Empowering animal advocates in African countries
Building a better tomorrow for farmed animals,
by preparing for it today
The problem
The human population of Africa is expected to nearly triple by 2100. Global meat production in Africa has nearly doubled since 2000, and this rate is expected to increase to match the growing population and growing wealth of the continent.
Approximately 3.4 billion land-based farmed animals live in Africa as of 2020. The predicted rate of increase of these and of aquatic farming in Africa is the largest of all continents.
Farmed animal welfare is incredibly neglected in Africa – we estimate that total farmed animal funding for Africa was around USD 2 million in 2022. This is less than 1% of global funding for farmed animals.
Growing signs of animal agriculture industrialisation in African countries is a concern that threatens to instate factory farming conditions.
Our proposed solution
Increase the capacity and effectiveness of African animal advocates by helping them develop key aspects of effective, evidence-based charities, such as strategy, operations, and communications.
Cultivate a network of advocates prepared to launch new farmed animal advocacy initiatives or join existing organisations within Africa.
Attract more funding to the African farmed animal advocacy space.
Assist donors interested in contributing to African animal advocacy initiatives by regranting or offering due diligence advice.
Publish research about the animal advocacy landscape in Africa.
What we do
We work to strengthen the capacities and effectiveness of African animal advocates who are reducing animal suffering, particularly that of farmed animals.
We aim to:
Empower change: Cultivate a new generation of advocates interested in improving farmed animal welfare and rights.
Foster talent: Equip these advocates with the necessary skills and knowledge to advocate for farmed animals, focusing particularly on the early stages of building a new initiative.
Shape the future of animal advocacy: Help advocates develop and execute evidence based projects aimed at mitigating the rise of industrial animal agriculture based on our research.
How we do it
Our support to individuals and organisations consists of providing:
Training on important skills for effective animal advocacy (e.g., theories of change, decision-making, fundraising)
Templates and advice on best practices in running an effective project or nonprofit organisation
Connections to the international animal advocacy community (e.g. funders, mentors, volunteers)
Recommendations about relevant career opportunities and resources
Feedback on grant and job applications
Our progress
What we have achieved to date
In 2024, we completed our strategic pivot from organisational capacity-building to a training programme for individual advocates. The first cohort was a success - we incubated 3 new projects and helped 7 participants pursue promising paths to help farmed animals in Africa. By introducing a new quantitative impact measurement, we estimate running our first cohort has added ~$279K to the African farmed animal advocacy movement so far.
In 2023, we helped our partner organisations raise a total of USD 172,500 and provided advice to foundations/grantmakers and individual funders/donors on grants and donations exceeding USD 140,000. We also ran the first pilot of our new training programme for individual advocates.
In 2022, we helped our partner organisations raise a total of ~USD 85,000. We influenced at least two of our partners to adopt high-impact interventions, with one adopting a high-impact intervention in preventing or slowing the growth of industrial animal agriculture in Uganda and one leading a cage-free campaign in Ghana.
