www.selfhelpafrica.

org

Annual Report 2009

Our vision is an Africa free from hunger and poverty
 www.selfhelpafrica.org

In 2009, Self Help Africa’s work

Directly improved 821,485 lives

Backed 8,788 loans

Supported over 6,000 small businesses

through 256 savings and credit cooperatives
and 13 agricultural cooperatives

Self Help Africa Annual Report 2009 3

 Where we worked in 2009
1 ETHIOPIA
agricultural advice
savings and credit cooperative support
agricultural cooperative support
small business development
2
seed development
community development 7
HIV/AIDS awareness
9 1
8
2 ERITREA
agricultural advice
irrigation 4
3
environmental rehabilitation
agricultural cooperative support
seed development
savings and credit cooperative support
gender awareness training
community development
5
3 KENYA 6
agricultural advice and support
agricultural cooperative support
seed development
irrigation
livestock management
small business development
land rights advocacy
marketing support

4

4 UGANDA
agricultural advice and support
agricultural cooperative support
savings and credit cooperative support
small business development
seed development
HIV/AIDS awareness
community development
5 MALAWI
agricultural advice and support
natural resource management
seed development
small business development
community development
6 ZAMBIA
agricultural advice and support
agricultural cooperative support
savings and credit cooperative support
seed development
marketing support
small business development
community development
Self Help Africa Annual Report 2009
www.selfhelpafrica.org
7 BURKINA FASO
agricultural advice and support
seed development
crop diversification
irrigated horticulture
small business development
gender, community development
8 GHANA
agricultural advice and support
natural resource management
livestock management
community development
9 TOGO
agricultural advice and support
livestock management
water management
small business development
HIV/AIDS awareness
community development
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 Economic Empowerment for Africa
When it comes to ending hunger and poverty,
the facts are actually quite simple. Most
Africans live in rural areas, where hunger is
concentrated, and they farm land that - with a
little help - can produce much more food.
That little help comes from you, as our work
draws support from across Ireland, the UK,
continental Europe and now the USA.
As a direct result, men and women across Africa are making great
strides in the fight to produce more food and provide for their
families.
For 25 years now, Self Help Africa has worked alongside these
men and women, giving them the support that, within one or two
seasons, can see a small farm move from subsistence to surplus.
In Africa, as in Europe and the US, farming is a business, and the
key to making a lasting impact on rural poverty in Africa is to help
smallholder farmers make a profit from their small businesses.
Last year saw a major expansion of our work with cooperatives,
in particular. By joining together, farmers are empowered for the
long term, buying cheaper inputs, finding new markets and new
customers, making the profit that will send their children to school or
buy healthcare for their families.
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But our work goes further, because we believe that a key part of our
role is to advocate on behalf Africa’s rural communities. As farming
becomes harder and more complex, Self Help Africa is promoting the
long-term interests of these communities in a variety of fora and to a
range of audiences.
The past year has also seen us embark on new initiatives designed
to improve the quality of our work - such as looking back at
programmes we began 10 years ago, to examine their sustainability.
In all of this work, we have two sets of partners - the first are the
communities with whom we work, and the second are the donors
without whom this work could not continue.
To all partners in the fight against hunger and poverty in Africa, we
say thank you. Without your commitment, none of the successes we
achieved in 2009 would have been possible.
Ray Jordan, CEO

2009 Highlights
2009
Self Help Africa supported over 50 projects across nine countries in 2009 - here are just some of the highlights:
ERITREA
New irrigation and rainwater catchment initiatives were promoted,
initiated and completed.
Our focus on working with women was particularly successful,
with training in different income generation activities, promotion
of fuel-efficient stoves and the setting up of women’s associations.
The success of an early-maturing sorghum variety, which was
introduced to the Emnihaili Area Based Programme, led to its
distribution to farmers throughout the sub-region.
ETHIOPIA
There are now over 26,000 members of Self Help Africa-supported
savings and credit co-operatives across the country, with a loan
book of around $1m. Over 70 % of members are women.
Major new funding was secured from the European Union for
agricultural cooperative development in Oromia and SNNPR
regions, aiming to improve food security and access to agricultural
inputs for 17,500 households.
We partnered with the Food and Agriculture Organisation to scale
up best practices and agricultural techniques dissemination.
KENYA
After six years of waiting, the government introduced a National
Land Policy that Self Help Africa has been working on at the
National Steering Committee, representing Rural Use and
Livelihoods. The policy has since obtained parliamentary approval.
With continuing drought affecting crop production in many areas,
drought tolerant crops were promoted and adopted widely.
Farmers associations were linked with sunflower oil refineries,
while new markets were identified for fruit growers.
Self Help Africa Annual Report 2009
www.selfhelpafrica.org
UGANDA
Two farmer cooperatives were formed, which in turn
commissioned cassava and grain milling factories.
Thousands of farm families were given access to improved banana,
cassava and groundnut seeds.
Fourteen diverse new savings and credit coops were set up
MALAWI
Maize trials using manure returned yields of over 3,000 kg/ha -
well above the current yield of 1,400 -2,400 kg/ ha.
A large number of new groups of lead farmers were trained in
sustainable agriculture, agro-forestry and seed bank management.
450 seed revolving committees were established across 45 new
villages, 12 irrigation schemes were facilitiated, and 69 food
storage facility prototypes produced for demonstration.
ZAMBIA
Major new funding was secured from the European Union to
improve access and supply of quality seeds and agricultural inputs
for 100,000 poor farmers.
74 commodity groups were trained and given improved access to
inputs and output markets.
Agricultural training, agro-chemical usage, post harvest
technologies and entrepreneurship training delivered.
WEST AFRICA
Total of 4,487 households are now adopting sustainable farming
practices and experiencing improved food production.
50kms of stone bunds were constructed to counter soil erosion,
with widescale adoption of the ‘zai’ soil conservation method.
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 www.selfhelpafrica.org

Growing More Food

Investing in agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa will help some of the
poorest people in the world to work their way out of poverty.
But one size doesn’t fit all. Self Help Africa promotes ‘low input’
sustainable agriculture for the poorest rural communities. For those
who have moved beyond subsistence farming, we work with them on
farm infrastructure and markets, promoting farming as a business.

In 2009, Self Help Africa used a range of tools to help rural communities grow and sell more food including:

providing farmers with a timely supply of good quality seed stock

supporting training programmes that increase farmer knowledge
promoting irrigated production through the use of treadle (foot) pumps and drip irrigation kits
promoting crop rotation and complimentary cropping
encouraging the use of manure-based composting
encouraging the sustainable use of land and resources.

A key part of this work is supporting farmer groups to organise into

co-operatives and producer groups. This allows them to scale up their
activities, reduce costs, ensure a timely supply of inputs such as seed,
add value to their farm production and access new markets for the sale
of their surplus produce and cash crops.

Self Help Africa Annual Report 2009 9

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 www.selfhelpafrica.org

Supporting Women
In 2009, over 45% of farmers and members of savings cooperatives
linked to Self Help Africa programmes were women. In 2010, we aim
to increase this to over 50%. We target our efforts at women, because
we know that makes the greatest difference.
In Ethiopia, over 70% of members of Self Help Africa-supported
savings and credit cooperatives are women. In Zambia, some of these
cooperatives are made up only of women.

Women farmers in Africa make up 33% of the work force, yet they provide:

70% of agricultural labour and 60-80% of the labour required for household food consumption
100% of the processing of basic food stuffs
90% of the labour required to source domestic water and wood fuel
80% of the labour for food storage and transport
90% of hoeing and weeding work
60% of the harvesting and marketing services.
SOURCE: FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANISATION
SOURCE: FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION

Studies estimate that agricultural output in sub-Saharan Africa could

increase by 20 percent if women had access to the same resources
as men. Self Help Africa prioritises work with women across all its
programmes, helping them adopt new farming technologies and
increasing their economies of scale. This increases productivity and
encourages them to move to higher-return crops.

Self Help Africa Annual Report 2009 11

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 www.selfhelpafrica.org

Supporting Enterprises
For Self Help Africa, the key to rural economic empowerment is to treat
farming as a business.
But anyone with a business will know how critical it is to have access to
advice, to markets and to credit.
In Africa, where the vast majority of rural people have neither access
to banks, nor the collateral to secure small loans, the opportunity to
develop income-generating enterprises can be extremely limited.

In 2009, Self Help Africa supported over 6,000 rural African small businesses through 256 savings and credit
cooperatives and 13 agricultural cooperatives.
We are actively seeking new partnerships with private enterprise, to encourage the development of new markets
and new products.
By fostering these links with for-profit entities at national, regional and international levels, Self Help Africa believes
that sustainable economic development will be achieved in rural Africa.

Loans from as little as $80 have allowed smallholder farmers to start

new farming activities, have enabled them to add value to existing
activities, and helped them to develop off-farm businesses too.
Access to markets has been improved by linking these farmers and
farm cooperatives with processors and buyers.
Across all our country programmes, smallholder farmers are receiving
new advice on what crops to grow and how to grow them, through
a range of farm extension vehicles, including lead-farmer, farmer-to-
farmer, and farm cooperatives.

Self Help Africa Annual Report 2009 13

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 www.selfhelpafrica.org

Climate Adaptation
Climate change is a reality for millions of rural Africans, who have to
cope with unpredictable rains, unseasonal drought, and must build
their resilience and adapt to this challenge. In 2009 Self Help Africa
worked with communities across our nine programme countries,
providing practical support and information to help rural farming
communities.

This work included:

Sharing of knowledge about adaptation techniques and sustainable land use between country programmes
Development of agro-forestry activities, homestead woodlots and community forestry enclosures
Promotion of small-scale irrigation, sustainable water catchment management and water harvesting
Promotion and distribution of early maturing and drought tolerant crop varieties
Crop diversification
Support for environmental rehabilitation
Collaboration with four other international agencies to produce ‘Climate Frontline’,
documenting efforts by African farmers to adapt to climate change.

African agriculture is particularly vulnerable to a change in growing

conditions. Less than 4% of agricultural land is irrigated, so production
is heavily dependent on the timing and quantity of rain. Climate
change is having an impact however – with unseasonally dry weather
affecting production in Kenya, Eritrea and Uganda last year, and
flooding affecting farmers in Ghana and Burkina Faso.

Self Help Africa Annual Report 2009 15

 Looking ahead after 25 years
2009 was the 25th anniversary year of Self
Help Africa. It was a year when gains that
were achieved following the historic 2008
merger that created the organisation in its
current form were consolidated, and a year
when the reach of our programmes was
improved and extended.
Internally, Self Help Africa carried out a
systematic approach to strengthening several key aspects of our
business systems within the organisation.
We appointed a chief financial officer to oversee all aspects of our
funding and finances, and on foot of a comprehensive review of
human resources and organizational structures, appointed heads of
finance and heads of programmes to support our African country
directors, and provide a more robust senior management team.
Links with the European Commission were strengthened during 2009
too, with upwards of `2m being received in two separate EU funding
grants for our programmes in Zambia and Ethiopia.
In the West, Self Help Africa established operations in the USA, and
we are confident of finding significant support for our work there.
Self Help Africa Inc. was formally launched by former Irish President
and UN High Commissioner Mary Robinson in New York, while
Ireland’s current President Mary McAleese hosted a reception in
Dublin in the Autumn to mark our silver jubilee.
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In 2009 we strengthened our business development systems and
fundraising base in both Ireland and Great Britain, received the
generous support of a number of very successful fundraising events,
including the record-breaking ‘Combines4Charity’ initiative, and also
forged new relationships, with close to 70 trusts and foundations
supporting different aspects of our work.
Self Help Africa continues to be the charity of choice of the Irish
Farmers Association, and the support we receive from farming
communities in Ireland and the UK is vital to our work.
As the year drew to a close the organisation began work on the
preparation of a new five-year strategic plan – a document that will
guide our future goals, objectives and direction for the period from
2011 onwards.
Self Help Africa is very grateful for the work of many in
making the achievements of the past year possible. To all
our staff and field officers, our partners, our boards of
directors and our trustees, I say thank you for your time,
energy and commitment, and I look forward to working
with all of you again in the year ahead.
Tom Corcoran, Chairman
 www.selfhelpafrica.org

ACCOUNTS
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER, 2009

Unrestricted Restricted Total Funds Total Funds Unrestricted Restricted Total Funds Total Funds
Funds Funds 2009 2008 Funds Funds 2009 2008
Incoming resources % % % % £ £ £ £
Income resources from charitable activities
- Grant income 455,496 5,069,200 5,524,696 5,440,752 405,619 4,514,122 4,919,741 4,332,742
Income resources from generated funds
- Voluntary income 1,567,451 422,417 1,989,868 3,132,733 1,395,815 376,163 1,771,978 2,494,752
Other Incoming Resources
- Interest & investment income 43,476 140 43,616 54,971 38,715 125 38,840 43,776
Total incoming resources: 2,066,423 5,491,757 7,558,180 8,628,456 1,840,149 4,890,410 6,730,559 6,871,270

Resources expended
Charitable activities (1,561,393) (4,598,069) (6,159,462) (7,625,310) (1,390,421) (4,094,581) (5,485,002) (6,072,416)
Costs of generating voluntary income (465,960) (18,196) (484,156) (714,865) (414,937) (16,204) (431,141) (569,283)
Governance costs (72,764) - (72,764) (74,012) (64,797) - (64,797) (58,939)
Total resources expended (2,100,117) (4,616,265) (6,716,382) (8,414,187) (1,870,155) (4,110,785) (5,980,940) (6,700,638)

Revaluations of investment assets 2,373 - 2,373 (8,165) 2,113 - 2,113 (6,502)

Transfers between funds 529,199 (529,199) - - 471,252 (471,252) - -
Merger transaction costs - - - (37,273) - - - (29,682)

Net incoming/(outgoing) resources 497,878 346,293 844,171 168,831 443,359 308,373 751,732 134,448

Funds at beginning of year 725,111 1,118,816 1,843,927 1,845,668 705,910 1,089,190 1,795,100 1,358,407
Exchange gain/(loss) on consolidation 40,423 (158,366) (117,943) (170,572) (12,452) (221,755) (234,207) 302,245
Funds at end of year 1,263,412 1,306,743 2,570,155 1,843,927 1,136,817 1,175,808 2,312,625 1,795,100

Full Consolidated Financial Statements for 2009 are available at www.selfhelpafrica.org

Self Help Africa Annual Report 2009 17

ACCOUNTS
INCOME SOURCES TRENDS IN TOTAL INCOME HOW YOUR MONEY WAS SPENT

2009 (%) 2009 (%) 2009

Irish Aid 2,805,000 Income 2005 4,900,139 Charitable Activities 92%
EU 1,726,393 Income 2006 5,857,832 Fundraising 7%
General Donations 1,989,868 Income 2007 8,271,679 Governance 1%
Trusts/Foundations/Others 1,036,919 Income 2008 8,628,456
Income 2009 7,558,180

9m
8m
7m
6m
5m
Charitable Activities

92%
4m

Irish Aid 37.1% 2005 Charitable Activities

EU 22.8% 2006 Fundraising
General Donations 26.3% 2007 Governance
Other Institutional Donors 13.8% 2008
2009

In 2009, our programmes worked with 164,297 households in Africa. Excluding fundraising and governance costs, it costs about %37 to bring
economic empowerment to a rural African family.

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 92% of funds of 2009 were spent on charitable activities. Fundraising accounted for only 7% of overall expenditure.
President Mary McAleese with Self Help Chairman Members of the Combines4Charity group with rugby international Shane
Tom Corcoran and Uganda’s Honorary Consul, Sylvia Horgan and MEP Mairead McGuinness.
Gavigan, at the 25th Anniversary reception
2009 proved to be another exciting and challenging year for
our many supporters throughout both Ireland and the UK.
Here are a few of the highlight events that took place during
the year. We want to sincerely thank each and every person
who either participated, supported or donated to Self Help
Africa during 2009.
25 years: We marked 25 years of working in Africa with a reception
hosted by Irish President Mary McAleese at her Dublin residence
and a reception for guests and supporters at London’s House of
Commons.
Big Give Campaign: In the UK, Self Help Africa raised over `90,000
through the Summer and Winter Big Give appeal. Founded by UK
philanthropist Alec Reed, the Big Give appeal matched donations
received by Self Help Africa during the relevant period.
Combines 4 Charity set a new Guinness world record on August
15th, having 175 combine harvesters working simultaneously in the
same field and in the process raising `300,000 for four Irish charities,
including Self Help Africa.
Skerries Group: Members of the Skerries Sodo Community Group
who have supported Self Help Africa in the Sodo region of Ethiopia
since 2007 had a chance to see the work for themselves, when they
Self Help Africa Annual Report 2009
www.selfhelpafrica.org
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon receives a copy of SHA supporters Patricia and Harry Page
'2015 - Thoughts and Reflections on MDG 1' from student
Ben Cooper of Colaiste Bhride, Carnew, watched by
Taoiseach Brian Cowen
undertook a fund-raising trek. The group visited the Sodo Project and
met staff and local communities and raised approx `40,000 during
2009.
Auction of Promises: Mrs Patricia Page from Worcester organised
an ‘Auction of Promises’ to raise funds for Self Help Africa. The
evening was an incredible success and raised approximately `8,000.
Development Education
Educating the next generation continues to be a key objective of Self
Help Africa, with programmes developed and implemented in both
second and third level schools and colleges throughout Ireland and
the UK. The BT Young Scientists 4th annual ‘Science for Development
Award’ was won by Muckross College, Donnybrook. Their project on
‘Traditional birth attendants in Kenya’ was featured during our annual
Africa Alive study visit to Kenya. 22 students and teachers from seven
schools participated in this very successful visit.
Self Help Africa continued to give presentations to schools across
the UK in 2009 and reached as far as County Durham, spreading the
word to children about the issues of poverty in developing countries.
Schools throughout the country raised considerable funds in 2009
from organising cake sales to holding non-uniform days.
w or k o f Self Help Africa !
nk y ou for su p por ting the
Tha 19
 IRELAND
Freepost,
Dublin Road, Portlaoise,
Co. Laois, Ireland
Tel +353 (0) 578 694034
www.selfhelpafrica.org
UK
Freepost RRXU-AZUB-EBEE
Westgate House, Hills Lane,
Shrewsbury SY1 1QU, UK
Tel +44 (0) 1743 277170
USA
Self Help Africa Inc.
304 Park Avenue South, 11th Floor
New York, NY 10010, United States
Tel: +1-917-289-0670

ETHIOPIA ERITREA KENYA MALAWI UGANDA WEST AFRICA ZAMBIA

PO Box 1204, PO Box 9313, PO Box 2248 PO Box B-495 Plot 14 B, 12 PO Box 315, 181 Bishops Road,
Bole Road, Asmara, Code 20100, Lilongwe, Off Naguru 2 Rd Ougadougou 12, Kabulonga,
Addis Ababa, Tel. +291 118 8382 Nakuru, Tel. +265 1750568 PO. Box 32249, Kampala, Burkina Faso PO. Box 37484, Lusaka
Tel. +251 115 522313 Tel. +265 1750568 Tel. +254 O51 2212291 Tel. +256 414 286305 Tel. +226 50 36 89 60 Tel. +260 211 265384