Our focus during the year was on minimising the impact that COVID-19 had on our programme work with communities in Africa, and our efforts to provide the necessary support for this work, in the West.
And while we were unable to stage events, run shops and raise funds in traditional ways to support our programmes for much of the year, we continued to innovate and evolve our methods of working, and ensured that our programmes were able to continue with the minimum adverse impact on the people and communities that we serve.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Self Help Africa, I am grateful to all our staff, supporters and funders for ensuring that we were able to continue this important work through the year. Indeed, it is encouraging to read within these pages that despite the effects of the pandemic, upwards of 80% of our project targets were reached, in 2021.
Our ability to adapt and change how we worked was notable, and our online systems that we had in place served their purpose and allowed us to work remotely in an efficient and effective manner.
Staff meetings, planning activities, recruitment, training events and even our governance oversight work was all conducted online. We also used online systems to engage with the general public closer to home – including when hundreds of people dialled in to attend an International Women’s Day webinar with contributors from across the globe, that we presented for the first time, in 2021.
The ongoing impact of the pandemic did however present us with certain financial challenges. We are grateful for the support and assistance provided by governments during the pandemic, not least in providing financial support when our network of retail shops was closed for months at a time, during the year.
In 2021 we completed an historic merger with United Purpose (UP), a Wales-based international NGO with a similar mission to Self Help Africa, as well as shared values.
This merger was formally ratified by the boards of both organisations in August, and set in train a process of integration and consolidation that has continued since that time. The merger with UP has almost doubled both the size and operational reach of our organisation, which by year end of 2021 had programmes across 15 African countries, as well as in Bangladesh and Brazil.
The merger with United Purpose also brought into the fold CUMO Microfinance – which is one of the largest small loans provider in Malawi. CUMO joins Partner Africa and TruTrade as social enterprise subsidiaries within our wider group of companies.
I am optimistic for the future of Self Help Africa, and am grateful to my fellow Directors, to our membership, our advisors, supporters, staff, volunteers, funders and partners, and to all who have supported us in our work in 2021.
I would like to acknowledge the contribution of Ray Jordan, our Group CEO, who departed after 15 very successful years at the helm in 2022.
In 2023 we will complete another five-year strategic planning cycle for 2023-27 for our organisation that will plot a course forward for Self Help Africa for the coming years.
With best wishes,
Carmel Fox
Chair, The Gorta Group
