Our Organisation

How we started

The African Climate Alliance was founded in 2019 after a collective of school-going youth and adult supporters organised a protest in line with the first ever global climate strike. It was quickly recognised that the European way of climate organising would not adequately address climate injustice and the intersecting struggles of people on the African continent. As such we dedicated ourselves to working in an Afrocentric and socially inclusive manner.

Our name was chosen by a multi-school climate council with the long-term hope of building a youth-led climate movement across Africa. We formalised in 2020 to honour and work toward that goal whilst allowing space for youth to continue with their schooling and work while having a structured backing to support the movement.

What we stand for

Our vision

A grassroots climate justice movement in Africa where youth are equipped with Afrocentric socio-environmental education to act, advocate and achieve climate justice in their communities.

Our mission

We act and advocate for Afrocentric climate justice by building solidarity, collaborating, and taking action; achieving this by creating safe and inclusive spaces that educate and center youth in Africa.

Our values

Afrocentric, youth-led, inclusive, people-centered, collaboration

How we work

ACA has a young, committed organising team. We are continually informed by our youth network, as well as supported by our board, who provide the team with strategic input and oversight. We aim to live out our values not only through our own actions but by redefining what NGO structures look like in order to serve grassroots climate justice work. This means working with and living out concepts like sociocracy, financial transparency and co-leadership in ways that work for us. For now, that means:

We use a co-leadership model called the Management Circle instead of one managing director.
We employ a socialist wage gap model and everyone who works for ACA has access to the full financials and salary models of our organisation.
We draw from elements of sociocracy including decentralisation, self-management and democratic decision-making.