Acting 4 Africa

Because No One Should Die from Hunger!

Elizabeth Bagra is a fish vendor at sidiga market in Kinshasa
Paper publication date: 
Thursday, January 12, 2012

The response to the campaign across the continent was encouraging. Within a remarkably short period of time, the campaign caught the attention of African policy-makers, a number of citizens and citizens groups. Built around the AU value of a people-driven union, in its first phase, AA4A achieved the following: I Rallied, in just 20 days, leading up to the August 25, 2011 African Union Pledging Conference for the Horn of Africa Food Crisis several regional, national and pan African coalitions and councils to come together with 35 African musicians to request African governments to contribute financially and in kind and be part of the emergency response. At the Pledging Conference $43 million was pledged following a benchmark of $50 million that was set by AA4A. II AA4A developed a policy brief that was endorsed by Pan African Networks and Coalitions including the regional Councils of NGOs in West, Southern and East Africa. This policy brief was used as a reference document by members of the AU Commission in the lead up to, and during the AU Pledging Conference in Addis Ababa. III Through Embassy visits AA4A encouraged African Governments through their Embassies to give generously and develop partnerships with their citizens and private sectors and encourage them to also contribute.