Transforming communities in Africa

Africa is home to some of the world’s most vulnerable children, facing hunger, illness and conflict.

We do all that we can to save children’s lives and ensure they have a future. For more than 40 years, we’ve been working in some of Africa’s most difficult and hard to reach places, often where no one else will go.

Learn more about the communities we are partnering with in Africa

We work together with children and their families to ensure they have what they need to survive and thrive. Working towards long-term community-wide change, and responding to emergencies.

 CLEAN WATER

Our clean water work in Africa is changing lives
In Africa, unsafe water is one of the biggest killers of children under five. In some places, getting clean water is staggeringly hard – 40 billion labour hours a year go to collecting water.

When children have clean water and decent toilets, they are healthier and can go to school, and their parents can work to provide their families with food and income. Across Africa, we’re working with communities to make sure they have clean water. We’re building and repairing water sources and toilets, teaching safe hygiene practices, and helping communities manage their water.

We know how important water is, so it’s more than just digging wells. Water is running through all of our work – it’s a huge part of everything we do in health, education, and farming.

Learn more about our Clean Water work.

 EDUCATION

Our education work in Africa is making learning possible
Across Africa, many children have to work to support their families, meaning they have to drop out of school.

Usually this is more of a problem for girls than boys, with more than 28 million girls between the ages of six and 15 not in school. Those girls not going to school every day are more likely to be hurt, sex-trafficked, or married very young.

We’re working with parents and communities to build schools all children can learn in. This means making sure there are safe, private toilets for girls, and having sanitary products available at school for when they get their periods.

Learn more about our Education work.

 FOOD

We are helping parents feed their children healthy food
Approximately one in three people in Africa are undernourished, the highest ratio in the world.

Growing food to eat and sell is challenging – land is limited, irrigation is not readily available, and many crops can’t thrive in the climate.

We’re training farmers on irrigation-based techniques to build crop production, and explore other ways of earning money. As well as upping the land’s productivity, we’re helping farmers find the best places to sell their crops, so they can get fair prices.

Learn more about our work with Nutritious Food.

 FAMILY INCOME

We are working to provide job opportunities in Africa
Many of the poorest people in Africa are rural farmers, growing only enough food to feed their families, and selling just enough to get by. 

Seeking out other ways to earn a living is not easy with limited opportunities to re-train or go to school.    

We’re working to help make other job paths easier to find and tread, so families don’t have to rely on agriculture alone. We’ve set up small business training, financial skills training, and micro-finance opportunities, as well as community savings groups, where people work together to save and manage money for schooling and healthcare.

Learn more about our Family Income work.

 HEALTHCARE

We are training health professionals in Africa
Less than half of people in Africa have access to healthcare facilities, and many healthcare professionals don’t have the tools they need to do their jobs.

Combined with a lack of clean water, hygiene and nutrition education, diseases like malaria and diarrhoea spread quickly and go untreated.

We’re working to get communities immunised, and to make mums and their children healthier by training locals in health and nutrition.

Learn more about our Healthcare work.

 CHILD PROTECTION

We are protecting the vulnerable
Millions of children in Africa have been displaced due to conflict, or trapped through child labour and trafficking. 

When children experience violence, it impacts their social, emotional, mental, physical and spiritual development. This puts their future health and education at risk. 

We work to protect children, especially those who are most vulnerable through separation from family, war or trafficking and empower them with skills for resilience, access to quality healthcare and education. 

By protecting the vulnerable, we are making a significant impact on reducing child slavery and trafficking in Africa.

Learn more about our Child Protection work.

Our work in Africa is made possible by the kindness, love and generosity of our Kiwi child sponsors.

Sponsor a Child