Empower 20 million Africans to sustainably provide for themselves by 2032.
Good nutrition is essential for the academic performance that is required for young people to succeed in a modern knowledge economy, says Mooi, ahead of International Literacy Day on 8 September.
“The ability to read and fully understand a wide variety of texts is imperative for good performance, in school, in tertiary education and, later, in the world of work. Well-nourished children will perform better in school, and, particularly, in the context of International Literacy Day, they will more effectively learn to read with comprehension,” says Mooi.
There is an important proviso – the nutrition that a person receives in the first five years of their life is of greatest importance in the prevention of stunting, which is irreversible. Stunting is defined by the World Health Organization as the impaired growth and development that children experience from poor nutrition, repeated infection and inadequate psychosocial stimulation.
Sadly, nearly 56-million children across Africa,18.6-million of them in Southern Africa, are stunted, according to a Southern African Development Community report released this year.
Nutrition is a chief focus of ForAfrika.
In 2021 the organisation reached around 2.9-million people in Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, South Sudan, Rwanda and Uganda through its work, which aims to save lives, alleviate suffering, ensure access to water and sanitation, improve health and nutrition, encourage education, increase food security, promote livelihoods, and develop resilience and stability through economic empowerment.
While ForAfrika’s nutrition programmes cover people of all ages, there is a focus on early childhood development (ECD). Children at schools or ECD centres on ForAfrika’s programmes receive a highly nutritious meal at least once a day. Fortified with essential minerals and vitamins, this bowl of food is designed to give a child 75% of their required daily intake of nutrients, says Mooi.
“Education for today’s world is premised on literacy, and on each person being able to effectively read with comprehension. A major focus for us is to ensure that children under five years of age are well nourished so that they can have a good chance at reaching their potential in life. When they succeed we all succeed,” he says.
ForAfrika has a footprint in all nine of South Africa’s provinces, including in some of the most remote and underserved areas. The organisation works with more than 2 000 ECD centres, and through this network it provides food, clean water and sanitation to approximately 100 000 children up to the age of four, daily.
The South African ECD nutrition programme so impressed ForAfrika’s Pacifique Mahirwe, who is the NGO’s projects coordinator in Rwanda, that he’s adopted it in the East African country.
“When you read reports of how this model has helped children in South Africa you cannot resist bringing it to our Nation of a Thousand Hills because the dream we have is to work together so that Africa can prosper, and this dream begins with the new generation,” Mahirwe says.
The Rwandan programme reaches approximately 2 000 children in two districts, and Mahirwe’s plan is to expand it to wherever ForAfrika has operations in Rwanda.
The Rwandan programme supports ECD centres by providing the resources they need to function effectively. Also, the parents of children in ForAfrika’s Rwandan ECD centres are encouraged to take part in establishing vegetable gardens that supply the centres, and are supported throughout that enterprise.
“A nurtured child will grow physically, mentally and can change the world. Without nutritious food there is diminished education and less of a chance at having a fulfilling life,” says Mahirwe. “Early childhood development remains one of the most powerful levers for accelerating education for all and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 1 – ending poverty in all its forms – because the first three years of being human is when cognitive development begins.”
This article was first published in: newsghana.com.gh
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Paul Edwards is a serial entrepreneur who has successfully built several businesses into leading companies.
His CV lists an impressive array of positions held at major companies around the world and he is also a regular speaker at international conferences on topics such as satellite communications, telecommunications, payments, and doing business successfully in Africa.
Paul is currently Executive Chairman of Equilibre Bio-energy Production Ltd and Chairman of ZappGroup, Africa Ltd.
Additionally, Paul is also a member of the Advisory Board of the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business and a member of EDS’s Europe’s Advisory Board.
Ann Pretorius and her late husband, Peter, founded Joint Aid Management (JAM), now known as ForAfrika, in 1984.
For almost 40 years, they served the organisation as co-founders, strategic planners and tireless foot soldiers. Together they received several prestigious accolades, were one of five finalists in the AidEx 2014 Humanitarian Hero of the Year Award and winners of the 2018 African Ubuntu Award for Social Responsibility.
After Peter’s passing in August 2018, Ann assumed the role of CEO of the JAM Group. Her passion, determination, unique interpersonal skills and vast experience in administration and marketing, have helped steer the group to its pre-eminent position as Africa’s largest indigenous non-governmental organisation, serving millions of people in six countries.
A mother of six, with 14 grandchildren, Ann genuinely understands and appreciates the value of the family foundation and is fully supportive of the decisions and direction the new leadership, under her son Isak, is taking.
Ghanaian businesswoman Roberta Annan founded Annan Capital Partners, a boutique investment advisory and business development agency, in 2012 (as Roberta Annan Consulting).
She has extensive experience in establishing relationships between the public and the private sectors, and in executing market-entry strategies into sub-Saharan Africa.
She launched the African Fashion Foundation in 2014, followed by the Impact Fund for African Creatives in 2021. Among the many awards accorded to her, Annan was named Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2019 Women’s Choice Awards Africa.
Muzammil Rengony started his career in 2011 in the field of accounting, taxation and auditing as a client assistant and is now client service manager for Adansonia Management Services Ltd in Mauritius, where ForAfrika is registered.
While managing a team of accountants and administrators who are responsible for a portfolio of clients, he is also pursuing his studies towards his Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) qualification.
Muzammil acts as a director for a number of global businesses and part of his duties include the day-to-day administration of ForAfrika as well as being a board member.
Najiba Bauker kicked off her career as a corporate administrator in the Mauritian global business sector and is currently team leader at Adansonia Management Services Ltd.
In addition to serving as a board member of ForAfrika, Najiba also handles -day-to-day administrative tasks.
She acts as a director for a number of other global businesses administered by Adansonia and is pursuing her studies towards her Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) qualification.
Isak Pretorius is the son of social entrepreneurs Peter and Ann Pretorius, who founded JAM International, out of which ForAfrika has risen.
With a BComm degree and 20 years of humanitarian services and business experience on the continent, he is well positioned to drive the organisation into the future while staying true to its vision of an Africa that thrives.
He is passionate about impactful development in Africa and bridging the gap between non-profit and for-profit entities.
Isak has also played a role in advising many governments, donor entities and large NGOs on sustainable programmes and has been a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) since 2009.
Nico Esterhuizen is a Fellow Chartered Certified Accountant with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in the United Kingdom and is a Certified Internal Auditor with the Institute of Internal Auditors.
With almost 20 years of experience in financial services and insurance, he is currently a member of the Audit and Risk Committee of Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) and was appointed Chairperson of ACCA South Africa Board in late 2020.
He holds a Master of Science degree in professional accountancy (with distinction) from the University of London and is currently completing a MPhil degree in Leadership in Emerging Economies.
Furthermore, Nico is part of a Christian outreach ministry in South Africa and holds motivational talks on life’s purpose.
Isak Pretorius is the son of social entrepreneurs Peter and Ann Pretorius, who founded JAM International, out of which ForAfrika has risen.
With a BComm degree and 20 years of humanitarian services and business experience on the continent, he is well positioned to drive the organisation into the future while staying true to its vision of an Africa that thrives.
He is passionate about impactful development in Africa and bridging the gap between non-profit and for-profit entities.
Isak has also played a role in advising many governments, donor entities and large NGOs on sustainable programmes and has been a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) since 2009.
Simon McGregor moved into his current role at ForAfrika in 2023, having previously been Chief Development Officer from 2021-2022 and managing director of the organisation’s UK office from 2019 to 2021.
Simon’s background and impressive career is in financial research, corporate finance and stock transfer. He founded various companies that have gone on to enjoy major success.
He was a managing director at LSE-listed Equiniti Group plc with responsibility for proxy advisory, cross border listings and stock analysis before becoming a partner responsible for corporate finance at Africa-focused consultancy, Afriscope.
Abeba Amene moved into her current role after serving as Country Director for South Sudan, ForAfrika’s largest programme to date.
With over 17 years of humanitarian and development programming experience in fragile contexts, Abeba has led teams in various country offices, managing medium and large-scale programmes including at Oxfam in the United Kingdom where she served as the Regional Policy and Advocacy Advisor.
With an in-depth contextual understanding of humanitarian and development trends in East Africa as well as in the Horn of Africa and extensive experience in programme design and implementation, Abeba is dedicated to seeing the positive transformation of communities.
Her unshakable commitment to realising a better future for children is drawn from many years of working alongside some of Africa’s most marginalised communities.
Nico Esterhuizen is a Fellow Chartered Certified Accountant with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in the United Kingdom and is a Certified Internal Auditor with the Institute of Internal Auditors.
With almost 20 years of experience in financial services and insurance, he is currently a member of the Audit and Risk Committee of Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) and was appointed Chairperson of ACCA South Africa Board in late 2020.
He holds a Master of Science degree in professional accountancy (with distinction) from the University of London and is currently completing a MPhil degree in Leadership in Emerging Economies.
Furthermore, Nico is part of a Christian outreach ministry in South Africa and holds motivational talks on life’s purpose.
Sarah Eldon has 20 years’ experience in the international non-governmental organisation and charity sector, specialising in fundraising, communications and programme management.
She has successfully managed diverse teams and organisational change in challenging environments, built solid relationships with partners and increased revenue.
She has also been on the ground, developing and implementing sustainable, gold-standard programmes in a number of countries from Morocco to Zambia.
Starting out as a banker, Arsénio Mucavele pursued a career in administration and logistics working as Support Services Manager at PSI (Population Services International) where he analysed financial pipelines to donors and supervised procurement and logistics staff.
He joined ForAfrika in 2008 as an Administration and Logistics Officer and has risen through the ranks since then, taking over as country director in 2020.
Along the way, Arsénio has become an expert in Mozambican labour law, which has been crucial for the effective functioning of the organisation.
Under his leadership, the country office has gone from strength to strength, and has gained valuable partners that include UNICEF and USAid.
Bosco Mfashingoma has a Master’s degree in economics and has spent the past four years working mainly in community economic empowerment and youth leadership development for NGOs.
A women’s rights activist, he has been involved in numerous projects, advocacy and policymaking around gender-based violence and other issues affecting women, such as reproductive and maternal health.
In his current role, he will be working towards a new strategy for operations in Rwanda, his home country.
Célio Njinga is a humanitarian professional with various qualifications to his name. He obtained a degree in health science from Lisbon University and holds postgraduate diplomas in humanitarian response and health management.
Additionally he holds various certificates from Johns Hopkins, University of Genève and the Kilimanjaro & Christian Medical College.
Celio, who is Angolan, previously worked as Grant Technical Advisor for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Health Programme Manager at World Vision Angola and was also the Provisional Co-ordinator for the Neglected Tropical Disease project.
Fluent in four languages: Portuguese, English, French and Hungarian, Célio is passionate about development in Angola.
Fred Mutenyo is a humanitarian professional with over 20 years’ experience at various international development agencies, specialising in agricultural, development and peace projects.
Backed by an undergraduate degree in agriculture and Master’s degrees in agricultural economics, monitoring and evaluation, Fred has run a variety of successful food security, livelihoods and economic empowerment projects in Uganda.
He was recently awarded a place on the Master of Science in Management course at the National College of Ireland.
His superpower, however, is an irrepressible passion and can-do attitude which he applies to any project or problem.
Leader Kwami Makumator is a humanitarian professional with over 17 years’ working experience. He holds an MSc in Project Management from the University of Wales and has worked in various countries, including Afghanistan and South Sudan.
Leader started his humanitarian activities with the United Nations before joining ForAfrika in April 2015. He has worked in several positions within the organisation, rising to the position of Director of Operations before his recent appointment as Acting Country Director for the South Sudan programme.
Leader has a proven track record, managing teams to exceed targets, drive successful operations, embark on new projects as well as maintaining ongoing operations.
Mashall Makamanzi joined ForAfrika as Operations Director for the South African office and is currently serving as Acting Country Director.
Mashall followed up his Bachelor of Technology (Management) degree with a Master of Business Administration. He also has a Certified Internal Auditor designation from the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors.
He brings more than 25 years’ experience garnered from working in a number of African countries with a variety of private and non-profit organisations.
Alex Burrough joined ForAfrika in 2022 and heads up the affiliate office in the United Kingdom where she is responsible for creating awareness, ensuring that donors are cared for, and growing the income for the UK office which supports our vital community projects.
She is an internationally experienced manager who has worked in the social enterprises, international non-governmental and UK charity sectors for many years both on and off the field.
Before returning to England, Alex had spent 10 years in Zambia, running successful social enterprises and sustainable development programmes.
Her key skills are in fundraising, business development and programmes’ management with a knack for devising new campaign ideas to suit unique challenges.
Edward, or Eddie, as he is better known, brings to ForAfrika a wealth of international experience spanning three decades and covering the full spectrum of humanitarian and development work.
Prior to joining us, Eddie was with World Vision for over 23 years, including six years as National Director of Ethiopia. He also served as National Director in Zimbabwe (2010-2016) and was Senior Director for World Vision US Humanitarian Emergency Affairs, Relief Director in Angola and had numerous leadership roles in Sierra Leone.
He was also a highly decorated non-commissioned officer in the United States Marine Corps from 1989 to 1993, earning the Combat Action and two Humanitarian Service medals among other awards.
He has been a part-time PhD student at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies and earned a Master's degree in International Affairs from Columbia University. He is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish and has travelled to over 100 countries.
Elias Koller, who heads up the Swiss affiliate office, is a young professional with years of experience in the fields of international education, sustainable development, social pedagogy and social (pedagogical) inclusiveness.
Elias has a bachelor’s degree in Social Work and a Master’s in Disaster Management from the University of Copenhagen.
He spent five years living abroad practising intercultural exchange in various countries, including Kosovo, Canada, Turkey, Laos, Togo, India, Brazil, Germany, Denmark and the Czech Republic.
Previous employers include the Red Cross, where he was operations manager and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, where he worked in crisis management.
Sabine Wenz is the Managing Director of the German affiliate office.
She established the office in 2004, when ForAfrika was still JAM, and has gained experience in almost all areas of the organisation over the years.
Her background in a number of start-ups has assisted her to successfully fundraise for various projects and emergencies and she has accompanied many groups of volunteers to work on school infrastructure renovations.
Before she ventured into development work, she worked for various start-ups and now enjoys passing on her knowledge and expertise to her team of five.
Her strengths lie in corporate management, fundraising and marketing and her passion for Africa and its people.
Charles Wentzel has been leading ForAfrika’s Disaster Response Unit since April 2021. During this period, we have steadily increased capacity and responded to emergencies in Mozambique, Angola, South Sudan, South Africa, Uganda and the Central African Republic.
Charles grew up in an Airborne Regiment of South Africa, holds an MBA from Heriot Watt University, and obtained certification from the Project Management Institute in 2012.
He threw his weight into the humanitarian sector with JAM in 2000, leading the organisation’s Emergency Response Unit, the launch of the water drilling and purification division and the opening of the country programme in South Sudan. He then went on to set up humanitarian operations funded by the US and UK governments and private entities in a host of countries.
Trademarks of his work are rapid development of local capacity, creation of management information systems and efficiency. He loves agriculture, empowering local communities and linking emergency relief to economic development.
Cisca Pretorius is a Chartered Accountant with more than 15 years’ experience in her field.
She has an Honours Bachelor of Accounting Science, is a registered auditor with the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors in South Africa and is assigned to the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Cisca has a clear understanding of audit and accounting processes and considerable experience in finance and implementing procedures to manage business effectively.
Keeping on top of projects and making sure all parts get to the finish line at the same time is what she does best. Cisca travels extensively to ensure that all ForAfrika’s country offices are on the same page and compliant with our high financial standards and procedures.
Dr Mary Okumu is an accomplished development expert in health policy and health service delivery and has about 38 years of experience at various humanitarian organisations around the world, including the African Medical Research Foundation (AMREF), Oxfam and the United Nations, where she has served at senior levels, including being a Representative of UN Women in Sierra Leone.
She has been responsible for generating groundbreaking programmes in maternal and child health as well as community upliftment and organisational development projects in more than 15 African countries.
She strongly believes in the participation of the community, especially the youth, in all development initiatives since this ensures local ownership and sustainable transformation. She also believes that gender mainstreaming is an important strategy in achieving equitable and sustainable human development.
Dr Okumu holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health (Maternal and Child Health) and a PhD in Human Rights Law.
Eugene Keague is an experienced operational executive with more than 20 years of experience managing several large teams across various sectors, including supply chain, logistics and Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
His list of responsibilities at ForAfrika is long and varied and includes capacity building, fleet and asset management, business systems development, emergency procurement and security.
Eugene regularly travels the continent, visiting our programmes and advising country offices on a range of issues from supply chain to ICT.
Fiona Hannig moved into the humanitarian sector after spending most of her career in a corporate environment at Liberty Holdings where she gained 11 years of experience in integrated external and internal communication, stakeholder and media management, change communication and leadership communication.
Backed by a master’s degree in English, Fiona has travelled the world and is accustomed to operating in countries with diverse languages and cultures. She has an entrepreneurial spirit and ran a successful children’s book enterprise — creating numerous bestsellers in her wake — before joining ForAfrika.
To the NGO world she brings her hallmark of delivering measurable value and return on investment and her passion for driving special marketing projects that go beyond business-as-usual.
Jane King’ara comes to the organisation with a wealth of experience in the HR field, including time spent working in five of our programme countries — South Africa, Mozambique, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan — with various organisations.
She holds a Global Executive MBA, a Bachelor of Arts degree and has a number of additional qualifications to her name. Before joining ForAfrika, Jane was working as an HR and change management consultant.
She feels strongly that making an impact in Africa can only happen sustainably through partnering with communities and understanding their needs.
Susannah Hastings joined ForAfrika in 2021 as Chief of Staff, where she serves as the primary point of contact for all matters pertaining to the office of the Group CEO, Isak Pretorius.
She is also responsible for overseeing special projects as designated by the CEO.
Before joining ForAfrika, Susannah worked for the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), a worldwide leadership community of chief executives. She has many years’ experience working with and supporting business leadership.
Terri Pretorius was born and raised in South Africa and grew up with an acute awareness of the injustices that exist on the continent.
After a 10-year career in the media industry she changed course to pursue her life’s desire to serve Africa and its people.
Terri has filled various positions at ForAfrika over the past decade and in her current role is custodian of the brand and responsible for the development of tools that support the efforts of our fundraising offices.
