About the New Africa Fund
The New Africa Fund (NAF) is a US 501(c)(3) public charity and was founded in 2021 by two former Peace Corps Volunteers, with a mission to support local initiatives in Africa and foster sustainable change. Initially focused on projects in Togo, the NAF has since expanded its reach to work with grantees and partners in over a dozen countries in Africa and is expanding every year. The NAF prioritizes collaboration with local organizations to remain connected with communities and leaders who possess an intimate understanding of the issues facing their communities.
The NAF seeks to change the traditional relationship between foreign funders and local organizations that has for too long been based on project-based funding. Therefore, the NAF primarily provides unrestricted funding, offering grantees the flexibility to respond to the evolving needs of their communities. We understand that flexible funding is the only way to help organizations who have been unable to grow and achieve sustainable outcomes, often as a result to them having their work handcuffed by a project’s rigid priorities. Our model encourages adaptability and empowers organizations to address pressing issues in real-time.
Our grants are awarded through a competitive application process, and we support NGOs, community-based organizations (CBOs), and social enterprises across multiple fields. We evaluate all potential grantees as holistic entities, rather than simply as implementers.
The NAF invests in organizations with a clear mission and vision and a strong track record of results, but who have often lacked the sustainable funding to achieve that vision. In short, the New Africa Fund is seeking local leaders who are developing creative solutions to local problems.
The NAF board
Steven Beck
President and Board Member
Steven was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and grew up in Boca Raton, Florida. He studied music and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Miami, and he has a master’s degree in international relations from Columbia University in New York. Steven began his career as a political operative and worked on over a dozen campaigns as a press officer, speech writer, and fundraiser. He worked on local races in New York, statewide races in Ohio, and several national campaigns. Steven left politics in 2004, at which point he joined the Peace Corps and completed his service in Togo, West Africa from 2004-2006. Steven moved to Israel in 2010 and for nearly ten years he worked for NGOs including as the director of development for both the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI). He left Israel in 2018 to work in the UN system in Africa and was attached to the World Health Organization as a resource mobilization officer in Mauritania, Senegal, Mozambique, and on regional projects including the humanitarian crisis in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Steven resigned from the UN in late 2020 to launch The New Africa Fund.
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Steven sits on several non-profit boards including serving on the board of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and the World Union for Progressive Judaism. He lives in Jaffa with his partner Sari, their daughter Ziv and their son Shalev.
Evan Wolfson
Board Member
Evan Wolfson founded and led Freedom to Marry, the campaign that won marriage for same-sex couples in the United States and is widely considered the architect of the movement that secured the historic nationwide victory in 2015. He currently teaches as a Distinguished Practitioner in Grand Strategy at Yale, and is a senior counsel at Dentons, the world's largest law firm. Evan has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, and previously taught courses in law and social change at Georgetown Law, Columbia Law, and Rutgers Law.
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In 1983, Evan wrote his Harvard Law School thesis on gay people and the freedom to marry, and later wrote the book, Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry. Citing his national leadership on marriage and his appearance before the U.S. Supreme Court in Boy Scouts of America v. James Dale, the National Law Journal in 2000 named Evan one of "the 100 most influential lawyers in America"; The Daily Beast dubbed him "the godfather of gay marriage"; and Time Magazine named Evan one of "the 100 most influential people in the world." Having achieved in 2015 the goal he had pursued for 32 years, Evan now devotes the bulk of his time to advising and assisting diverse movements and causes eager to adapt the model and apply the lessons that made the Freedom to Marry campaign so successful both in the U.S. and -- under the banner of Freedom to Marry Global -- around the world.
Dr. Abdou Salam Gueye
Board Member
Dr Abdou Salam Gueye is the Regional Emergency Director for the WHO in Africa, with expertise in health security, emergency outbreak response, epidemiology, use of information technology in global health, and health system strengthening.
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He previously was the WHO Representative for Mauritania. Dr Gueye came to the WHO in 2017 as the lead Incident manager of major outbreaks in Africa. Prior to joining the WHO, he worked for the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more than a decade in a variety of capacities, including as the Field Response Lead during the West Africa Ebola epidemic, Benin Country Representative, Strategic Information Officer in the Atlanta headquarters, Associate Director for Science in Cote d’Ivoire and Director of the Global Health Protection Program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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A Fulbright fellowship recipient, Dr Gueye first worked in Senegal as a district chief medical officer before becoming an assistant professor at the University of Dakar. He also served as a United Nations peacekeeping medical officer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Dr Gueye holds a medical doctorate and master’s degree in public health from the University of Dakar in his native Senegal and a PhD in biomedical informatics from the University of Utah in the United States.
He is co-founder and editorial board member of the Pan African Medical Journal and also founded the Institut Mere Enfant de Kaolack. He has published in dozens of peer-reviewed scientific journals. In 2019, he won the US CDC Charles C. Shepard Science Award.
Marie-Baptiste
Board Member
Marie is an organizational leader with 18 years of extensive experience leading projects funded by USAID/PMI, PEPFAR, UNICEF, World Bank, and foundations. She led diverse teams across Africa and the Caribbean to successful implementation of a variety of projects.
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Marie served as the country representative of Population Services International for Cote d’Ivoire from 2017 until September 2023. She is fluent in English, French, Portuguese, and Haitian Creole. She holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Rutgers University.
Winnie Tay
Board Member
For over 35 years, Winnie worked as an international development professional with the Togolese Government in the Ministry of Planning and Development, with Christian Children Fund and Plan International. Winnie joined Plan International in 1989 as an Assistant Field Director in Jacmel Haiti, and was successively Field Director in Cap-Haitien, Haiti (1990-1992), Country Manager in Freetown, Sierra Leone (1992- 1996), and Country Director in Dakar, Senegal (1996-2003). In 2003, Winnie joined Plan International USA and served respectively as Senior Program Development Officer for Africa, Director of Program Management, and Senior Program Advisor till his full retirement in July 2023.
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As a Country Director, Winnie led Plan’s country programs at technical, financial, and administrative levels while simultaneously liaising with colleagues in the NGO community, government officials, and with Plan’s donors to promote the best interests of children. He leveraged his professional relationships to build alliances with other NGOs, multilateral organizations (UNICEF, UNDP, World Bank) and government bodies at the national and regional levels for effective implementation of Plan programs. He served as Chairman of the International NGO (INGO) Forum during the civil war in Sierra Leone and coordinated the international community’s responses to the civil war disasters. He also served as Officer of CONGAT (NGO Association) in Senegal. As a Country Director, Winnie also designed and implemented several successful and innovative multimillion US$ development projects in the best interests of children, including: child survival projects funded by USAID & DFID, a child media program (Radio Guneyi), a micro finance project funded by USAID to transform the Women’s Group Revolving fund into formal financial institutions, an adult literacy and a non-formal education for 9-15 year old children who were out of the formal education system, and a community based ECCD (Early Childhood Care and Development) project to meet psychosocial development needs of children aged 3-6 in rural areas of Senegal, just to name a few.
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During his tenure at Plan USA, Winnie coordinated the collaboration between the Plan USA fund-raising teams (Philanthropy, Marketing, Family Foundation and Corporate Partners) and Plan International Country Offices to design and implement several successful projects including Plan USA’s BIAAG (Because I am A Girl) and WATG (We Are the Girls) Campaign related projects. Winnie had earned a Master of Science and a PhD degree in Agricultural and Resource Economics and Rural Development from Oregon State University, and an Agriculture Engineer Degree from Montpellier, France. Winnie served as President of the African Student Union at Oregon State University.
The NAF staff
Josine Mutesi
Finance Manager
Josine is an ambitious and enthusiastic young professional who seeks to bring change to the community and is eager to keep learning new things in order to develop her career.
She’s the finance manager for programs at NAF and her responsibilities include, but are not limited to, assisting in the evaluation of financial statements of candidate organizations for NAF funding, identifying financial gaps and providing relevant capacity building to the grantees, monitoring and evaluating finances of NAF grantees, and acting as primary financial manager for NAF’s GSP. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and is currently pursuing CPA accreditation. Josine is fluent in Kinyarwanda, French, and English.
Michaela Aviram
Executive Assistant to the President
Michaela studied International Relations in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and has extensive experience in in-depth research, writing reports, and transmitting information in written and spoken form. She is fluent in Hebrew, English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French.
She is an executive assistant to the president of the NAF and her responsibilities include, but are not limited to, writing annual and project reports, building and maintaining the NAF website.
Beyond the traditional academic system, Michaela is trained in different modalities of Soul-Mind-Body. She is inspired to bring positive change into the world in any channel that becomes available and she brings these perspectives and wisdom of ancient cultures into her everyday work and interactions.
Rita Inema
Logistics Manager
Rita is a well rounded young individual, driven by the passion of having a positive impact on lives, and experienced in customer service, event planning, communication, and creative arts.
She worked as an office administrative assistant at Fields of Life organization for 2 years, and then spent the next 10 months as a business administration intern at Iriba Water Group before joining the New Africa Fund.
Rita is in charge of planning, organizing and managing logistics for all NAF workshops .
She is currently pursuing a Bachelors Degree in Entrepreneurial Leadership at the African Leadership University, and she is fluent in English, French and Kinyarwanda.
NAF consultants
Jean Claude Muhire
Jean Claude Muhire is a government relations and partnership negotiator. Over the past 12 years, JC has been supporting the establishment of new organizations in Rwanda by securing their buy-in with the government as well as development partners supporting entrepreneurs, local and international organizations. As of recent, JC has been supporting Give Directly, BRAC International, Global Affairs Canada, Education Outcomes Fund, and the United States department of Forest to engage local Partners in Rwanda and in East Africa in general. JC provides strategic advice to the New Africa Fund, and he sits on the board of directors for Action Aid International and he is the former chair of the board of Hands of Mothers.
Rudy Mudakikwa
Rudy is a seasoned Financial Management Consultant with over a decade of experience in the nonprofit sector. He has a proven track record in establishing and managing finance functions in international settings, consistently emphasizing compliance, efficiency, and transparency. His diverse skill set includes accounting, financial risk management, data-driven analysis, reporting, and strategic planning and decision-making, among others.
Currently, Rudy serves as a consultant at the New Africa Fund, where he leverages his substantial expertise to support grantees in refining their financial skills and practices.