Who we are
What if everyone had power to influence the decisions affecting their lives?
About Change Africa
Change Africa Trust is a dynamic new formation that aims to bring together a diversity of concerned ‘active citizens’ from the Eastern Africa region to pursue a shared mission to strengthen and expand social justice, human rights, and democracy. This essentially entails acknowledging and strengthening a range of inalienable rights and freedoms such as the Freedom of Expression, Freedom of assembly, association as well as the Freedom of Information. In practical terms, this will mean advocating for the rights and liberties of citizens, to work with the media, and use digital media, in their active pursuit of Africa we aspire to
We are proud to advocate also for economic and social rights, spanning areas such as economic equity, equal access to education across East Africa, and advocate for policies that advance the vital relations between countries of East Africa by building relationships with civic society organizations, individual activists and all active citizens, administrators, public and private institutions working within the region. At a time when politics is divisive, our goal is to foster and to the extent possible, reinforce unity
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Change Africa Trust will invest its energies in strengthening CSOs and at the same time seek to broaden the reach and impact of social movements as well as political formations in the region by providing them with a platform for administrative support, training, fund management, capacity building, and encouraging collaboration in implementing projects. It will be a home for forums and discussions to address local challenges from the perspective of best practices in social justice, human rights, and democracy.
Based on the well-known adage ‘think global act local,’ Change Africa Trust will seek to globalize local issues on human rights and democracy in each of the countries of East Africa. Change Africa will build a pervasive narrative for a more connected global or regional audience by connecting key players across the region and sharing experiences and challenges. This is because the gathering momentum for economic globalization has also significantly impacted human rights and democracy during the last quarter of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first century. Despite a seemingly wider spread of political democracy globally, there has also recently been a rise of nationalist and populist leaders who have propagated a less democratic or outright authoritarian trend globally (ref Freedom House). East Africa is not exempted from this trend
The spread of political democracy across the developing world and in the transitioning economies has mostly been about electoral and multi-party democracy in some form. However, citizens do not always have the political rights or political freedoms that democracies should enjoy to ensure the total participation of their citizens. Elections are not always free and fair. Authoritarianism across the region is thriving in various forms, whether through party authoritarianism practiced by CCM in Tanzania, or individual leaders and their cabals such as the case of president Yoweri Museveni in Uganda or Paul Kagame in Rwanda. Some of these regimes are entrenched, while others are under siege. However, they are subject to increasing questions, as aspirations for democracy continue to grow
States have also increasingly engaged in lawfare through legal and constitutional amendments that seek to curtail civil and political movement building and activism.
