Eighteen years of building dignity, together.
What began as one rebuilt classroom is now a foundation working across twelve countries. The mission has never changed.
Help communities rise out of poverty, for good
Amka exists to help African families break the cycle of poverty through the things that change everything: an education, a livelihood and good health.
We work alongside communities rather than for them, we build local ownership into everything we do, and we stay until the work can stand on its own. Our vision is an Africa where every child can learn, every young person can earn, and no family is held back by where they were born.
Six values that guide every decision
Dignity
We serve people as partners, never as recipients of charity.
Community leadership
The people closest to a problem lead the work to solve it.
Transparency
We publish our results and our accounts, in full, every year.
Longevity
We measure success in decades, not funding cycles.
Equity
We reach the girls, women and communities others overlook.
Courage
We go where the need is greatest, even when it is hard.
From one classroom to twelve countries
A foundation is born
After a school collapse left a Lagos community without a classroom, a group of teachers and nurses came together to rebuild it. Amka was registered that year.
Young people at the centre
Our first skills and scholarship programmes reached five hundred young people in their opening year.
Health and water
We began pairing education with clean water and community health, so children could stay well and in school.
Beyond Nigeria
Amka expanded into Ghana and Kenya, sharing a locally led model that communities could adapt as their own.
A milestone
We reached a hundred thousand children supported into school, then kept going.
Proven to last
An independent evaluation found that ninety-two per cent of Amka scholars complete secondary school.
We were never going to wait for permission
When I was a girl, the nearest secondary school was three hours away on foot, and most of my friends never finished. I started Amka so that no child would have their future decided by a distance, a fee or a broken roof.
Everything we do rests on a simple belief. Communities are not problems to be fixed. They are the answer. Our job is to stand beside them, remove the obstacles, and then step back.
Grace Okafor
Led well, and held to account
Amka is governed by an independent Board of Trustees and run by a team based in the countries where we work. Our accounts are audited every year and published in full, and we are registered and compliant with all Nigerian charity regulations.
Be part of the next eighteen years.
Give, partner or volunteer. However you stand with Amka, a community rises because of it.
Get involved