The International Committee of All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA, embarks on social advocacy and developmental initiatives to ensure marginalized voices are heard and count. AFRIMA achieves this by working with stakeholders and collaborators to identify critical issues affecting African communities, we bring these issues to global attention and donate time and resources to contribute towards the resolution of these issues.
The core focus of 'Our Voice' is in education and women and youth empowerment.
The AFRIMA advocacy takes its cue from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) mantra to "Leave No One Behind" by 2030 – and to reach those who are furthest behind first by ending extreme poverty in all its forms, reducing inequalities among both individuals and groups.
Many people remain marginalised and extremely poor and this may be due to where they live, or aspects of who they are – such as whether they have a disability or their age, race, ethnicity or gender.
1. Make African voices heard by working with relevant experts to identifying needs of marginalized communities
2. Leverage the power of music and African superstars to amplify the muffled voices of the vulnerable and disadvantaged
3. Convene platforms for mainstream inclusive dialogue with all stakeholders to develop responsive action plan
4. Address specific needs through outreach and community projects
5. Form coalitions, partnerships and collaborations to advance the social advocacy efforts in Africa
Since 2015, AFRIMA has used Educate-A-Child (Our Voice) campaign to raise consciousness for education and literacy of children in Africa. Illiteracy is the one of the challenges facing the African continent and poses a threat to national governments' efforts to empower citizenry economically. AFRIMA is committed to reducing illiteracy in Africa via the Educate-A-Child Campaign (Our Voice) initiative by advocating for investment in education –formal and informal– by African leaders. This informs AFRIMA’s participation at youth and education-oriented events organised by our partners including the African Union and the ONE Campaign.
In May 2016, AFRIMA Foundation visited Bakoteh Proper Lower Basic School, Banjul, Gambia as part of the programmes lined up for the AFRIMA-AUC joint media/cultural conference held in Gambia on May 24. AFRIMA Foundation donated educational materials, computers and musical equipment to the school.
AFRIMA Foundation also supported the Felabration 2016 Senior Secondary School Debate held in the 2016 Main Awards Host City Lagos State, Nigeria, by donating books and computer equipment to participating schools and students.
The 2018 main awards ceremony, hosted by the Republic of Ghana between November 21 and November 24, also had as part of its activities the donation of educational materials and musical instruments by AFRIMA Foundation to St. Thomas Presbyterian Primary School in Osu Town, Accra, Ghana. The team which visited the school to mentor and inspire the students included members of the International Committee of AFRIMA, African Union Commission officials, Ghanaian government officials, star African artistes as well as African and International media.
AFRIMA collaborated with the ONE Campaign in 2016 to embark on a Health Campaign #MakeNaijaStronger which focused on getting better and higher quality investments in the health Sector and particular emphasis on the implementation of the National Health Act. The outcome of the Make Naija Stronger campaign recorded in 2017 through legislature passed by the National Assembly of Nigeria is that we received an increase in the Nigerian health budget.
In 2017, AFRIMA partnered Greenpeace, a multi-cultural movement working to bring about the extraordinary change necessary to realize a greener, more peaceful future, to promote conscious protection of the environment and promote solutions to the critical environmental sustainability issues faced in Africa. Greenpeace got a 60-second spot at the 2017 main awards live show to introduce the campaign and make a call to action.
AFRIMA & Greenpeace enlisted the support of influencers and celebrities present at the awards for the campaign though social media posts/video messages of support and commitments for further engagement.
The 2017 All Africa Music Awards conceived a social media and outdoor campaign themed: “I am Africa ” –a phrase that extols the values, virtues and resources of the continent of Africa and its peoples. There were two objectives for the campaign:
- To create, from an authentic African perspective, an alternative reality of the misconceptions and negative assumptions about Africa that have flood the foreign media for several decades by changing the narrative, through conceptual narrative photography.
- To generate organic social media conversations among our primary target audience about the viability and richness of Africa’s tangible and intangible resources. We created a hashtag #IAmAfrica for the social media activation and used the photography for outdoor advertising building up to the main awards ceremony.
There are many good reasons for donor organisations and NGOs to work with the AFRIMA on its social responsibility initiatives to reach a common goal. We invite partners to come on board with unique expertise and resources synergized with the unique opportunities on the AFRIMA platform in order to guarantee that specific partnership objectives are met and the impact can be multiplied.
A partner can participate in those activities namely the AFRIMA conferences, concerts and awards ceremony- that are best suited for their organizational objectives and target market. AFRIMA will ensure that our content and activities complement our partner’s objective for the success of the collaboration and for a win-win value proposition.
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