The original strategic approach of the Trust in 2017 was a focus on supporting local community-based organizations to implement projects in any of the seven thematic funding areas of the Trust. It was understood and appreciated that funding projects in a conflict-prone area to promote community development and other activities that support sustained economic development is a complex exercise with high risks, and hence, the need to work with local community-based organizations with the support of small grants to increase capacity and minimize risks.

Le projet EMiLe (Enseignement Multi-Langue) vise à améliorer les résultats d’apprentissage grâce à l’élaboration et à la mise en œuvre d’un programme éducatif multilingue (MLE) permettant, dans un premier temps, aux enfants d’acquérir des aptitudes en lecture, écriture et calcul dans une langue qui leur est familière. Ce programme apprend ensuite aux enfants à appliquer ces aptitudes, concepts et attitudes dans le cadre de leur apprentissage et de leurs activités en utilisant la langue officielle, le français. Cette innovation, actuellement appliquée au niveau micro (complétée par des données comparatives) cause des perturbations dans la mesure où il n’existe actuellement aucun programme similaire au Sénégal ou dans plusieurs pays d’Afrique de l’Ouest. 

Le projet FDK (Federation Dimbaya Kanyalen) vise à améliorer les performances en lecture en appliquant une méthode d’acquisition de compétences en lecture au niveau micro dénommée Stratégie active pour la réussite d’une école novatrice (SARENA). Cette stratégie, qui à l’origine devait être complétée par des données comparatives, est conçue pour les élèves francophones des deux premières années du cycle d’études primaires. SARENA utilise une méthodologie très complète dans la mesure où elle porte en grande partie sur la forme des mots et la mémorisation des textes, ce qui rend le développement de compétences en décodage moins important. Afin d’assurer des bonnes relations avec toutes les parties prenantes, l’inspection d’académie locale a reçu une formation supplémentaire et s’est vue confier la responsabilité du suivi en dépit de son incapacité avouée à bien jouer ce rôle.

ROYNF (Robert and Yeranda Nkosi Foundation) is a micro level incremental innovation complemented by comparative data which seeks to raise learning outcomes by developing a language appropriate participative learning model.  The ROYNF approach is compatible with Uganda’s national Thematic Curriculum, and yet distinct, in that, it features pupils’student group work, application in private schools, and kinaesthetic/participative activities.  While these might not be new ideas, their application in this context is innovative.  This project targets Lumasaaba language speakers, but the approach should be useful in other languages, as well.

The FDK (Federation Dimbaya Kanyalen) project aims to raise reading outcomes by implementing a micro level reading skills acquisition approach, Stratégie Active pour la Réusite d’une Ecole Novatrice (SARENA), intended originally to be complemented by comparative data.  The SARENA approach is designed for French speaking students in their first two years of primary school.  SARENA uses a very global methodology, in that, it heavily features word shape and text memorization.  Development of decoding skills is less stressed.  For the sake of external relations, the district-level academic inspectorate received additional training and was made responsible for monitoring, despite its recognized inability to perform well in this capacity.  FDK also features community/parental involvement through the acquisition and use of mobile phones to facilitate communication between teachers and parents.  Other partners include the Bureau Artichaut of Dakar which provides training and materials for SARENA.  

This EMiLe project (Education Multi-Langue) aims to raise learning outcomes by developing and implementing a multilingual education (MLE) transfer curriculum which first enables children to acquire reading, writing and math skills in a familiar language.  The curriculum then teaches the children to apply those learning skills, concepts, and attitudes to learning and functioning in the official language, French.  This innovation currently functions on the micro level (complimented by comparative data) and is disruptive in that no such curriculum currently exists in Senegal, or in many countries of West Africa.  (EMiLe could also be understood as incremental in that MLE in east Africa is the policy norm, though rarely implemented.)  

ELEP (Early Learning Enhancement Project), a micro level incremental innovation complemented by comparative data, seeks to raise learning outcomes by engaging and empowering community education stakeholders to produce context-specific strategies, training events and learning innovations which address the realities of each individual project school. This is done by an annual cycle of assessment, analysis of resultant data, stakeholder interaction, creation of a work plan, and community action. This cycle addresses learning outcomes as well as school management and school environment.

The NBDCK (National Book Development Council of Kenya) project aims to raise reading outcomes by offering extracurricular reading opportunities to public school children in the Kisii area of western Kenya. This is a micro level incremental innovation which originally included comparison to a control group, but this is no longer the case.  Grade six students (‘mentors’) are trained to read with grade 1 and 2 students (‘buddies’) during informal small group sessions supervised by teachers trained to this end. 

The MRCK project has evolved significantly since its first iteration. It now includes the review, revision, and implementation of the Reading for Comprehension methodology (RfC), teacher training in that revised methodology, the use of an improved student learning assessment tool, comparison of learning outcomes to baseline and to a control group, increased parental support, and the establishment of local libraries.  

Pendant deux ans, entre 2009 et 2011, TrustAfrica, avec le soutien du ministère néerlandais des Affaires étrangères, a mis en place un projet entrant dans le cadre de l’objectif du Millénaire pour le développement 3 (OMD 3). Ce projet, intitulé Renforcer la dignité de la femme était mis en oeuvre dans sept pays d’Afrique francophone sub-saharienne: Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroun, République démocratique du Congo (RDC), Mali, Niger et Sénégal.

For two years, between 2009 and 2011, TrustAfrica, with support from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has implemented a Millennium Development Goal 3 (MDG3) project entitled Enhancing Women’s Dignity. The project covered seven countries in francophone sub-Saharan Africa: Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mali, Niger, and Senegal. The Enhancing Women’s Dignity project aimed at building capacity to reduce violence against women, and increase women’s political participation. The following are seven case studies of compelling projects that were carried out by grantee partners in each of the target countries.

This case study, published in October 2009, is the third in a series focusing on our Investment Climate and Business Environment Research Fund. It reflects on recent findings that for Tanzania’s importers and exporters, limiting exposure to currency fluctuations may spell the difference between failure and success.

This case study, published in September 2009, is the second in a series focusing on our Investment Climate and Business Environment Research Fund. It reflects on recent findings that Kenyan potters must learn to think like entrepreneurs, developing new products and marketing them far and wide.

This case study, published in September 2009, is the first in a series focusing on our Investment Climate and Business Environment Research Fund. It reflects on recent findings that the adoption of sustainable fishing practices could save the Nile perch, lift incomes, and preserve livelihoods among Uganda’s poor.

In October 2004, soon after the summer heat let up and classes resumed throughout Egypt, a diverse group of 88 young men squared off in a thrilling two-day football tournament in Cairo. Mostly university students, plus a few recent graduates, they fielded teams representing 11 different African countries. The competition showcased some impressive footwork, with a squad of Ghanaians ultimately emerging as the victors. But more importantly, it served as an object lesson in cultural exchange: the players maintained their national identities while engaging in a collective enterprise. In case anyone missed the point, the tournament’s theme spelled it out: “One Continent, One Destiny.”

In 2004 a team from the Center for the Protection of Underprivileged Women in Cameroon paid a visit to Kondengui maximum-security prison in Yaoundé, the nation’s capital. Brought in to provide skills training to female inmates, its members were troubled by the conditions they found — including a rash of politically motivated arrests, lengthy pretrial detentions, severe overcrowding, and minimal health care.

Hannah Nyokabi Kaniaru makes a living selling fruit at the City Market in Nairobi, Kenya. In neighboring Uganda, Thomas Wanyika Maembe spends his days promoting sustainable fishing practices on Lake Victoria. And in Tanzania, Chris Maina Peter splits his time, teaching law in Dar es Salaam and helping to oversee a legal aid center in Zanzibar. Not long ago, all three of them had a unique opportunity to share their thoughts on the East African Community (EAC), a resurgent effort to bring their countries closer together economically, socially, and politically.

En 2004, une équipe du Centre pour la Protection des Femmes défavorisées du Cameroun, effectuait une visite à Kondengui, la prison à sécurité maximale de Yaoundé, la capitale du pays. Ses membres, venus faire de la formation pour les détenues, ont été préoccupés par les conditions trouvées sur place, notamment une vague d’arrestations pour raisons politiques, de longues détentions préventives, un surpeuplement considérable et un service médical inadéquat.