Africa Catalyst

Founded in 2012 and based in Abuja, the FAEO currently has 26 member countries. In order to better support its members, FAEO is working in coordination with RedR UK to establish itself as an effective and self-sustainable organisation with sufficient staff. This strengthened capacity will contribute to the longer-term objective of this project; to support other African Professional Engineering Institutions (PEIs) throughout the region.

The project is funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) through their Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) Africa Catalyst programme, which aims to strengthen professional engineering bodies in sub-Saharan Africa.

Through the African Catalyst project (ACP) RedR UK is working with FAEO to develop their capacity in five main areas:

1. Development of FAEO governance, leadership and operational systems.
2. Development of FAEO policy and practice on issues of transparency, inclusion and diversity.
3. Implementation of an effective financial management system for FAEO.
4. Enhancement of FAEO fundraising and marketing capacity.
5. Establishment of FAEO learning and development programmes.

These five areas of capacity development are enabled through consultation, training workshops, and remote support from REDR UK staff and consultants. The Africa Catalyst programme aims to strengthen professional engineering bodies in sub-Saharan Africa.

What has the ACP done to date?

The ACP, which began in March 2018, has been improving the internal capacity of the FAEO, which now has two new members of staff. RedR UK has coached and worked with FAEO to improve the transparency and diversity skills of the FAEO staff. 

RedR UK has been working with  FAEO to enhance their self-sustainable business model and financial management systems. FAEO are now also visible on social media, and you can find their website here.

What the ACP is doing now?

RedR UK is in the process of ensuring the FAEO has effective staff and fit for purpose operating systems in place. The ACP will continue to assist the FAEO in working to an annual strategic operational plan and ensure the FAEO has effective policies and operating procedures.

RedR UK, with consultant support, is also in the process of working with FAEO to improve their governance system to enable a more streamlined and effective organisation.

What the ACP will do in the future?

Now the internal capacity of the FAEO is bolstered, in the next phase of the project, RedR UK will assist the FAEO in working on a five year plan to build the capacity of pan-African professional engineering institutes (PEIs). This will be achieved by training FAEO staff to design learning programmes for PEIs, carrying out an organisational needs assessment of their members and improving the FAEO ability to prioritise support to PEIs based on their need and potential to develop.

The ACP project will continue to enhance the FAEO pre-existing ability to achieve its mission and vision to represent and lead the Engineering Profession in Africa so that they can apply engineering and the use of best practiced technology for the benefit of mankind.

This goal parallels with REDR’s goal of solving humanitarian problems with engineering solutions. 

Federation of African Engineering Organisations (FAEO): an international non-governmental organisation which represents the interests of all engineering practitioners in Africa.

Royal Academy of Engineers (RAEng): the UK’s national academy for engineering which brings together the most successful and talented engineers from across the engineering sectors for a shared purpose: to advance and promote excellence in engineering.

Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) Africa Catalyst: a RAEng-funded grant to strengthen and build the capacity of professional engineering institutes in sub-Saharan Africa, aiming to drive development in the region.