Our Mission
To equip African youth with the tools and experience to work alongside rural communities to alleviate poverty, improve livelihoods, and build resilience.
Our Origin Story
Liz Fanning, a former Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV), founded CorpsAfrica in 2011 to put community development in Africa into the hands of local changemakers. While serving as a PCV in Morocco, Liz met young Moroccans eager to become PCVs and support their own communities, but she had to tell them it was only open to Americans.
That exchange sparked the idea for an organization built on the simple belief that young Africans are the catalyst for lasting growth in Africa. Building on the enormous success of the Peace Corps, CorpsAfrica offers a similar transformative experience to young Africans, giving them the chance they deserve to be a part of the solution and to find their place in the world.
How we Work
By training young, highly educated Africans to work alongside rural communities, CorpsAfrica is shifting the continent’s development sector from dependency on external aid to empowerment through local leadership. Volunteers live in remote villages for up to a year, building trust, listening to community priorities, and collaborating with residents to design and implement small-scale, high-impact projects driven entirely by local people.
CorpsAfrica’s vision is to transform development by listening and connecting, giving youth the chance to be a part of the solution for their own countries.
Our Lasting Impact
Since launching its first program in Morocco in 2013, CorpsAfrica has expanded to 11 countries across the continent and plans to reach all 54 African nations within the next decade.
So far, we’ve placed more than 1,200 Volunteers across Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, and Uganda. Together, they’ve completed over 800 community-led projects, building wells, schools, roads, and irrigation systems, establishing education programs, and supporting vegetable and livestock farms.
CorpsAfrica Volunteers prioritize community engagement to build resilience so local people are better prepared to weather crises and thrive. CorpsAfrica Volunteers also undergo a transformative experience that shapes their view of the world and prepares them for personal and professional success.
Our Core Values
The CorpsAfrica model is built on values that put local ownership at the heart of everything we do. These principles are as community-driven as the projects themselves, ensuring that every initiative reflects the priorities, strengths, and vision of the people we work alongside. We are committed to creating meaningful, lasting change, and we hold ourselves accountable for the results we deliver.
Locals helping locals
Young Africans can be part of the solution for their own countries. By relocating to remote communities in their own countries for one year, they fully integrate by learning local customs, participating in daily activities, and becoming trusted community members.
Collaboration
CorpsAfrica Volunteers serve as liaisons between their communities and the outside world, including a wide range of Development Partners such as NGOs, development-related businesses, government officials, academics and social entrepreneurs. These Partners share their expertise and assist with project implementation.
Listening and capacity building
We stress the importance and power of listening. Volunteers lead change by engaging people in conversations and facilitating community meetings. Development efforts are most effective when they are “demand driven,” giving community members the opportunity to identify problems and to take the lead in solving them.
Monitoring and evaluation
No effort is complete without thorough monitoring and evaluation. Volunteers are taught how to facilitate a needs assessment in local communities and measure impact and sustainability. CorpsAfrica measures the effect on the lives of volunteers who have gained valuable grassroots community development experience.
Accountability and transparency
It is critical to demonstrate successes as well as failures to Development Partners, communities, and other stakeholders, so we can be held accountable for everything we do. It keeps us motivated and encourages us to be the best we can be.
CorpsAfrica'S goals
Our goals are the compass that guide CorpsAfrica in our efforts to achieve youth-driven, collaborative, African-led development.
PROMOTE
Promote the professional and personal development of young Africans.
Inspire
Inspire a strong pan-African community and network of public service.
Connect
Connect rural areas to the resources and innovations of diverse NGO partners.
Build
Build the capacity of rural villages to create self-sufficiency in every sector.