The Trust’s Investment Director, Andia Chakava, attended the Invest In Africa Summit in Amsterdam in April this year. She spoke at the “Doing Business in Africa” plenary and participated in a roundtable on funding mechanisms to scale sustainable agribusiness in Africa. The summit attracted over 1,000 key economic stakeholders, including government officials, policymakers, prominent African leaders, project developers, investors, and entrepreneurs.
Photo: Andia Chakava speaks at the Doing Business in Africa plenary session, discussing opportunities, challenges, and success stories in the African business landscape. Pictured also are some of the vibrant African products displayed at the summit.
Photo: Theo Sowa (left) and Andia Chakava (right) pictured during the side event.
While at the summit, the Afrishela team and the Graça Machel Trustâs Interim CEO, Theo Sowa, held bilateral meetings with ecosystem players in the investment space to share the work of the Trust and Afrishela, gaining valuable insights on impact investing. This engagement is essential for advancing investment in Africa’s sustainable development.
The Trust supports and mobilises civil society networks on issues of ending child marriage, ending violence against children, ending female genital mutilation and promoting childrenâs rights, to carry out advocacy and action across Africa. Special focus is placed on Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia where child marriage continues to be a problem largely driven by poverty, gender inequality, harmful traditional practices, conflict, low levels of literacy, limited opportunities for girls and weak or non-existent protective and preventive legal frameworks.
Education is a fundamental right for all children, which is also a vehicle for social, economic and political transformation in communities, countries and the African continent at large. Recent studies indicate a lack of progress in some of the critical commitments aimed at improving education quality, access, retention and achievement, particularly for girls. In most African countries, girls may face barriers to learning, especially when they reach post-primary levels of education. By implementing multi-dimensional approaches to education which includes core education, personal development, life skills and economic competencies, the Trust partners with funding partners, governments, civil societies and the private sector to improve education access.
The Nutrition and Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition, (RMNCAH+N) of the Childrenâs Rights and Development Programme aims at promoting the Global Strategy for women, children and adolescentsâ health within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. The strategy emphasises on the importance of effective country leadership as a common factor across countries making progress in improving the health of women, children and adolescents.
Through its Early Childhood Development (ECD) plan, The Trust will seek to put into action the new science and evidence Report that was presented by Lancet Series on Good and early development – the right of every child. This will be achieved by mobilising like-minded partners to contribute in the new science and evidence to reach all young children with ECD. The Trustâs goal is to be a catalyst for doing things differently, in particular, to rid fragmentation and lack of coordination across ECD sectors. In response to evidence showing the importance of political will in turning the tide against the current poor access and quality of ECD. Even before conception, starting with a motherâs health and social economic conditions, the early years of a childâs life form a fundamental foundation that determines whether a child will survive and thrive optimally.