What We Do

Reach

AfricAid gives girls in Africa the basic opportunity to go to school. In Tanzania, education literally can be the difference between life and death. This is a frightening reality in a country where 95 percent of girls do not finish high school. 

Why is education so important?

•    Because educated girls are three times less likely to contract HIV/AIDS

•    Because a girl’s earning power is boosted by as much as 25 percent with an extra year of secondary education

•    Because a Tanzanian child has a 40 percent better chance of living to age five if his or her mother has just five years of schooling 

AfricAid helps give young women in Tanzania hope for a brighter future and a fighting chance for a meaningful education. Our scholarship programs directly impact young women in Tanzania, helping to give them a voice in their future, and in the future of their communities. Over the past decade, our work has uplifted thousands of young women in their efforts to break the cycle of poverty and despair.

Teach

AfricAid helps African girls achieve their potential while in the classroom.

To break the cycle of poverty and despair for Tanzanian women, it is not enough to simply provide hope. They must also have access to a clear pathway to success.

AfricAid helps to pave this crucial path by ensuring that girls in Tanzania have relevant, high-quality learning experiences while in school. In the U.S., we spend about $9,000 per student each year. In Tanzania, the government can only afford $5 per child. Our initiatives bridge that gap by providing vocational and teacher training, building classrooms at overcrowded schools, supplying textbooks and computers, and funding school lunches for undernourished students.

Because each of our programs is rooted in strong community partnerships, they have yielded powerful results:

•    The teachers AfricAid has trained have offered high-quality education to more than 30,000 students across

•    Tanzania Attendance has increased by 30 percent at one AfricAid partner school

•    Graduation rates have jumped nearly five-fold at that same school

Empower

AfricAid empowers young African women to become leaders, reaching the next generation of girls.

There is a saying in Africa that if you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a family.

This fundamental belief helps guide AfricAid. Our programs are designed to empower young women with the tools they need to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. The Kisa Project, AfricAid’s leadership training initiative, roots young women in a strong network of Tanzanian women leaders and supporters around the world. Upon graduation from the two-year curriculum, these young women return to their home communities to mentor groups of other young women, thus helping to create the next generation of leaders across Africa.