“The essence of AiD is reinventing and re-imagining development, so that Africans are no longer objects of development but rather the drivers of social change. By harnessing the collective power of Diaspora Africans, we aim to increase the flow of resources from the Diaspora to African organizations that struggle to get funding from international funders,” explains Solome Lemma, AiD’s Executive Director and Co-Founder.

AiD’s goal is to raise $30,000 for three organizations that are advancing social and economic change in their communities.

Physicians for Social Justice was started by a group of young doctors. They are tackling the range of barriers to health services of communities in remote, rural regions in Niger State, Nigeria. The funds raised will enable them to extend their services to 5,000 people and increase children’s health outcomes by 50 percent.

WEM Integrated Health Services is focused on transforming the lives of women and children in semi-arid regions of Kenya. Rather than link women to micro-finance institutions that ultimately draw capital out of the community, WEMIHS helps groups of women to start their own saving and lending facilities. Supporting them will help to establish 5 village development funds that will serve more than 2,000 households increase their income and assets to improve the lives of more than 15,000 individuals.

Synapse Center’s Senegal Promise program creates jobs for unemployed youth by equipping them with skills in social entrepreneurship. Youth receive practical training, coaching and mentoring, and opportunities to develop and manage social ventures. With these funds Synapse will build skills of 60 youth and incubate 12 social venture business start-ups.

“While three organizations are doing amazing work and demonstrating real impact, they need resources to expand their reach and multiply their success. Diaspora Africans can be the source of that support. You can go on the website and read about each one and decide who you want to support. If each one of us makes a donation, we can collectively be part of this social impact,” added Zanele Sibanda, Director of Partnerships and Co-founder.

The “New Year, New AiD” campaign will run for 40 days. During the campaign, AiD will provide regular updates on fundraising success on its website. Once the organizations receive the funds, AiD will continue to provide updates on the progress that each organization is making on the ground.

For more information, visit www.africansinthediaspora.org or email [email][email protected]