
Part of Foundation’s Billion-Dollar Global Commitment to Ending the Pandemic and Providing Sustainable Pathways out of Poverty
NAIROBI, Kenya, 3 February, 2021, -/African Media Agency (AMA)/- The Rockefeller Foundation announces an initial USD 34.95 million to ensure more equitable access to Covid-19 testing and vaccines; leverage innovation, data, machine-learning; combat the escalating food crisis; and scale up access to renewable energy in Africa. Collaborating with 24 organizations, businesses, and government agencies, this pan-African effort will also focus on 10 countries: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. The announcement comes 100 days after the Foundation’s landmark commitment of USD 1 billion over three years to help end the Covid-19 pandemic and drive a more inclusive and sustainable global recovery.
“Since The Rockefeller Foundation first opened its Africa Regional Office in Nairobi in 1966, the region has remained a top priority for us,” said Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation. “With this initial round of funding, we are beginning to deliver on our billion-dollar pledge to help end the Covid-19 pandemic in Africa and for us all, while investing in wealth-building opportunities for those who have been shut out of economic progress and are bearing the brunt of this pandemic.”
“We are very pleased to be committing over USD 30 million to ensure a sustainable, equitable Covid-19 response in Africa,” William Asiko, Managing Director and Head of The Rockefeller Foundation’s Africa Regional Office. “A significant portion of this funding will benefit the Africa CDC’s effort to accelerate testing and tracing in several countries across the continent. These efforts will allow Governments at national and subnational levels to make informed policy decisions about lifting restrictions on movement and thereby re-opening economic activity.”
- Ending Pandemics to scale the crowdsourced epidemic intelligence platform, EpiCore, and support EAIDSNet in Tanzania to improve their abilities to prevent, detect, and respond to outbreaks through a One Health approach;
- Lacuna Fund, a project of Meridian Institute, awarded funding to six teams across the continent to build locally representative datasets to reduce bias in machine learning tools for agriculture analytics, fuelling an equitable recovery for farmers;
- Malaria No Moreto establish a guarantee facility through The Health Finance Coalition to unlock working capital for private small and medium size healthcare providers in Africa;
- Praekelt.org to launch an initiative to integrate Ada’s AI-powered health assessments into the South African National Department of Health’s MomConnect platform with potential to provide over 1 million mothers and young children across South Africa with access to intelligent healthcare technology;
- Shining Hope for Communities to expand Covid-19 testing and tracing efforts in Kenyan Informal Settlements because Covid-19 poses even greater risks to those living in densely populated communities with less access to healthcare and sanitation services;
- Speak Up Africa to encourage and promote positive social behavior change to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
- African Population and Health Research Center for developing an action plan to transition Nairobi’s food system to be more nourishing and sustainable by the year 2050 as part of the Food System Vision Prize;
- Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa to strengthen food systems data and information generation while developing a platform to help governments better coordinate strategic responses to African food security;
- Darkpore Media Africa for outlining a multi-faceted plan to build a more regenerative and nourishing food system in southwest Nigeria as part of the Food System Vision Prize;
- Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition to provide small- and medium-sized enterprises with the resources to sustain access to nutritious foods during the Covid-19 pandemic;
- International Development Research Centre (IDRC) to support researchers and stakeholders in East Africa to build more equitable and sustainable food systems while promoting healthy diets;
- Seed Systems Group to extend the benefits of improved seed and other technologies in order to create resilient, smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa;
- Vanguard Economics to increase the consumption of nutritious whole grains in vulnerable communities through safety net programs reaching more than three million students at schools in Rwanda.
- Power for All and partners to build national coalitions and awareness to advance healthcare electrification with DRE in Zambia and Burkina Faso to start, with plans to expand to other priority countries;
- Odyssey Energy Solutions, and FactorE, alongside The Shell Foundation, to cut the cost of DRE and electrify health centers across the continent;
- CrossBoundary for a mini-grid learning lab that is focused on gathering and analyzing data to expedite the expansion of DRE projects in Africa;
- Konexa, to launch its integrated electricity distribution platform in Nigeria, which will also serve as a model for utilities across Africa to accelerate access to affordable and reliable power;
- Sustainable Energy for All to catalyze electricity connections by mini-grids in Africa through a new results-based financing facility, the Universal Energy Facility.