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LETTER: More work than ever for Self Help Africa

December 23rd, 2018 8:00 PM

By Southern Star Team

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SIR – Through your pages, I would like to express my sincere thanks to your readers, for their kindness and generosity in supporting the work of Self Help Africa over the past year.

SIR – Through your pages, I would like to express my sincere thanks to your readers, for their kindness and generosity in supporting the work of Self Help Africa over the past year.

2018 was an incredible year for us – we invested more funds and undertook more work than at any other point in our long history. We worked with more than two million people across sub-Saharan Africa.

We helped hundreds of thousands of farming households in some of the poorest parts of Africa to increase their income through agriculture, allowing families to improve their homes and provide their children with an education and a brighter future.

For all our success in supporting families work their way out of poverty, 2018 has also been a very challenging year. The devastating spread of the invasive Fall Armyworm caused the loss of harvest and livelihoods throughout sub-Saharan Africa. 

Throughout the region, particularly in Malawi, Self Help Africa has been at the forefront of the fight against the pest. We’re working with farmers on the ground to equip them with the knowledge and tools to combat the pest, and leading innovative research to prevent further spread of the Armyworm.

This year, Self Help Africa also started two of its largest projects to date – creating a network of farmer fields schools in Malawi and supporting smallholder farmers with access to markets and building capacity in the cassava value chain in Kenya. Together, those two projects alone will increase incomes for close to 500,000 small farmers and entrepreneurs.

Small-scale farming can be a risky and unreliable means of supporting your family, but for hundreds of millions of families in Africa, it is the only option that they have. We know that by increasing production, improving plant varieties, supporting small enterprise and assisting Africa’s farmers to source new markets, our work can and is transforming lives for the better.

None of this vital work would have been possible without the generosity of the public.

 As we approach 2019, on behalf of Self Help Africa, I’d like to wish all of your readers a safe and peaceful Christmas and new year, and again say a heartfelt thank you for your remarkable kindness and support.

Yours sincerely,

Ray Jordan, CEO, 

Self Help Africa,

Kingsbridge House, 

17-22 Parkgate Street, 

Dublin 8.

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