole, independent purpose will be to support the new PanAfricare and other organizations with similar missions in sub-Saharan Africa with fundraising from donors who support the mission of Africare.

Upon inception, PanAfricare can demonstrate extensive reach with a presence in each region of Sub-Saharan Africa -- Angola, Burkina Faso, Chad, Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe and, of course, Senegal where the new PanAfricare headquarters will be based. Programs are within the core competencies of legacy Africare and the new PanAfricare, including: Agriculture, Nutrition, Health, Women's and Youth Empowerment. "It has been my great honor to serve as a steward of Africare's enormous impact of transforming lives in Africa – from agricultural innovation, food security and nutrition to empowering women and youth. Now is simply the right time to pass this baton of stewardship

◄ On Oct. 8, 1987, Africare’s headquarters ― Africare House ― was offi cially opened. Cutting the ribbon were (left to right), Africare President C. Payne Lucas, Africare Chairman Bishop John Walker and President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia. (Photo: Lisa Berg)

not only to the capable Gorgui Diallo and the talented fi eld staff – but to the entire continent of Africa via the new PanAfricare. I have great confi dence that governments and donors committed to capacity building will take note and support this bold new venture," said President & CEO Robert Mallett. "It was indeed the appropriate moment to dually celebrate Africare's wonderful legacy while also looking forward to ensure PanAfricare would be in a position to deliver services to the people of Africa," said Board Chair Stephen D. Cashin. "We are greatly appreciative of all the global 'Africare alumni' who have provided their energies and idea capital towards reaching this milestone." "We are also grateful to our many government, international and corporate partners, foundations, sororities, churches and individual donors over this period who have underwritten the delivery of valuable services to the people of Africa. Africare has long enjoyed a widely diverse base of donor support," he added.

The new PanAfricare will be headed by the experienced and respected former Africare country director Gorgui Diallo and many talented countrybased project teams will join him in this new venture. "I am humbled, honored and energized to become the inaugural CEO of the new PanAfricare. We appreciate the confi dence of existing donors such as Bayer, Exxon Mobil and others who have reauthorized former Africare grants to PanAfricare. The new PanAfricare is excited about many projects such as nurturing a highly innovative initiative converting mining waste to fertilizer in Chad."

Africare is inviting existing staff , dedicated Africare Alumni, donors and all our loyal supporters to adopt the hashtags "#AfricareGoldenYear2020" and "#MyAfricareMemory" on social media and share their sentiments, participation and even photos in support of the collective work in Africa. During the 1970-2020 period, Africare invested approximately $2 billion across 38 African countries. "#AfricareGoldenYear2020 is dually a recognition of our great fi fty-year legacy in Africa while highlighting the promising planned programming on the continent," said President & CEO Robert Mallett. "As we are on the ground every day, we increasingly see eff ective solutions towards uplifting people's lives developed locally throughout our operating countries vs. imported from the US. A new autonomous PanAfricare is dedicated to delivering programming which directly benefi ts people," Mallett added.

Additional details regarding Africare, Africare House, PanAfricare and past infl uential leaders such as C. Payne Lucas can be found on Africare's website at www.africare.org.

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/africarecommemorates-its-50th-anniversary-with-planned-sunset-of-all-us-operations-and-assisting-in-standing-up-a-new-panafricare-onthe-continent-1029460794# Image Source: clear-res.com, Africare,

Cartier Award Opens Doors for Nigerian Recycling Maven Bilikiss

Interview conducted in Lagos, Nigeria

BILIKISS ADEBIYI-ABIOLA RECEIVED

more than just money when the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards (www.cartierwomensinitiative. com) selected her as a laureate in 2013. The name recognition she garnered from the Awards opened doors in the hyper-competitive startup environment of her home country Nigeria for Bilikiss and her recycling startup, Wecyclers (www.wecyclers. com). In the last three years, Bilikiss has been able to double her company’s staff , partner with major multinational companies like Unilever, Uber and DHL and plan an expansion from Nigeria into Madagascar.

“People really respect you if you have some kind of certifi cate, some kind of award,” Bilikiss said. “So being able to say I am the Cartier Women Initiative Awards’ laureate, that has set me apart from a lot of people,” Bilikiss said of being named a laureate, which included a cash prize of $20,000.

While some startups in Nigeria off er products or services to the country’s rising middle class or globetrotting elite, Bilikiss staked her future on trash. Wecyclers collects recyclable waste from neighborhoods in Lagos and rewards the households they collect from with points that can be exchanged for everything from housewares to generators.

The company’s bicycle -and tricycle- riding employees collect about 50 tons of recyclables per-month in Nigeria’s largest city Lagos. That’s a small dent in the 10,000 tons of trash the city produces daily, but it’s already something. When she won the award, Bilikiss says the company only collected about 10 tons of trash each month. “We’ve been able to outgrow the startup phase. We’re becoming more of a small to medium-sized enterprise.”

Bilikiss started the company in 2012 with one employee. She now has 103, up from fewer than 50 when she won the award. She was recently

able to hire a Chief Operating Offi cer and other staff to take some of the management burden off her shoulders and guide Wecycler’s growth. In March, the Lagos governor named her to a board mandated to reduce youth unemployment and promote entrepreneurship in her state. Meanwhile, Bilikiss is working with DHL to expand Wecyclers to Madagascar, perhaps by the end of the year.

Bilikiss hasn’t kept the benefi ts of the Cartier award to herself. After receiving the honor, she started mentoring other startups in Nigeria. Her mentees include two subsequent Cartier award winners, Achenyo Idachaba and Chinwe

Ohajuruka. “I see women who are doing their own entrepreneurial thing,” she said. “I want to help.”

Despite having accomplished so much, Bilikiss says her entrepreneurial journey is just beginning.

“My goal for Wecyclers is to be… a huge waste management company in Sub-Saharan Africa, where we are empowering people with waste,” she said. “I defi nitely know I’m not that person yet but I hope to be so in the future.” www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/story/bilikissadebiyi-abiola Image credits: blogspot.com, olatorera.com, impactspace.com, Naija Gist - Latest

Kenyan Video Game to Fight Climate Change By AGENCY

KENYAN TECH START-UP, USIKU

Games (https://usiku.games) has developed the Seedballs Game (https://play.usiku.games/ seedballs) to help aid reforestation of Kenya's lost forest cover. Kenya targets to increase its forest cover to 10% from the current 7% by 2022.

A Seedball is a coated tree (or grass) seed inside of a ball of recycled charcoal dust mixed with some nutritious binders. The biochar coating of the ball helps protect the seed within from predators such as birds, rodents, and insects and extremes of temperature until the rains arrive. Once soaked, the seedball will help retain and prolong a moist environment around the seed to encourage germination.

Seedballs Kenya (www.seedballskenya.com) is a collaboration between Chardust Ltd (chardust.com) and Cookswell Jikos Ltd (https://cookswell.co.ke). Together they have researched and developed biochar Seedballs for Kenya. Chardust handles the manufacturing and Cookswell Jikos is involved with sales, marketing, and distribution.

According to Teddy Kinyanjui, Co-Founder Seedballs Kenya, the initiative targets areas that have been severely aff ected by deforestation because of charcoal burning activities. Seedballs Kenya has distributed over 10 million seedballs since its inception in 2016. "We are very glad to partner with Usiku Games to drive more awareness on the need to conserve our forests and to regrow the millions of trees we have cut down as a Country over the years. We believe that gamifying environmentalism will help make youths excited about tree growing and therefore more likely to take part in this great initiative of planting trees to recover our lost forest."

Seedball Kenya uses certifi ed tree seeds from the Kenya Forestry Seed Center (https://kefri. org/wp-content/uploads/PDF/REVISED%20SEED%20 CATALOGUE-1-1.pdf) who has a stock of seed of about 220 tree species collected from more than 600

localities around Kenya. "We use this provenance data to guide us in our seed distribution eff orts," says Kinyanjui.

In the game, the player fl ies a small plane and try to plant trees by dropping Seedballs. At the end of the game, the players are congratulated for planting (e.g.) 379 virtual trees. The player is then encouraged to turn them into 379 real trees by donating Sh1 per tree. "This is the fi rst time that games are being used to address deforestation issues in Africa. The current climate change issues of drastic weather patterns, extinctions and drying water bodies' maybe a thing of the past if more people embrace this game especially the youth," says Jay Shapiro.

Mr. Shapiro adds that the eff ects of climate change are eating into socio-economic development and depleting the critical resources that the local communities need to survive. "Sustainable forest management is at the very core of Kenya's social and economic wellbeing as many of the country's economic sectors rely on environment based resources for their sustenance."

According to the Taskforce Report on Forest

Resources Management and Logging Activities

in Kenya 2018, the forest sector is estimated to contribute about Sh7 billion to the economy and employ over 50,000 people directly and another 300,000 indirectly with the potential for millions more.

The report indicates that Kenya's forest cover is estimated to be about 7.4% of the total land area, which is very diff erent from the recommended

MIPAD Foundation Unveils My Roots In Africa Project. AFRICA IS YOUR BIRTHRIGHT, PLANT YOUR ROOTS! Enter your name or the name of your honoree in the BOOK OF ROOTS.

In the future, people will not ask, "where are you from?" People will ask, "where do you have roots?"

YOU Win! Africa Wins! Diaspora Wins! Earth Wins!

My Roots In Africa enables the global African diaspora to plant tree(s) in Africa, remotely or inperson, have it geo-tagged and named as a priceless gift in honor of themselves or a loved one, to reconnect with their roots while simultaneously helping to reverse the eff ects of climate change. global minimum of 10%. On the other hand, Kenya's closed canopy forest cover currently stands at about 2% of the total land area, compared to the African average of 9.3% and a world average of 21.4%. Most of the closed-canopy forests in Kenya are montane forests that serve as the nation's water towers.

In recent years, Kenya's forests have been depleted at an alarming rate of approximately 5,000 For every tree planted... • You create a unique connection with the continent • You create a job or educate a child in Africa • You join the climate action movement • You enter your name in the BOOK OF ROOTS; the world root registry that records forever all people who have planted tree(s) on earth. We are happy to have you join millions of other people who want to plant a tree to replenish the earth and make the earth a greener planet. Kindly DONATE (https://dashboard.fl utterwave.com/ donate/gps35edj7aqs) to support upcoming tree planting projects, Watch videos of others who have "planted their roots" in Africa: www.youtube.com/channel/UCQzIV4NzjvRQeDLM-sQstg. • World Tree Day – 21st March • World Earth Day – 22nd April • World Greenery Day – 4th May • World Environment Day – 5th June • World Day to Combat Desertifi cation and Drought – 17th June • World Rainforest Day – 22nd June • World Nature Conservation Day 28th June • International Day of Climate Action – 24th October • World Soil Day – 5th December To learn more about the project visit our featured stories on CNN (https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/24/ africa/mipad-africa-tree-naming-intl/index.html) and BBC

(www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08001mm). hectares per annum. This is estimated to lead to an annual reduction in freshwater availability of approximately 62 million cubic meters, translating to an economic loss to the economy of over USD 19 million, notes the task force report. www.cnn.com/2019/12/24/africa/mipad-africa-treenaming-intl/index.html Image credit: Capital FM