Our History
We establish a pilot project, Vocational Skills for Vulnerable Youth, at "The Bridge" in Lower Johnsonville, near Monrovia, Liberia. The Bridge is a vocational training and enterprise centre in Johnsonville, Liberia. The centre was founded by Self Help Initiative for Sustainable Development (SHIFSD), an NGO originally established by Liberian refugees from Ghana. We also send SHIFSD tools and training equipment.
We arrange a needs assessment visit to our new partner SHIFSD’s programme in Liberia. However the Ebola crises starts which forces the project to be delayed.
We see our 2,000th young entrepreneur graduating from our grassroots vocational training college in Agbogbloshie slum, Ghana. Three of our trainees who were homeless slum dwellers are awarded university degree placements on full scholarships. Another, Evelyn, is interviewed for BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour after becoming a successful café entrepreneur.
One of our former disabled trainees, Alem Mumeni, competes at the London Paralympics as a cyclist for Ghana.
Three of our trainees are invited to Ghana Metro TV to discuss their inspirational stories how they were empowered to escape poverty and life in the slum. SISS starts working with the local hospital to establish a health clinic in Agbogbloshie.
With our Ghanaian partner Self Help Initiative Support Services, (SISS), we expand our original pilot project and start a free grassroots college in Agbogbloshie slum in Accra, Ghana, to help vulnerable street youth and women earn livelihoods.
We provide organisational training and support to a grassroots craftworkers' cooperative in Durban, South Africa
We partner with local Ghanaian charity Self Help Initiative Support Services (SISS) to establish a small training project, helping vulnerable young homeless women gain new skills and livelihoods in Accra. We also set up a computer training centre for vulnerable women and youth.
AO registers as a charity.
A group of diaspora Africans and supporters in London start African Outreach as a hometown association. Volunteers collect and send books, clothes and computers to needy communities in Africa.