A unique partnership of Foundations working towards development in Africa
The first two five-year and multi-sectoral initiatives, supported by the system of Italian banking foundations (four to begin with: Fondazione Cariplo, Compagnia di San Paolo, Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena and Fondazione Cariparma) together with Fondazione Umano Progresso and Fondazione De Agostini, were carried out in Senegal and northern Uganda between 2008 and 2013, by a broad partnership consisting of civil society organisations, diaspora associations (for Senegal), local authorities and grassroots associations in the relevant countries.
Total allocation: approximately €11 million.
Between 2014 and 2019, the Foundations 4 Africa Burkina Faso Project took place, supported by 25 Foundations in the ACRI ‘system’, implemented in the field by civil society organisations (Acra, CISV, LVIA and MANI TESE Association), a study centre (CESPI), the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, 27 associations of the Burkinabé diaspora spread throughout Italy, and two other diaspora associations active in Burkina Faso.
Total allocation: approximately €6.3 million.
The project focused on ensuring food security and sovereignty for 10,200 small agricultural producers and their families (about 60,000 people), in seven rural regions in Italy. It worked throughout the value chain of the main agricultural and non-forest product supply chains to improve productivity and product quality, strengthen the capacity of 350 farmers’ organisations, doing so by trialling innovative microfinance tools and inclusive financial services, by structuring a marketing system to increase sales on the local market, by promoting the dissemination of adequate food education and by encouraging a leading role for women in organisational structures.