Self Help Africa

Self Help Africa Sustainable livelihoods and healthy lives for all in a changing climate. Charity Number: 20008895

International development agency working to eradicate hunger and poverty in rural Africa.

Minata Bamogo is a member of a village savings and loans group in Koulsé region of land-locked Burkina Faso, in West Afr...
21/08/2026

Minata Bamogo is a member of a village savings and loans group in Koulsé region of land-locked Burkina Faso, in West Africa.
A small-scale farmer, Minata is one of 1,000 women who are benefitting from a Self Help Africa backed Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) programme that has supported the formation of 40 community-based VSLAs, to promote a culture of savings, and provide small loans that help women to run income generating small businesses.

“I have developed a true savings culture. My money is safe, protected from theft and also from impulse spending. Today, I can better plan for my family's needs and invest in my business," Minata says.

60 members of Minata's VSLA met recently to disburse small loans, the average of which was 22,000 West African francs (€33.50).

The funds were used to support a broad range of activites, including the purchase of seed to plant, fertiliser and agricultural inputs. Several women bought kid goats to rear and breed, and others bought 'Soumbala', a traditional staple made from fermented seeds that is used as a food and a seasoning in meals.

Self Help Africa's VSLA programme in Burkina Faso is implemented with the support of Irish Aid.

This is Elufe – a smallholder farmer we have been working with in Malawi’s Dedza District. When Elufe’s husband’s busine...
20/08/2026

This is Elufe – a smallholder farmer we have been working with in Malawi’s Dedza District.

When Elufe’s husband’s business closed in Lilongwe, and her grown-up children had finished school and left home, they decided to return home from the capital.

But being forced to rely on small-scale farming for food and income proved tough. Long distances to markets meant high transport costs and low profits for the maize, beans and potatoes Elufe was growing.

Thankfully, that changed when Elufe joined our Action on Poverty-supported project to strengthen her potato farming skills. With training to improve production rates, post-harvest handling and storage, as well as access to irrigation, her yields soared. In just one year, she went from harvesting 14 bags of potatoes for K1,540,000 to 26 bags for K3,900,000.

With buyers now purchasing directly from her farm and local access to clean potato
seeds secured, Elufe and her wider community feel much more positive about the
future.

"I have learned a lot from this project and will continue applying the knowledge I gained. Potatoes provide good income for farmers in our area" – Elufe

20/08/2026

Today, on World Humanitarian Day, Irish Emergency Alliance Chair Liz O'Donnell highlights why humanitarian collaboration matters more than ever.

In her Irish Examiner article, Liz reflects on the growing scale of global humanitarian need and the vital role the Irish Emergency Alliance plays in bringing leading Irish aid agencies together to respond quickly, effectively and at scale when disasters strike.

Since 2019, the Alliance has raised almost €7 million through joint appeals, helping deliver lifesaving support to people affected by crises including Ukraine, the Horn of Africa hunger crisis, the Turkey-Syria earthquakes, Gaza and Lebanon, and the Myanmar earthquake.

Read Liz's article here: https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/commentanalysis/arid-41897626.html

Malambo is a farmer from Keemba, Zambia, an area at risk from extreme weather shocks. Seven years ago, she joined PRESER...
19/08/2026

Malambo is a farmer from Keemba, Zambia, an area at risk from extreme weather shocks. Seven years ago, she joined PRESERVE Kafue, an Irish Aid-funded project helping communities strengthen early warning and preparedness systems.

The project supports 4,500 households across three districts, with a focus on women and youth.

Malambo’s farms fish, keeps bees, poultry and goats, and she also produces her own seed, and makes biochar, a natural fertiliser, for her crops. Her farm is being used to demonstrate climate-smart agriculture practices, helping local farmers make informed decisions about planting and managing climate-related risks.

Now, Malambo is sharing the knowledge she has gained, mentoring and supporting others in her community.

On World Humanitarian Day, Self Help Africa remains committed to supporting communities to prepare for, and respond to, chronic and acute humanitarian shocks.

Supporting smallholder farmers across Africa is kinda chic! 🧑‍🌾🌱From climate-smart agriculture and supporting women-led ...
17/08/2026

Supporting smallholder farmers across Africa is kinda chic! 🧑‍🌾🌱

From climate-smart agriculture and supporting women-led businesses, to accessing clean water and planting trees, Self Help Africa works alongside farming communities across Africa to build more sustainable and resilient futures. 💚

And you can be kinda chic too! Find out how you can support our work here: https://buff.ly/DuC6ksk

Cathreen has been growing potatoes on her small, 0.25-acre plot of land in Malawi’s Dedza district for years, with limit...
14/08/2026

Cathreen has been growing potatoes on her small, 0.25-acre plot of land in Malawi’s Dedza district for years, with limited success.

As a single mum with three children to feed, she could rarely afford fertiliser, so her maize harvest was not enough to feed the family, let alone sell any to cover their essential costs.

Through a Self Help Africa programme aimed at strengthening Irish and orange-flesh sweet potato chains in Southern Africa, Cathreen was able to access farming training for the first time, as well as a village savings and loans association run with other women in the community.

With quality seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and potato seed storage facilities now at her disposal, she is growing more potatoes and earning more.

“I can now buy fertiliser, expand my maize production, invest in livestock, and support my children’s needs, including school fees and food,” she said.

Action on Poverty

13/08/2026

Take a look at Self Help Africa Nigeria’s Innovation Challenge Hackathon, held this week as part of our Youth in Work Project! 🌱💡

The Innovation Challenge is supporting young agricultural innovators to develop ideas that can strengthen local value chains, tackle challenges in the agricultural sector and foster local enterprise growth.

After completing five weeks of training with Self Help Africa, 33 young innovators pitched their ideas at the Hackathon, presenting solutions across agro-processing, fabrication and software development designed to address challenges including post-harvest losses. Winning participants were awarded start-up capital to help turn their ideas into businesses.

🎥 Watch the video for highlights from the day!

12/08/2026

Spend a day with Abdulbasit, Self Help Africa Nigeria’s Communications and Knowledge Management Officer! 🎥 🇳🇬

Abdulbasit recently took us behind the scenes at the Africa Social Impact Summit 2026 in Lagos, showing us a busy and exciting day in his life.

Self Help Africa joined leaders, innovators and partners at the summit, co-convened by the Sterling One Foundation and United Nations Nigeria, to explore market-driven solutions to some of Africa’s most pressing social challenges.

At our exhibition booth, our team showcased how our work across agriculture, youth innovation and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is supporting farming families, women and young people to build more resilient and sustainable livelihoods. 🌱💧

A big thank you to Abdulbasit and the rest of our Nigeria team for all their hard work! 💚

07/08/2026

Tens of thousands of families in rural Malawi are enjoying cleaner and more reliable energy to light their homes and cook meals through a Self Help Africa energy project in partnership with GIZ EnDev and CUMO Microfinance. 🪫

The DSS-RBF project (short for demand-side subsidies results-based financing) offered financial subsidies to low-income rural households so that they could purchase solar home systems and improved cookstoves for less. ☀️

Within two years, around 75,000 households who were previously struggling with inefficient and unhealthy energy sources had improved cookstoves, and almost 30,000 solar home systems were installed.

“In a week, we collected firewood at least two times, which consumed so much of our time. Now, these cookstoves use less firewood, which allows us to cook in a shorter period of time,” says Josam Fungulani, a project participant from Dowa District.

Read more about the project here: https://buff.ly/IfutcNi

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