for more information, contact:
Programme executive for Africa
tel.: +41 22 7916111/6215
fax: +41 22 788 0067
email: Contact

Africa is a large continent: large enough to accomodate Argentina, China, Europe, India, New Zealand, and the USA together, yet with less than a billion inhabitants.

The population of the whole continent is 819.9 million. The continent's most populous country is Nigeria (with 108 million inhabitants). Government spending on health and education is 6.7% of GDP in in Africa as a whole.

Africa's size is matched by its diversity of cultures and languages. This, plus a lack of communication infrastructures, limits continent-wide initiatives. It is at the regional or sub-regional levels that exchange of ideas and people can happen.

Of the 53 countries in Africa, Christianity is the majority religion in 18 of them, Islam in 14, and traditional faiths in 5; in 14 other countries no religion is in a majority position. 31 African countries have a WCC member church; there are 89 WCC member churches in Africa, of whom 8 are associate member churches.

A continent of struggle and hope

While Africa in crisis is well known, the Africa that is busy seeking to transform herself is less well-known. Africa's efforts at economic, political, and technological transformation include the Lagos Plan of Action (1980), the African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment Programmes (1989) - two examples the West and especially the World bank/IMF have replaced with their own alternative mechanisms, that have failed! The most recent African-led initiative is a "New Partnership for Africa's Development" (NEPAD) which again is under scrutiny by the rich countries.

Sunday School pupils at the 10th anniversary of the enthronement of His Holiness Abune Paulos, Patriarch of Ethiopia, Archbishop of Axum and Echegue of the See of St. Teklehaimanot in the Trinity Cathedral in the Addis Ababa. (July 2002)

Overcrowded car on the way to Monrovia, Liberia

Regent Road Baptist Church in Freetown, Liberia, was severely damaged during the civil war. Worship is now (2001) held in the basement of the church during the reconstruction.

During a four-hour visit to Yirol, Southern Sudan, the World Council of Churches’ General Secretary Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser was welcomed by local church members. (July 2002)