The Africa Caribbean Heritage Alliance (ACHA) aims to reunite Africa and the Caribbean in several sectors. The tagline, positively reconnecting the Caribbean with Africa envisages sustainably developing the countries through connecting its peoples.

ACHA aims to achieve its mission through the positive connections between the continents. The focus, therefore, is on bringing and building awareness to both Africa about the Caribbean and vice versa and facilitating the opportunities in various sectors as listed and those that may arise thereafter.

The objectives of ACHA are:

• To teach African, Caribbean and American histories and cultural similarities and unique differences through related lecture series, hosting and participating in workshops
• To organise events and festivals in folklore, music, dance, arts, crafts, cuisine and fashion
• To promote tourism and business opportunities through business match makings, organizing joint expositions, trade missions, conferences, seminars and entrepreneurship trainings
• To organise exchanges on transnational education, heritage research and sports for development
• To promote economic partnerships between Nigeria as a strategic hub to Africa with the Caribbean, Americas, Europe and globally through research, sharing of knowledge and information, and provide access to a wide network of strategic partners
• To make recommendations on critical areas for joint projects, develop relevant proposals, seek funding possibilities and provide relevant trainings; and
• To do whatever may be instrumental or useful related to the aforementioned objectives.

Through this project, we wish to strengthen the platform already established and consolidate on our experiences to bring lasting impact to oganisations. The platform already established includes a network of CBOs and CSOs that are part of the SDGs network in Nigeria. Despite paucity of funds, the organizations continue to push on impacting the most vulnerable in their communities of work. In helping to build their capacity, ACHA has voluntarily started to train them and link some of them into the VOICE initiative. Five of them have indicated interest in applying for the VOICE grant.

Through this project, more will be invited and their capacity strengthened to facilitate the launch of the Nothing About Us, Without Us! Awards in Nigeria, an inclusive innovation award in July or August of 2021 and 2022. ACHA will be setting up a consortium with the identified organisations from within the Voice rightsholder groups in Nigeria who are already implementing amazing inclusive innovations to their empowerment or influencing practice; Organise and facilitate a participatory 5-day inclusive innovation Bootcamp for the 10 organisations to reflect, refine, and ideate the next steps for their initiative. We will also organise the award ceremony, preferably as a component of a larger event or celebration where different civil society members and stakeholders gather. The winners would be supported and mentored for inclusion in the innovation journey, including their participation in the Innovation Festival in the Netherlands; ACHA will also amplify and promote the NOW-Us! Awards to influence national dialogs. Celebrating inclusion’s key objective is to bring rightsholder voices together and, through an Award, highlight unsung efforts to take us one step closer to a responsive and inclusive society.