African Revival
African Revival is a UK charity (registered charity no: 1108718) which focuses on providing access to quality education in sub Saharan Africa. African Revival currently has active projects in Uganda and Zambia, and South Sudan.
 | |
| Founded | 2005 |
|---|---|
| Focus | International Development |
| Location | |
| Method | Education Assistance |
Key people | Tony Allen (Founder & Chairman), Glen James (Vice Chairman) |
| Website | http://www.africanrevival.org/ |
History
African Revival was founded in 2005 by the UK businessman Tony Allen, who remains closely involved as the chair of the board of trustees.[1] African Revival initially had a broad focus across many sub Saharan countries and was involved in many aspects of rural development, including income generation and farming projects.
Projects
African Revival works closely with primary schools, teacher training colleges, local government education departments, parents and communities in order to improve the quality of education on offer.[2] Projects include infrastructure development, teacher training, provision of learning materials and micro finance. Infrastructure development focuses on areas such as classroom construction, latrine construction, teacher housing, borehole drilling and desk provision. Local communities actively participate in planning and managing projects through participation in need assessments, budgeting, material provision, and the provision of building staff.
African Revival also works closely with the schools to conduct training in areas such as hygiene, sanitation and community organisation. Girls retention is a key focus for African Revival in both Uganda and Zambia. Through these means African Revival works to assist the schools in consolidating the gains made through improved infrastructure and facilities. With an increasingly strong focus on keeping girls in education for longer and supporting the improvement of results through rigorous monitoring and evaluation, African Revival considers a long term approach with ongoing support as vital to success in the community schools.
Over the years African Revival has implemented projects for partners including Unicef, War Child, SNV, EU, DFID and many more.
Uganda
African Revival has projects in Northern Uganda that include the areas around both Gulu and Kitgum which were hardest hit during the civil war. With the main office in Gulu, African Revival has field offices in the Lamwo, Nwoya and Amuru Districts with recent projects also in Kitgum and Koboko Districts.
Other key programmes in Uganda include a phonics literacy programme in forty five schools, a girls sanitation programme in 25 schools, a range of livelihoods and financial literacy programmes and ongoing infrastructure in both the Acholi and West Nile Region. Previous projects include School Demonstration farms in over 40 schools in 4 districts across Northern Uganda, and a successful DFID funded programme that introduced low cost, high quality nursery education at primary schools in the Nwoya District. In the last two years African Revival has expanded into the West Nile Region, supporting refugees and host communities in Koboko District.
Zambia
African Revival currently works with around twenty schools in the Southern Province of Zambia. The programmes in Zambia include comprehensive infrastructure provision at schools in the Choma, Kalomo and Zimba districts. African Revival Zambia has a technical focus on sanitation infrastructure including; latrines, boreholes, handwashing facilities and WASH training, with long term partnerships with Just A Drop and Play It Forward. In recent years African Revival has diversified and increased their work in Zambia, introducing a pilot school demonstration farm, supporting 15 schools through our Girls & Sanitation programme and working to develop a literacy programme.
South Sudan
African Revival has worked in South Sudan since 2005 through long term partners The Brickworks and Fields of Life. Through partnership African Revival has supported schools and teacher training colleges in Yei, Kajo Keji, Ibba and Maridi. Due to conflict in recent years a number of projects had been put on hold, instead supporting South Sudanese refugees at both community schools in the Koboko District, and through temporary schools in refugee camps. In 2019 African Revival returned to South Sudan beginning a series of construction projects at 5 primary schools in Maridi State.
Ambassadors
In August 2020 African Revival appointed the first ambassador of the charity - acclaimed fine art photographer Alfie Bowen.
On his appointment, Alfie comments “It is a great privilege to have been offered such an important role at this outstanding charity. I have been impressed by the work of African Revival since donating two pieces of art to their annual ball last year, with proceeds put directly towards changing young lives across Africa.
I know from my own experiences just how important education is, and I look forward to playing a part in increasing the quality of education in Uganda, Zambia and South Sudan, and championing African Revival in the months and years ahead.”
A full article is available to view here.
Events
African Revival runs a number of fundraising events in the UK and abroad. Previous events include the Zambia Bike Challenge 2009 and 2011, the Ugandan bike ride in 2013 and an annual signature Ball, usually held in London. Previous Ball's include the 1920s Bootleg Ball hosted in the Park Lane Hotel in London, and a Beat the Goalie Competition attended by the Business Secretary Dr Vince Cable MP.[3]
In 2019 African Revival's 14th Annual Golf Day will be held at Stoke Park on the 11th of April, and the Annual Ball will be held at the Dorchester on the 27th of September.
References
- http://www.africanrevival.org/who-we-are/trustees. Trustees
- http://www.africanecho.co.uk/africanechonews18-may24.shtml. African Echo
- http://www.elmbridgeguardian.co.uk/news/yourneighbourhood/8281561 Archived 2011-10-08 at the Wayback Machine. African Revival in Bushy Park
External links
Videos
African Revival had produced a number of videos, filmed by volunteer videographer, trustee and ex headmaster Roy De Boise available on their You Tube Channel.