"Africa Rising", declared the cover story of The Economist of 3rd Dec 2011. The question is whether a rising Africa will take Africans out of the clutches of poverty caused by low agricultural productivity, little or no vocational skills, and massive financial exclusion. There is no surety, however that the double digit growth rate will make a difference in the lives of the poor, for growth is not always inclusive. To ensure that growth benefits the poor more than just through trickle-down, efforts have to be made on the demand side, building capacity of and organising the poor.
The African Livelihoods Partnership (ALPs) began as an ambitious idea, originated by the BASIX Social Enterprise Group – founded and headed by Vijay Mahajan – at the request of their long time partner in livelihood promotion in India, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), to promote the concept of South-South co-operation in development. Such an ambitious project needs the experience of other participants in the field of development with deep knowledge of Africa and its developmental challenges. BASIX thus reached out to CIDR in France, a fifty year old NGO, and their associate the PAMIGA network in Africa, MIFED, a microfinance capacity building institution in Cameroon, PRIDE Rural Finance Window Ltd in Tanzania, and GAPI, a development finance institution in Mozambique, and its own affiliates The Livelihood School (TLS) in India and Livelihood BASIX Inc (LBI, a non-profit incorporated in the USA) to work together to evolve a strategy to achieve the goal of supporting livelihoods for the poor, to ensure more inclusive growth in Africa.
The African Livelihoods Partnership (ALPs) began as an ambitious idea, originated by the BASIX Social Enterprise Group – founded and headed by Vijay Mahajan – at the request of their long time partner in livelihood promotion in India, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), to promote the concept of South-South co-operation in development. Such an ambitious project needs the experience of other participants in the field of development with deep knowledge of Africa and its developmental challenges. BASIX thus reached out to CIDR in France, a fifty year old NGO, and their associate the PAMIGA network in Africa, MIFED, a microfinance capacity building institution in Cameroon, PRIDE Rural Finance Window Ltd in Tanzania, and GAPI, a development finance institution in Mozambique, and its own affiliates The Livelihood School (TLS) in India and Livelihood BASIX Inc (LBI, a non-profit incorporated in the USA) to work together to evolve a strategy to achieve the goal of supporting livelihoods for the poor, to ensure more inclusive growth in Africa.