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The Africa Village Project
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The Africa Village Project (AVP) is a small non-profit association based on Bowen Island, near Vancouver, Canada. Incorporated in August 2007, its goal is to form partnerships with African villages to help them achieve self-sufficiency and a better standard of living. Board of directors The AVP board of directors consists of Sheena Ashdown (director), Dale Hamilton, Charleen McBeath, Robert Trowhill, and Valerie Neil. The AVP has no paid staff at this point and all work is done on a volunteer basis. All expenses and overhead are currently covered by Ashdown and Hamilton, the founders of the AVP. Vision The AVP believes that aid alone is not enough, so its approach blends the following two methods of helping the developing world: 1. The Millennium Village model initiated by Jeffery Sachs, which tries to improve everything in the village including crop production, health, education, infrastructure, etc. 2. The microcredit concept created by Muhammad Yunus , which lends small sums to village women so they can improve their income by becoming entrepreneurs. The AVP always consults with the villagers about what they want and need, believing that they know best about how they would like to be helped. The Project collects donations and then visits the village to make purchases for projects the villagers have requested. It’s an on-the-ground, efficient approach that produces fast results. Projects The AVP’s first village partner is Okaseni, near Moshi in Tanzania. The villagers live on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro on small farms and grow coffee, bananas, and vegetables. They are a proud and hard-working people who struggle daily to provide for their families in the face of great difficulties. The Project is honoured to work with the Okaseni villagers and looks forward to a productive partnership. So far, the AVP has funded several development projects, which were requested by the Okaseni villagers. These include upgrading the water distribution system, and starting coffee and Gravellia tree seedling nurseries to increase income and slow environmental degradation. Funding The AVP is minimally funded at this point and relies on small fundraising events and donations from individuals. In November 2007, the Project applied for official charity status from the Canada Revenue Agency and is waiting to hear if its application has been approved. See Also
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