About Us
Overview
The NGO Acting for the Environment (ONG AFE) is a non-political, non-profit Mauritanian organization founded on 8 August 1999. Recognized as an organization of public utility by decree no. 0072/2007 of 19 March 2007, ONG AFE works to improve the living conditions of local communities and to promote sustainable, equitable development that respects future generations.
ONG AFE brings together 150 members in its General Assembly and is led by a seven-member executive board, under the oversight of a Board of Directors. It is also a founding member of the CONADES Network, which gathers around 750 civil society organizations in Mauritania (NGOs, youth associations, women cooperatives, municipalities and media).
Vision and mission
Our vision: a world that is liveable by all and for all, for this generation and those to come.
ONG AFE focuses on environmental protection, good governance, the defence of human rights, the fight against poverty, and the prevention of extremism and violence. We support grassroots communities — in both rural and urban areas — by valuing their know-how and their capacity to take initiative.
Legal status and accreditations
• Public-utility status in Mauritania: decree no. 0072/2007 of 19 March 2007.
• Consultative observer status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 27 September 2005.
• UN environmental accreditation at the 4th Preparatory Session of the World Summit on the Environment (New York, June 2002).
• Accreditation to the World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva 2003 – Tunis 2005).
• Accreditation with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), Washington, 16 March 2007.
• Accreditation no. 354/2017 of 5 July 2017 with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Nairobi.
• Observer status with the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), 7 October 2019.
Objectives
• Strengthen community-based organizations (herders, farmers, fishers, craftspeople) through training, facilitation and awareness work.
• Improve living conditions in both rural and urban areas.
• Reduce inequalities of access to basic social services, particularly healthcare.
• Support the emergence of local initiatives and accompany the decentralization process.
• Contribute to the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and COVID-19, and to maternal and child health.
• Defend the rights of women, children, migrants and vulnerable populations, and prevent violent extremism.
Areas of intervention
Environment: regeneration of natural heritage, sustainable management of wildlife and flora, fight against desertification, protection of biodiversity under climate change, environmental hygiene across inland, oasis, coastal and marine areas, and promotion of renewable energy (especially solar).
Sustainable social development: improving living conditions for the most disadvantaged, food self-sufficiency, income-generating projects, access to healthcare, drinking water and education, solar-powered boreholes and water towers, and support for youth, women, children and orphans.
Training and awareness: civic education, human rights, good governance, torture prevention through the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM), agricultural and market-gardening techniques, functional literacy, and management of cooperatives and cereal banks.
Areas of operation
ONG AFE operates in every wilaya of Mauritania, with priority given to youth and women in the most vulnerable rural areas.
Partners
ONG AFE collaborates with a broad network of institutional and international partners: the United Nations (UNDP, UNEP, UNFPA, FAO, WFP), the European Union, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the AUF Information Access Centre, the Spanish, French, German (GIZ) and Belgian cooperation agencies, the embassies of the United States and France, the Mauritanian ministries (Environment, Health, Education, Hydraulics, Agriculture), international NGOs (Civus Mundi, Partenaires du Monde, Cap Solidarité, Gratte-Soleil, ASEM, AMAL), and private-sector actors (Tullow Petroleum Mauritania, Mauritanian Copper Mines, Tasiat Kinross).
Resources
ONG AFE runs a headquarters in Nouakchott equipped with training rooms and teaching materials, employs more than twelve staff members and forty-five Mauritanian volunteers, and operates a fleet of equipment including computers, digital devices, a projector, a GPS unit and vehicles (a Toyota Hilux 4x4 and two light cars).