The word network implies joining people together for a purpose. That’s what we have tried to do since we began working in Africa. We decided to find credible local partners rather than starting from scratch. In our case, poverty was the mother of invention – we didn’t have the money to build an empire.
We made connections and built long-term relationships. We weren’t interested in one-night stands because mental health challenges are not “solved” quickly. Nor can you break the cycle of poverty or transform people’s life chances with quick fixes. That approach wouldn’t work in Chicago or Liverpool, so why would it work in Africa?
We have also tried to respect local experience. Now, our partners in the different countries where we work are reaching out to each other, sharing knowledge, like a network. But don’t take our word for it.
Supporting Livelihoods and Mental Health in Port Loko
One of our generous supporters, a foundation in Switzerland, visited our Sierra Leone project with us in January 2024. Our local partner is Conforti, working in Port Loko. The foundation’s representative met many of the people attending our counselling sessions and community education meetings. She told our mental health consultant that the Port Loko project is among the best in the foundation’s portfolio. She was impressed by the quality of the work, the way our partners function as a team, and their collaboration with the local mental health nurse as well as other “stakeholders” (jargon for teachers, medics, politicians and those attending our counselling sessions).
Feedback From Our Local Partners in Uganda and Rwanda
This is the view from our partner in northern Uganda, BNUU:
Network for Africa has a deep passion to nurture and grow grassroots organisations who are locally led. They offer the much-needed support to collaboratively fundraise, share skills in effective management of finances, monitoring and evaluation of projects, and support in development of the organisation’s strategy….A community-based organisation started by a group of survivors of war has grown to become a fully registered organisation serving over 5,000 community members with 35 staff and volunteers.
Here is the report card from the Survivors Fund (SURF), in Kigali, Rwanda:
We have been working in partnership with Network for Africa since 2017 when together we developed a peer counselling programme for young survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Network for Africa provided the model and training for our counsellors and multi-year funding to deliver the programme. We have supported over 2,000 participants since our partnership commenced and the positive impact reported is unparalleled.
Thank you to our redoubtable supporters who have helped us over the years. Please visit our donation page to help us continue this work.