The African Development Bank (AfDB) annual meeting for 2022 was held in May of 2022 in Accra Ghana. 44.5 Foundation was invited as an observer Non-Governmental Organization to contribute to discussions regarding climate resilience projects. The event was chaired both by the Head of State of the Republic of Ghana and the Chairman of the AfDB Dr Akinwumi Adesina. The focus this year was to seek ways around using grassroots organizations like our Foundation to implement verifiable projects all around the African continent. As a community-focused group, we shared our know-how and experience with initiatives that have a direct impact on the daily lives of its beneficiaries. We argued that as a not-for-profit organization, we held ourselves to higher heights of accountability and that our objectives centered around prospering the daily lives of communities.
Together with delegates from Tanzania and Mauritania, we discussed projects on women empowerment, particularly in underserved communities in those two countries. The representative from Mauritania agreed to link us up with potential donors who would support grassroots initiatives. The plan is to design and implement programs that utilize our Information Technology knowledge base to train at risk women in these countries gain skills that would empower them to gain skills that can be applied in various jobs and/or setting up their own businesses. Over the next few months, we will design programs and exchange with delegations on practical modalities for implementing these programs. The goal is if we’re successful in one country, we can simply replicate the same idea in different communities on the continent. We completed a survey at the end of the meetings after which we received a tentative invitation to attend next year’s meeting which will take place in Egypt.
