Africa
Stay up-to-date on Ashoka Africa!
Read more about the 2nd Pan-African Induction.
Ashoka launched its Africa program in 1990 with the election of the first Fellow in Zimbabwe. Since establishing its Southern African program, Ashoka Africa expanded to West Africa in 1992 and opened its East Africa office in 2001.
Ashoka believes that building a critical mass of leading social entrepreneurs with groundbreaking ideas is an important step toward creating a vibrant, prosperous African continent. Ashoka Fellows in Africa are empowering people to create their own economic and civic opportunities, addressing the pandemic of HIV/AIDS and other devastating health concerns, implementing transformative education systems, protecting their environments and natural resources, and introducing effective methods of conflict resolution. With the help of Ashoka's global initiatives, Ashoka Africa is uniquely placed to identify and spread the best ideas for social, economic, and political change.
Today there are more 200 Ashoka Fellows in 17 African countries, and roughly 25 new Fellows elected each year in sub-Saharan Africa. Ashoka Africa currently works under the 3 cluster regions of East, Southern and West Africa, and has 4 regional offices based in Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Uganda.
East Africa
Ashoka launched its operations in East Africa with the election of two Ugandan Ashoka Fellows in 2001. Rigorous search and selection activities quickly generated Fellow elections in Kenya in 2002 and Tanzania in 2003. Currently, Ashoka East Africa is building a solid, diverse fellowship with an eye toward expansion into Ethiopia. The Ashoka East Africa regional office is located in Nairobi, Kenya.
Southern Africa
Ashoka's Southern Africa program was launched in 1990 as the cornerstone of our Africa program. Ashoka has a nationwide presence in South Africa with our office based in Johannesburg. As our longest running program with approximately 90 Fellows working in Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, Ashoka has a firm footing in the region and is well poised to continue building communities of innovators and incite social change.West Africa
Ashoka has approximately 100 Fellows in 9 West African countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal) impacting the lives of millions and tackling a plethora of social issues — civil war and conflict resolution, corruption, heath and human services, HIV/AIDS, poverty and malnutrition, economic empowerment and urban development.