Who we are

Our vision

Community

Africans in the Diaspora leverages the collective resource, capacity and power of Africans in the diaspora and on the continent to fortify transformative grassroots solutions in Africa. We believe in the power of community action to drive long-term change. We offer a platform for African communities who are separated by space and time to work together toward an aligned vision of transformation.

Solidarity

Whether in response to climate crises, industrial agriculture or neocolonial economic policies, African social movements are at the frontlines building the alternatives that work for our people and planet. What’s more we - Africans, Black folks, Afrodescendants - already know this. We believe in us. We believe that we must be in solidarity, side by side nurturing cultures of mutual support and exchange. When one of us wins we all win. Across the continent, we see innovation and possibility spearheaded by Africans. Africans in the Diaspora holds space to explore and understand the ideas and knowledge central to these solutions whilst generating the resources that can contribute to sustaining them.

Power

We are powerful, together. We affirm and build on the strengths, resources, and opportunities that Africans globally hold. We believe that African peoples are the only ones that can transform African communities.

Radical Transformation

Africans in the Diaspora is a fundraising project that believes in critical connection, not critical cash. We do not seek to build models of Black saviourism to replace white ones. To embody this work requires radical transformation of ourselves, our relationships and of our capacities. We believe that Africans in solidarity with one another is a transformative force.

In the beginning

Founded in 2012, AiD envisioned a self-reliant Africa. Co-founders Solomé Lemma, Stephanie deWolfe and Zanele Sibanda created AiD as a platform to connect Africans in the diaspora and on the continent committed to African-owned, -driven, and -led transformative change.

AiD emerged as a crowdfunding platform to demonstrate the powerful impact that collective resources, skills, and ideas pooled from Africans—both on the continent and in the diaspora—can have in regards to supporting the leadership and work of grassroots movements.

In 2013 AiD led a successful fundraising campaign "New Year New Aid" raising over $36,000 for three grassroots partners. In response to the Ebola epidemic, in 2014 AiD created the“Africa Responds” campaign, led by Thousand Currents’ Executive Director, Solomé Lemma. The campaign raised over $100,000 for eight grassroots organizations in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Merging with Thousand Currents

After a two-year incubation partnership with Thousand Currents, a US-based funder supporting work on alternative economics, food sovereignty and climate justice in Africa, Latin America and Asia, the synergy between AiD and Thousand Currents was clear. Much like AiD's vision, Thousand Currents partners with grassroots groups and movements — led by women, youth, and Indigenous Peoples in the Global South through a model of longer term and core (flexible) funding. When Thousand Currents merged with AiD in 2017, it became the first US-based funder to rearrange its structure to include diaspora engagement.

AiD today

As a project of Thousand Currents, AiD now sits in the Africa program of the organisation. In 2020, AiD relaunched with an updated mission to take forward the visions that AiD’s rich and fruitful history carries.

Our team