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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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.
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]
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.
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.
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]