CorpsAfrica

CorpsAfrica is at a critical juncture – we have proven the concept and are ready to start scaling up across Africa. We launched the program ten years ago to give deserving and ambitious young Africans the opportunity to serve communities in need in their own countries. To date, hundreds of CorpsAfrica Volunteers have served in Morocco, Senegal, Malawi, and Rwanda, and every step along the way they have provided thousands of hours of training, coaching, networking, resource-sharing, morale boosting, and more to help them succeed in their communities. We are creating a model of effective and accountable development and a workforce of young Africans of the very highest caliber. We are applying for the prestigious Elevate Prize because this work requires resources to reach even more young Africans and communities ready to create change.

I grew up in NYC, went to public schools, then Boston University and majored in economics. I was a yuppie, working at the ACLU in NYC when I suddenly joined the Peace Corps and went to Morocco in the mid 1990s. I met amazing young Moroccans who asked if they could serve as Peace Corps Volunteers so they could help their country and I had to say, 'Sorry, it's only for Americans.' Their questions dogged me for 25 years until I started CorpsAfrica so they could have the same opportunity I did to learn, grow, and make an impact. It’s become my purpose in life. With 25 years of professional fundraising experience and a dedicated, extraordinary staff and Board, I was able to grow CorpsAfrica from a scrappy start-up to a small/mid-sized NGO with enormous potential. When we’re ready, I will pass the leadership of CorpsAfrica to an African Director in Africa and it will become a second Peace Corps - of, by and for Africa, and I will shift my focus to CorpsAsia.

With growing numbers of educated, young Africans and rising unemployment rates across the continent, there is a tremendous need for opportunities that give young Africans the chance to alleviate poverty and help their fellow citizens. A shift toward African-led development can facilitate economic growth, local leadership, and African philanthropy that will break cycles of rural poverty, youth unemployment, and aid dependency across the continent. CorpsAfrica serves as a catalyst for this shift through yearlong opportunities for college-educated African youth to serve in rural, low-income communities in their own countries or other countries in Africa, along the lines of the Peace Corps model. Since 2013, CorpsAfrica has hosted hundreds of young Africans in Morocco, Senegal, Malawi and Rwanda, providing an experience that will revolutionize public service across Africa. CorpsAfrica Volunteers learn about complex development issues by getting their hands dirty, solving problems, and building capacity. They facilitate projects that are identified by local people to create more sustainable communities, build on local assets, and address community challenges around entrepreneurship, economic empowerment, water and sanitation, health, nutrition, education and literacy, climate change, infrastructure, agriculture, and much more. We are working to create a second Peace Corps – of, by, and for Africans.

CorpsAfrica brings a new approach to a 60-year-old idea of volunteers living in remote African villages for an extended period of time. Instead of American Peace Corps Volunteers, though, CorpsAfrica recruits, trains and send college-educated young Africans who have the skills to help their own people, deserve the opportunity to be a part of the solution, and will personally and professionally benefit from service. We are “shifting the power” from outside saviors to locals helping locals. They live for up to one year in some of the poorest and most remote villages in Africa. They listen to local people, help them identify their top priority development needs, and work with them to create a project to address those needs. In return, they get the satisfaction of helping, the understanding of poverty that only comes from living it, the transformative experience of getting out of their comfort zone, and real world, hands-on, problem-solving experience that builds critical thinking skills, humility and empathy. CorpsAfrica also promotes collaboration with other NGOs, which brings much-needed transparency and accountability to the sector, disrupting the siloed environment and the status quo.

CorpsAfrica is changing the world by promoting opportunity, inclusiveness and listening, which are simple approaches with broad impact. By giving college-educated young Africans the opportunity to help their fellow citizens, we are challenging the notion of the outside savior, and actually the notion of “savior” at all. CorpsAfrica Volunteers don’t go to their sites with any pre-existing agenda. They use Human-Centered Design tools to listen deeply to local people, bring communities to consensus around a project, and connect them to outside resources to make it happen. Their projects address the highest priority needs of the local people, usually around clean water, irrigation, schools/classrooms, small business development, women’s cooperatives, animal husbandry, etc. Poverty is complex – what works in one community will not necessarily work in another. Often, it’s the “last mile logistics” that are the biggest impediment to sustainable development. By engaging the local people and ensuring that everyone’s voice is heard, projects are locally owned, valued, and sustainable. Now that we have proven the value of this approach, the next step is to scale up the countries and numbers of Volunteers across Africa and to leverage the Volunteers’ service experience into personal and professional success.