It’s with great sadness that we learn of the passing of Charles Godfrey Kazibwe, CEO of Transform Africa and friend to AFFORD.

Onyekachi Wambu, our Executive Director paid tribute to a fellow Diaspora Warrior.

It was a great shock to learn of Charles’ death. He was a great believer in Africa. His organisation worked tirelessly with ordinary African people in several countries on a transformation agenda. Those close to him recall the hours and time he spent on behalf of the continent. He was a great exemplar of organised diaspora in action. A man of integrity and vision. He will be greatly missed by all of us in the sector. We offer sincere condolences to his family.

Charles was a true stalwart of African development – his death will no doubt leave a huge vacuum. I recall our engagement on his many fundraising and crowdfunding efforts for Transform Africa and his willingness to share his journey with us. May his diasporic legacy live on.

Stella Opoku-Owusu, Deputy Executive Director, AFFORD

Charles was planning on retiring this year and going home to Uganda, completing his disaporic journey. We know it’s tough for everyone out there but if you can, please help his family to make that a reality.

Support here.

Thank you.

We’ve had a crisis. We can see where the cracks are even more now than we did before. So it really is about how we fix the situation. How do we build back from what’s broken?”

says our Deputy Director Stella Opuku-Owusu on post-Covid recovery at the 13th Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) Summit

Our executive director Onyekachi Wambu was recently a guest on Loksan Harley’s series on Migration and Diaspora – sweet spots for us. In this long listen, hear Onyekachi connect the dots of his own journey. After talking about his childhood in post-independence Nigeria and his subsequent migration to the UK, Onyekachi deconstructs the “African diaspora”, providing his own conceptual framework to define who they are and to explain the different ways (or “transfers”) in which they contribute to the continent. Loksan and Onyekachi then talk about the role of AFFORD in engaging diasporas, including some of the work we’ve done to leverage diaspora interest in contributing their time, skills, money, and more. We close with Onyekachi’s insights into the key areas of under-exploited potential in African diaspora engagement, as well as his own lessons learned from many years working at the forefront of this exciting field. Enjoy and share!

For #BlackHistoryMonth2020 Facebook and we at AFFORD are proud to celebrate a day of recognising where we are as a #diaspora, where we want to go and how we can get there collectively. In this digital world social platforms offer us a way of connecting with our diaspora family all over the globe with the click of a button. We have seen how an idea can spark a movement that creates a shift in mindset and a recognition of the collective power groups have. Examples can be seen in the Black Lives Matter movement sparking interest in creating practical and material change through initiatives like Black Pound Day.

There is a saying I am, because we are.

This BHM we will have a day exploring how our heritage shapes our identity and impacts on the actions and decisions we make. The role of technology in this cannot be ignored or understated, to look at ways of how diaspora and Africa can work more cohesively we should look to technology as a means to strengthening links and exhilarating actions for change, growth and progression.

We have an amazing roll call of speakers.

For more details and how to register, head here.