SDA

Distance should not stop us sharing.

Sustainable Diaspora Africa links Africans around the world with the communities back home — so knowledge, skills and opportunity can travel both ways.

Join the communityHow it works
Three women in conversation on a sofa, one explaining something from her notebook while the others listen.
Knowledge, shared both ways.
01 — What SDA is

Turning connection into contribution.

SDA brings Africans at home and around the world together, because distance should not prevent anyone from sharing their knowledge, creating opportunities or making a difference in their communities.

Not an events website, and not a social network. SDA is a community: Africans living in different parts of the world, connected with one another and with the communities back home.

The aim is a relationship that is more than occasional calls or visits — an active exchange where people share what they know, build relationships and contribute to real community development.

02 — How it works

Three ways to take part.

Share. Connect. Give back. Three words that guide everything SDA does, and three ways in, whichever side of the distance you're on.

01

Two men leaning over a table covered in printed plans, working through them together.

Share

Exchange knowledge, skills and experience through talks, workshops and mentoring, in both directions.

  • Talks
  • Workshops
  • Mentoring

02

A woman and a young man in animated conversation on a patterned sofa.

Connect

Build lasting relationships between the diaspora and local communities through events, networks and country representatives.

  • Events
  • Networks
  • Country representatives

03

A teacher reading aloud from a book in front of an attentive classroom of children.

Give back

Turn those relationships and shared resources into practical support for women, young people, mothers and children's literacy.

  • Women
  • Young people
  • Mothers
  • Literacy
03 — Both ways

What travels both ways.

From the diaspora

  1. Knowledge01
  2. Professional experience02
  3. Skills03
  4. Networks04
  5. Opportunities05

From home

  1. Ideas01
  2. Talent02
  3. Businesses03
  4. Experience04
  5. Opportunities05

SDA brings the two sides closer, so the exchange keeps going long after the call ends.

04 — Who we support

Where giving back goes.

Relationships and shared resources become practical support, focused where it changes the most.

  1. 01

    Women

    Skills, networks and capital for women building businesses and careers.

    A woman arranging stacks of bright printed fabric at her stall.
  2. 02

    Young people

    Mentors, internships and a first door into opportunity.

    Young people with laptops taking a selfie together on outdoor steps.
  3. 03

    Mothers

    Practical support, shaped with mothers on low incomes, for stronger households.

    A smiling mother holding her laughing daughter outdoors.
  4. 04

    Children's literacy

    Books, reading clubs and volunteers who read with children.

    A smiling boy writing at his desk in a classroom.
05 — Voices

In their own words.

“I mentor two young engineers back home every month. Distance stopped being an excuse.”
Grace A.Engineer · London ⇄ Accra
“Our reading club started with one shelf of donated books. Now the children run it.”
Amina S.Teacher · Kano
“Through SDA I met the partner who helped my business sell beyond my city.”
Nadège K.Founder · Kigali ⇄ Brussels
“We learn as much from home as home learns from us. That's the whole point.”
Thandi M.Researcher · Toronto ⇄ Johannesburg

SDA in numbers

06 — In numbers

Members
1200Africans at home and abroad, in one community.
Countries
24Where SDA members live, work and meet.
Mentoring hours
3400Knowledge passed on, one conversation at a time.
Community projects
38Connection turned into contribution.
An audience listening closely at a community workshop.

And we're only getting started.

07 — Get involved

Bring what you know.

Wherever you live, there's a way in. Tell us a little about yourself and we'll find the right place for you.

  • Share a skill

    Give a talk, run a workshop or mentor someone starting out.

  • Become a country representative

    Be SDA's connector where you live: bring people together and open doors.

  • Partner with us

    Organisations, schools and businesses: build programmes that last, together.

We'll only use your details to get in touch about SDA.

08 — Questions

Good questions.

  • No. SDA is a non-profit, non-political community. It doesn't portray Africa as a place that needs saving; it creates ways for Africans everywhere to contribute to one another and to their communities.

  • Africans in the diaspora, people living and working across Africa, and anyone who shares the idea that distance shouldn't stop us contributing.

  • Not at all. The exchange runs both ways: people at home bring ideas, talent, businesses and experience that the diaspora learns from too.

  • They are SDA's connector in a country, bringing members together, spotting opportunities and linking people across borders.

  • Into practical help for women, young people, mothers on low incomes and children's literacy, always shaped with the communities involved.