Community Rising Africa Network (CRANE).

Joshua Kyallo   is an international development specialist. He has lived and worked in 6 countries, cumulatively covered 50+ countries. Over 25+ years he has served in all key NGO leadership positions ranging: (1) Program Manager at CARE International in Kenya; (2). Country Program Manager and Acting Country Representative for ACORD/UK in Somalia; (3). Acting Country Program Director, Deputy Country Program Director at Save the Children UK in Tanzania; (4). Partners for Development USA’s Country Program Director for Nigeria; (5).  AMREF Health Africa Country Director in Uganda; (6). Director of Africa Programs at Tobacco Free Kids; (7). Managing Director at Firelight Foundation;  (8). Director of Global Business Development and Country Director Kenya and Uganda at HealthRight; and (10) Director of International Programs three start-up Nonprofits in US and Africa. He is the Founder and Managing Director of Community Rising Africa Network (CRANE).  

Our novel initiative focuses on building the leadership, innovation, partnership, technical, and financial capacity of African NGOs, CBOs, and leaders to improve health system performance and sustainability by addressing the gap between the peripheral health system and the most underserved populations for improved access to quality health care for 3.55 million beneficiaries - particularly children, youth, and women. The proposed approach builds on our collective decades of practical experience in engaging with health systems strengthening (HSS). It specifically tackles the six core functions of Healthcares Systems Strengthening as defined by USAID and WHO, namely: human resources for health, health finance, health governance, health information, medical products, and service delivery. It also places emphasis on the four strategic outcomes of HSS – financial protection, essential services, population coverage, and responsiveness, for the benefit of poor, under-served, underserved, and vulnerable populations - with impactful results for vulnerable women and children. 

Our focus is on the world’s 1.3 billion poor who cannot break through the barriers to access health services because they  when they need them (WHO 2010). Recent global efforts have yielded progress overall, but benefits have not accrued to the most underserved. Health inequity persists, and global progress has tended to conceal regional variances, with Sub-Saharan Africa taking a disproportionate share of the health equity disparity burden. The lessons we have learned over the years are core to the proposed systems thinking approach. First,  a rights-based approach is essential and persistence in the face of entrenched stigma and discrimination is required for meaningful progress. Second, we must always challenge the status quo because of our conviction that the current state of affairs in global health has failed underserved communities, particularly women. Third, the best solutions come from the communities we are partnered with. Building trusting relationships with local stakeholders is critical in HSS. Fourth, African non-governmental organizations - NGOs and CBOs - are most effective at accessing and engaging hard to reach communities. communities.  Nevertheless, they are underleveraged and in need of additional resources to grow and scale up to make a sustainable impact on strengthening health systems. 

Our theory of change is that a network of empowered African NGOs/CBOs with the right level of technical capacity and resources can catalyze innovations, partnerships, and resources that can address the health equity gap for vulnerable communities - especially women, children, and youth - in Sub-Saharan Africa. This novel approach will contribute to meaningful results and build local capacity. The overall net result will be innovative models that can be scaled up for effective HSS. Our answer to systems thinking is rooted in the firm belief that investment in African NGOs/CBOs is the most effective and efficient way to reach underserved communities. Investment in local NGOs/CBOs promotes local ownership, sustainability, and a civil society that can hold government to account for the health of all its citizens. Local NGOs, familiar with local culture, are closer to the challenges and the solutions and must be at the center of health to shift the needle in HSS. Our solution is the Community Rising Africa Network (CRANE), an African-led network of local NGOs working collaboratively within and across national boundaries to improve the health and wellbeing of underserved communities by addressing the disconnect and barriers between them and national and local health systems. 

Our initiative seeks to improve health outcomes and benefit a total of 3.54 million underserved populations in the five priority countries To achieve these outcomes, we will build the capacity of 250 CBOs who will catalyze community-driven systems strengthening. The CBOs will work with 4,500  community health workers (CHWs), 3,200 teachers, 3,200 peer educators, 3,000 community facilitators, and 12,000 ECD caregivers. This will result in 710,000 beneficiaries yearly - 2,840 and 236 yearly and monthly for each CBO, respectively. Beneficiaries will include: (i). 500,000 under 5 children (300,000 girls and 200,000 boys) through ECD interventions focused Care for Child Development (CCD), center-based ECD, skillful parenting, and stunting prevention; (ii). 300,000 children aged 6-13 years (200,000 girls and 100,000 boys targeted with life skills and community child protection systems; (iii). 400,000 adolescent girls and young women aged between 14-24 years through SRH and life skills: (iv). 250,000 boys aged between 14-24 years on SRH and male involvement;  (v). 100,000 children with disabilities; (vi). 301,350 women above 24 years on reproductive health and gender-based violence; (vii). 500,000 community members (200,000 male and 300,000 female); (viii). 262,500 youth out of school; and 1,400,000 community members through skills training and access to health services.

My initiative is addressing all the three dimensions of the elevate prize. I founded CRANE to unite, strengthen, and spar African NGOs and professionals to play a leading role in catalyzing self-reliance and sustainable development. I am positioning Africa to respond to recent traditional donor shift to supporting local actors as the pathway to ownership and sustainability. I am therefore elevating opportunities for those traditionally left behind. We are tackling practical issues and innovating solutions. I am bringing African NGOs and communities and governments together and thereby promoting understanding by changing attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors - transformative change in Africa! 

is is a story of my own life. I was born and raised in Kenya and I have been involved in global health and development for more than 25 years during which I have been affiliated with over a dozen international NGOs, including some of the biggest ones in the universe like Save the Children and CARE International. I have served in all the NGO positions and lived and worked in over six countries in Africa and USA. Over the years I have become acutely aware of the severe limitations of exclusively relying on international NGOs to support health and development in Africa. In the course of my work I have met and supported many African NGOs and leaders and discussed the need to address the gap in African community-driven solutions. Most of these are founding members of CRANE. We are offering a unique, gender sensitive, and innovative health ecosystem (i). that builds the capacity of local NGOs by linking them to global resources, invests strategically in leadership and management, prioritizes women leadership, and facilitates skill-sharing across the network; (ii) where solutions are designed and implemented in close collaboration with the underserved populations that local NGOs largely led by women.

As an African now living in the diaspora, I have a firm commitment to be a transformative change agent for the African continent. For decades I have been involved in leading cutting-edge edge development in the global development and humanitarian sector serving international NGOs. While that has been a rewarding experience, the longer I have done it , the more I have become aware that the answer to sustainable change at scale will occur when African NGOs and professionals fully own and drive development in their own continent. Our systems thinking offers a unique value proposition in multi-site and multi-country solutions and research  that will: scale HSS interventions with populations that were previously too small to scale; utilize each NGO partner’s identity and unique skills set to create a richly diverse network where competencies, tools, insights and information can be easily shared to solve some of the most intractable global health and HSS challenges; provide funders with rigorously selected NGOs that will build donor confidence that their investment will have life-saving impact;  and establish links to the most underserved and hardest to reach by reaching the least served with the most to gain health outcomes for women, children, and youth.

I am Kenya born global health and development specialist who for over 25 years has served in senior leadership roles and led multi-million dollar programs funded by all the major bi- and multi-lateral donors, foundations, and private sector in multiple countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Highly accomplished, innovative, and visionary leader with expertise in directing prominent global and domestic non-profits and foundations focused primarily on major health, education, and social development initiatives for the most vulnerable populations in over 50 countries in Africa and worldwide. Regarded for the ability to successfully cultivate relationships with corporations, foreign governments, financial institutions, public-private partnerships, donors, foundations, NGOs, community based organizations (CBOs), and academic organizations to partner, raise funds, and build awareness and policy advocacy across multiple sectors. Exceptional management capability in coaching and mentoring multi-cultural teams up to 150 people globally. Excels at developing strategies and programming collaborating  with other organizations to deliver high quality and sustainable projects worldwide. Proficient in Swahili.  

      Global Leadership/Team Collaboration                      International Strategy Investment Development

      Negotiations & Budget Expertise                                 Communication, Programming & Advocacy

      Board Building & Interaction                                      Grant Preparation Oversight

      Social Entrepreneurship                                             Strategic Planning 

As explained previously, I have been involved in international development and development sector for over 25 years. During this period I have lived in some of the most complex and insecure places on earth where I faced both challenges in terms of work as well personal safety and security. I have lived in the most rural and impoverished parts of Africa working with local communities to solve some of the most intractable poverty and development challenges facing the most marginalized communities and populations. In these circumstances I have dealt with huge challenges and setbacks in implementing programs. For instance, I  have led programming in some of the most complex humanitarian emergency contexts in the world, including Kenya for 250,000+ Somali, Ethiopia, and Sudanese refugees;  Mogadishu (Somalia) for 350,000 internally displaced persons; Tanzania for 300,000 Rwandese Refugees; and Northern Uganda for 2 million internally displaced persons and over 1 million South Sudanese refugees. I served in Somalia during a very difficult time due to insecurity and lawlessness. I was based in the war hotspot in Southern Mogadishu and survived attempted kidnap on two occasions. To survive and support development for vulnerable communities I relied on my relationship and protection local leaders.

I am a global health, international development, humanitarian relief, and transformative change management leader. After a stint as University Lecturer in Kenya, I joined global development 25+ years ago and have been affiliated with 10+  INGOs. I have covered 50+ countries.  I have secured and/or managed funds from all major bi- and multi-lateral donors, UN Agencies, 30+ Foundations, corporates, pharmaceuticals, and individual philanthropists. I have  served in all key NGO leadership positions ranging from field-level Project Manager, Program Manager, Deputy Country Director, Regional Director, Managing Director, to HQ level executive leadership, including:  (1) Program Manager at CARE International in Refugee Project in Kenya; (2). Program Manager and Country Representative for ACORD/UK in Somalia; (3). Acting Country Director, Deputy Country Director, and Program Development Manager at Save the Children UK in Tanzania; (4). Partners for Development USA’s Country Program Director for Nigeria; (5).  AMREF Health Africa Country Director in Uganda; (6). Director of Africa Programs at Tobacco Free Kids; (7). Managing Director at Firelight Foundation;  (8). Director of Global Strategic Partnerships at TTCM and WCS; (9). Director of Global Business Development and Country Director Kenya and Uganda at HealthRight; and currently the Managing Director of Community Rising Africa Network (CRANE).

I serve as the Managing Director of CRANE Secretariat in San Diego, California. However, CRANE members and leaders are based in Africa wherethe work is implemented. The phase one countries include Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Tanzania and we are poised to grow and spread across Sub-Saharan Africa. This prize will support me to advance this ground-breaking initiative. In USA CRANE is registered as  a 501C3 and is being registered in other jurisdictions, including the UK, Kenya, and Uganda. Our country-level partners represent our work. The governance steering committee is comprised of Africans majority of who are based in Africa.

The proposed approach builds on our collective decades of practical experience in engaging with health systems strengthening (HSS). It specifically tackles the six core functions of HSS as defined by USAID and WHO, namely: human resources for health, health finance, health governance, health information, medical products, and service delivery. It also places emphasis on the four strategic outcomes of HSS – financial protection, essential services, population coverage, and responsiveness, for the benefit of poor, under-served, underserved, and vulnerable populations. We will also tap into the power of the three key cross-cutting themes in HSS, including: private sector engagement, community engagement in local systems, and prevention and promotion. Our unique approach to systems thinking by offering solutions that the global health community has not fully embraced and/or grasped over the years – the bold, ambitious, and yet practical innovations of fostering community-driven health solutions and HSS catalyzed by empowered indigenous NGOs. Our innovation is designed to address an intractable health equity gap that has eluded all HSS efforts to date. Our grassroots-driven model seeks to catalyze the health impact at scale through our ability and willingness to 1). partner with local institutions to co-create solutions; 2). scale identified solutions; and 3). use shared learning and knowledge as a means to innovate and provide state-of-the-art replication guidance to our partner countries. The  goal of our 5 initiative is to strengthen health system and improve health outcomes and directly benefit a total of 3.54 million underserved populations in the five priority countries. 

Our theory of change is that empowered African NGOs, Community-Based Organizations, and development professionals are the answer to impactful, scalable, and sustainable health and development in Africa. Their strengthened capacity will be complemented by: (i). focusing on collection, analysis and dissemination of small data pertaining to the health status and outcomes of underserved populations supported by a common global knowledge management platform; (ii). leveraging regional and global partnerships to advance local research priorities and data analytics and translate cutting edge research into practice; (iii). achieving operational efficiencies through network-wide cost sharing of strategic investments across landscapes; and (vi) bringing together the best-in-class local NGOs supported by a robust African-led and gender-balanced governance structure and astute financial management that reduces risks associated with investments in hard-to-reach populations

As inequity remains the biggest global health challenge, our system thinking shines a spotlight on its core root causes, including: (i). risk aversion,  since underserved populations are more difficult to reach and often have more complex problems and therefore present riskier investments for donors and big international NGOs; (ii). majority of the HSS efforts by the global community have been characterized by unaligned funding priorities and have tended to be short-term and output-focused projects that have prioritized health issues and populations that are easier to address and reach; (iii). the lack of gender disaggregated data, tools and information is a disincentive for investment and action in the underserved communities where need is greatest;  (iv). underleveraged local NGOs and CBOs that have been largely limited to small local grants and sub-awards and under-represented in global priority setting forums that has deprived the HSS efforts a much-needed paradigm shift and game-changer. Our systems thinking is underpinned by concerns about health equity because: (a). health is a human right and healthcare access should not be determined by circumstances at birth; (b). As our current pandemic has illustrated, ill health anywhere is a threat to health everywhere in our global village; and (c). it engenders growth and stability because investing in the most underserved yields the greatest returns for all nations.

Although  CRANE members  have been working for 10 and 20 years, this is a new initiative. The goal of our 5-year initiative is to strengthen health system and improve health outcomes and directly benefit a total of 3.54 million underserved populations in the five priority countries. More than 75% per cent of these will be women of reproductive age; adolescent girls, children aged 0-5 years, youth, and vulnerable communities. To achieve these outcomes, we will build the capacity of 250 CBOs who will catalyze community-driven systems strengthening. The CBOs will work with 4,500  community health workers (CHWs), 3,200 teachers, 3,200 peer educators, 3,000 community facilitators, and 12,000 ECD caregivers. This will result in 710,000 beneficiaries yearly - 2,840 and 236 yearly and monthly for each CBO, respectively. Direct beneficiaries will include: (i). 500,000 under 5 children (300,000 girls and 200,000 boys) through ECD interventions focused Care for Child Development (CCD), center-based ECD, skillful parenting, and stunting prevention; (ii). 300,000 children aged 6-13 years (200,000 girls and 100,000 boys targeted with life skills and community child protection systems; (iii). 400,000 adolescent girls and young women aged between 14-24 years through SRH and life skills: (iv). 250,000 boys aged between 14-24 years on SRH and male involvement;  (v). 100,000 children with disabilities; (vi). 301,350 women above 24 years on reproductive health and gender-based violence; (vii). 500,000 community members (200,000 male and 300,000 female); (viii). 262,500 youth out of school; and 1,400,000 community members through skills training, education, and access to health services.

CRANE is a catalyst in bringing African civil society, private sector, and governments together to leverage resources for global health and development. We build collective platforms and voices for African CBOs, PBOs, FBOs, youth organizations, self-help groups, charitable trusts, societies and associations, and gender equality organization.  CRANE is an authentic African response to donor shift to the Journey to Self-Reliance as the pathway to Afro-centric sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our ambitious but practical value addition to the quest to attain SDGs.

Vision: engender self-reliance by connecting African innovators with global resources and partnerships  to create sustainable solutions to health and development challenges affecting millions of vulnerable populations in Africa.

Mission: build the capacity and network of African NGOs and experts  working towards sustainable global health and development for self-reliance in Africa.

Name:  The Community Rising Africa Network abbreviation (CRANE) defines the intentionality of our mission: (a) crane the machine symbolizes our efforts to lift people out of poverty and disease, and (b) crane the popular bird embedded on Uganda national flag means that vulnerable groups wings to fly on the journey to self-reliance and sustainability.

Focus: CRANE’s work is anchored in seven inter-connected pillars: (i). direct programming at country and regional levels; (ii). transformative capacity building for smaller local NGOs and CBOs; (iii). partnership and learning hubs convening for civil society, private sector, governments, and donors; (iv). evidence-based advocacy; (v). Research-driven policy agenda setting; (vi). Sub-granting and mentoring, and (vii). Gender-sensitive and inclusive approaches to all our work.  

Community Rising Africa Network (CRANE) is a start-up network with huge long term practical ambitions and plans. Its biggest challenge is raising enough funding fast enough to be able to support its core institutional and operational costs. Currently, all its staff are working on voluntary basis and leveraging human resources from partner members in the priority countries. The Managing Director based in USA currently serves on voluntary basis and is investing enormous personal time in grants-based fundraising that requires enormous time and effort in proposal writing. He has also used his personal finances to have the CRAINE Secretariat legally registered as 501c3 in USA to facilitate fundraising, partnership building, and advocacy. We are aggressively fundraising and in need of core funding to support the full establishment of the core of the network that will involve salaries for core staff, basic operational costs, and travel funds to enable us to bring all partners together to deepen our strategic and visioning processes.  Securing the seed capital that can stabilize our network and allow us to focus on broader fundraising is our greatest current challenge and priority that we are working to address.

Although donors are shifting to professionals and NGOs in the global south, that process has just started and we are still in competition with international NGOs and working to position ourselves as the players for the future. These cultural barriers in the aid sector, particularly for Africa and African, are realities we are working to overcome.

CRANE an African-led and Africa-focused initiative deliberately and strategically established as the pathway to sustainable health and development in Africa and in response to donors like USAID that have conceived Journey to Self-Reliance as the most viable way for building the capacity of NGOs and governments in the global south to lead and sustain transformative and sustainable change in regions like Sub-Saharan Africa. At global, regional, and country level, CRANE is proactively building partnerships, galvanizing funds, and leveraging donor, Foundation, and governance resources to lead health systems transformation change at scale. CRANE has established a secretariat in USA and registered as a 501(c)(3) to support global fundraising, partnership building, and strategic influencing. It has been spearheading an aggressive business development campaign.  At the global level, we are routinely responding to all relevant donor funding opportunities. We are also poised to apply for a number of network and partnership grants that have either been released or are forecasted by some of the major global health funders such as DFID, CDC, DFID, among others. We are also cultivating unsolicited funding from donors and Foundations that are keen to invest in start-up strategic networks that are poised to be the future transformation in  Africa. At country level, CRANE members are also pursuing locally advertised grants that support their country-level work.  For example, with support from CRANE, our partners in Malawi recently responded to a $42.5 million CDC HIVAIDs. In each country, our members are strongly networked in the government and donor fabric.

Luapula Foundation in Zambia has been operating 20 years and some of its signature programs include and has been a recipient of many grants, including from the US Government.

ICS in Tanzania has a history and strong track-record in working on community-based health systems on the prevention HIV and AIDS services and access to SRH and maternal. 

Similarly, Since 2010, EAHP has been working in more than 15 regions of Tanzania mainland, our projects are mainly community based and are using community organizing efforts to address their priority needs pertaining to improvement of community health and health system strengthening.  

GSI in Kenya currently has two active projects which are designed to empower girls and women.

 Since its founding in 1996, NACC has been working in Malawi to contribute to creating health, resilient and prosperous communities through provision of Early Childhood Development, health, education, and child protection and livelihoods.  

Chinansi Foundation has a long track record in strengthening community and health systems strengthening in Malawi.

HCFT provides a specialist outreach model that has over 10 years of experience providing services like: reconstructive plastic surgery to remedy facial, head, and burn injuries; orthopedic surgical services; provision of professional health services for all individuals (women, men, and children).

 For over 10 years U-TOUCH has been implementing community-level technology innovations aimed at creating sustainable empowerment for girls, youth, women and children in Northern Uganda, a region ravaged by 20+ years of war and hosting over 2 million refugees from South Sudan. 

The ultimate goal of our project is strengthen African NGOs/CBOs in order to build the capacity of the health system to provide quality, accessible, and sustainable health services and this makes health systems strengthening integral to our overall project approach. There are six components that constitute health system strengthening: service delivery, health workforce, health information, medical products and technologies, health financing, and leadership and governance. All components work in conjunction with each other to strengthen the overall health system, requiring the strengthening of each individual component. As a core tenet of all our  strategies, health systems strengthening will be achieved by working with government structures from the national level to the village level to build capacity. The reality in Africa is that health care systems are not providing cost-effective services in ways that have the greatest impact on major causes of illness and death.  Among some of the key impact indicators that we will measure include: (i). increased demand and utilization of gender sensitive health services by target beneficiaries; (ii). reduction in mortality among the target beneficiaries, especially reduction in maternal and child mortality rates; (iii). increased accountability  and oversight in health service provision by promoting community and provider engagement that is gender aware in approaches; (iv). increased women active participation in making key decision with regard to management of health services and facilities; and (v). increased resources allocated from government to deliver health services at community level with equity for all, especially women

CRANE is strategically established as the pathway to sustainable health and development in Africa and in response to donors like USAID that have conceived Journey to Self-Reliance as the most viable way for building the capacity of NGOs and governments in the global south to lead and sustain transformative and sustainable change in low-income regions. At global, regional, and country level, CRANE is proactively building partnerships, galvanizing funds, and leveraging donor, Foundation, and governance resources to lead  change at scale, starting in Eastern and Southern Africa where we currently have strong networks and track record. Although our governance and operations structures and systems are based in Africa, CRANE has established a secretariat in USA and registered as a 501(c)(3) to support global fundraising, partnership building, and strategic influencing. 

In addition to this grant-based approach, we are proactively identifying donors interested in providing seed capital or unrestricted funding that will enable CRANE to unlock and leverage traditional funding opportunities. 

In terms of sustainability, our model: (a) is founded on building African NGOs and CBOs who will continue to operate after the 5-years: (b) emphasis on government adoption of proven models that are gender inclusive; (c) CRANE is deliberately designed to response to the current global health donor focus on the Journey to Self-Reliance that seeks to increasingly fund indigenous rather than international NGOs as the pathway to sustainability; and (d). our network is proactively involved in business development and resource mobilization to sustain and grow our footprints in Sub-Saharan Africa.

As start-up, CRANE does not have external revenue and has been established through voluntary services my its leadership and by leveraging the resources if its networks in Africa. However, since 2020, we have been on an aggressive revenue generation campaign. We have a business development plan and a fundraising portfolio for the 2020.

CRANE has multiple ways of raising funds and since the start of 2020 we have been on a very aggressive grant-based fundraising and applied to the following donors and are waiting to hear back:

- CDC Malawi through CRANE member (February) - NACC - $45.5 million. 

. Unorthodox Philanthropy (March 2020) - $15 million.

- Co-Impact (April 2020) - $30 million.

- BPRM for Early Child Development and Protection (May 2020) - $800,000.

- BPRM for Gender Based Violence Response (May 2020) through Luapula in Zambia - $10 million.

- USAID - Women's Empowerment  through ICS in Tanzania- (May 2020) - $10 million. 

- USAID Zambia  - Health Market through Luapula - (May 28, 2020)- $38.5 million.

In addition to these grant-based opportunities, CRANE is also currently pursuing registration in Kenya that will serve as our regional hub for the Africa region. We have expressed an interested in being considered for a new USAID opportunity meant for local NGOs – “USAID/Kenya is considering support for a Kenya-established, -owned, - managed, and – controlled non-for-profit, non-governmental entity at the national level to have a transformative impact on development issues in Kenya”.

As mentioned in the previous section, CRANE has been on a very aggressive fundraising campaign since beginning of 2020. Below is the list of grants that CRANE has applied or is applying to apply to within the first half of 2020:

- CDC Malawi through CRANE member (February) - NACC - $45.5 million. 

. Unorthodox Philanthropy (March 2020) - $15 million.

- Co-Impact (April 2020) - $30 million.

- BPRM for Early Child Development and Protection (May 2020) - $800,000.

- BPRM for Gender Based Violence Response (May 2020) through Luapula in Zambia - $10 million.

- USAID - Women's Empowerment  through ICS in Tanzania- (May 2020) - $10 million. 

- USAID Zambia  - Health Market through Luapula - (May 28, 2020)- $38.5 million.

- USAID - Development Innovation Ventures (planned for June 2020) - $5 million.

- Global Innovation Funds (planned for June 2020) - $5 million.

- USAID Malawi - Leveraging Local Capacity to Strengthen Health Service Delivery - through NACC - $8 million. 

It is important to emphasize that these are submissions that we have either made as a network or are planning to make between May and June 2020. They are not an indication of confirmed funding from the respective donors, nor do they include other opportunities that we shall be responding to in the second half of 2020.

CRANE has two basic budgeting scenarios:

1). Restricted funding that is based on donor funding to specific initiatives or projects as outlined above.If funded,  al the grants are projected to start in the last quarter of 2020 due to the time it takes for donors to process them as well as the current limitations imposed by COVID19. The amounts provide above are specific to donor restricted grants. 

2). Unrestricted funds is money or revenue that CRANE might receive that is not tied to a particular project and that provides a greater degree of expenditure allocation and is principally intended to support our core and institutional costs - salaries, office, communications, travel, convening, business development, brand development, fundraising, etc. For 2020, we projected a budget of between $350,000 and $500,000 to support these costs. 

CRANE is novel idea that will deliver results for millions of beneficiaries in Africa. It has innovative approaches that with potential for replication and scale up across Sub-Saharan Africa. This novel initiative is in response to the shift by traditional donors from funding international NGOs to African NGOs in the context of the Journey to Self-Reliance as the pathway to sustainable development. This initiative is breaking new grounds and venturing into uncharted waters in a bold, ambitious, but pragmatic strategy to galvanize African NGOs and professionals to unite and assume leadership in spearing sustainable development across the continent. As with great and visionary ideas, the start is always the challenge and finding the initial seed capital to support the growth of the vision and mission is the most critical stage. This is particularly the case because although CRANE as a network is a novel idea, the members of CRANE have been involved in successful community and national development solutions and programming for anywhere between 10 and 20 years. They represent the best-in-class African NGOs and leaders have been working in the frontline for decades but were overlooked by donors who preferred to fund international NGOs. As a result, they have been operating in the shadows of big NGOs and they growth has been curtailed by lack on decent investment in their demonstrably impactful work. This prize will provide the much-needed seed capital that will unleash talent in Africa and enable CRANE to take full advantage of the new donor opportunities.

In addition to supporting CRANE's financial needs, the elevate prize will enable me and my colleagues to bring my proven experience spanning more than 25 years to support African NGOs and CBOs to rise up to the challenge to leading development in Africa. The work I have done for big organizations like Save the Children and CARE International has equipped me to build the capacity of these African entities and leaders to provide a viable option to mainstream development donors like USAID who are genuinely seeking to invest in local capacity in Africa. This partnership will enable us to concretize CRANE plans and leverage donor funds and provide a pathway for impactful and sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Big donors tend to be risk-averse and prefer to fund entries that have been funded by others. The elevate prize will provide that much needed seed capital and technical support and mentorship.

My understanding of this question is that you are seeking to understand the partners that I will be working with to advance the CRANE vision and mission.

Founded in 2001, Luapula Foundation is a leading Zambian organization implementing projects in health, education and literacy, livelihoods, and supportive services for vulnerable populations. 

 ICS  was founded over 20 years ago in Tanzania and promotes Sustainable Socio-economic Development (SSD) to influence own driven change to ensure the children development and well-being among vulnerable families and communities in Africa.. 

Enhancing Access to Health for Poverty reduction in Tanzania (EAHP) is a registered organization operating in Tanzania Mainland.  

Namwera Aids Coordinating Committee (NACC) established 24 years ago as a community response to HIV/AIDS pandemic contributes to building health, resilient and prosperous communities in the Southern Region of Malawi. N

Centre for Human Rights and Institute for National Social Initiatives (CHINANSI) is an indigenous Malawian founded multi-objective Non-Governmental Organization registered and established in 12 years ago under the 1992 Trustees Incorporation Act. CHINANSI has vast experiences in community-based systems strengthening implementation in social and health; the institute implements projects. 

U-TOUCH in Uganda utilizes digital technology innovations to empower vulnerable youth – especially girls – and to support the delivery of quality health, ECD, education, and entrepreneurship services to underserved communities. U-TOUCH evolved from a CBO to a national NGO with impactful influence in Uganda and particularly the war-ravaged Northern Uganda. It has more than 10 years of community-driven solutions to development in the region.