Dear Friends of ADF: 

I am pleased to introduce ADF e-news, a new online publication of the African Development Foundation. We have designed ADF e-news to provide the American public, African publics, and colleagues in the international development community with regular updates on what ADF is doing to help African community-based organizations, small businesses, and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) generate broad-based sustainable development and build a more peaceful and prosperous future for Africa.

In 2004, ADF is celebrating the 20^th anniversary of its active program operations, an event that allows us to reflect on a proud record of achievements and look to the future. Over the past two decades, the Foundation has funded more than 1,550 community-led projects across sub-Saharan Africa, making investments that help African NGOs and small entrepreneurs invest in themselves. ADF’s focus on grassroots capacity building has also produced innovative approaches to African development that have been replicated by other community groups and small businesses and scaled up by other development organizations.

Currently, the Foundation supports more than 250 projects in 15 African countries, and it is working with grassroots partners to implement three strategic objectives:

Small and micro enterprise development;
Trade and investment; and
HIV/AIDS prevention and mitigation. 
 

These initiatives focus on providing grantees with knowledge, tools, and resources to improve their quality of life, enhance their economic security, strengthen families and community institutions, expand incomes, and generate quality jobs that can provide a firm foundation for growth.

Starting this month, ADF e-news will provide you with reporting on newly funded projects under the Foundation's strategic initiatives, as well as regular field updates on ongoing projects. And four times each year – in June, September, December, and March – we will offer in-depth features on our program operations and program philosophy through a new quarterly newsletter, The ADF Approach.

Our goal is to provide wide audiences with information on effective strategies for building a sustainable future, to share information and ideas with peer organizations, and to celebrate the measurable steps that our grantees are taking toward realizing Africa’s great potential in the 21st century.
 

Yours sincerely,

Nathaniel Fields
President