Speak Up Africa
Speak Up Africa is a Dakar-based non-profit advocacy organization founded in 2011 that convenes African leaders, governments, and civil society to drive policy change on health, education, and gender equality across the African continent.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2011
- HeadquartersDakar, Senegal
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Speak Up Africa does
Speak Up Africa is a Dakar, Senegal-based non-profit advocacy organization founded in 2011 by Yacine Djibo. It operates as an advocacy action tank that convenes African leaders, governments, civil society organizations, scientists, and global donors to drive policy change on sustainable development challenges across the African continent. The organization's work spans malaria elimination, neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), vaccination, sanitation, gender equality in health, foundational learning (literacy and numeracy), and global health research and development.
The organization runs a portfolio of flagship programs including Speak Up Africa in Action (core advocacy), Voix EssentiELLES (women's leadership in health), the FLN Advocacy Hub (foundational learning advocacy across Africa), African Voices of Science (promoting African leadership in global health research), the WAVE initiative (women's leadership in malaria elimination), the Africa Young Innovators for Health Award, and African Women in Digital Health. In May 2026, it launched a $3.5 million South-South genomics partnership to expand precision medicine capacity in Africa. The organization maintains offices in Dakar (headquarters) and Nairobi, and operates across at least 10 African countries.
Speak Up Africa is funded entirely through grants and institutional partnerships with bilateral and multilateral donors — including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Global Fund, CIFF, GIZ, Hewlett Foundation, and Comic Relief — as well as emerging private-sector partners. It does not generate commercial revenue. Its go-to-market is community-led, relying on convening power, strategic communications, capacity-building workshops, sub-granting to CSOs, and coalition coordination to influence health and education policy at national, continental, and global levels.
Speak Up Africa firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Speak Up Africa
- Legal name
- Speak Up Africa
- Website
- https://speakupafrica.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2011
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Speak Up Africa is a Dakar-based non-profit advocacy organization founded in 2011 that convenes African leaders, governments, and civil society to drive policy change on health, education, and gender equality across the African continent.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Speak Up Africa industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Policy Advocacy and Public Health Services
- NAICS
- Social Advocacy Organizations (8133)
- SIC
- Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Global Health Advocacy, Policy & Rights Organizations (HLAJAKAO)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Education Access & Quality (International Development) (BPAGABAE), International & Local Implementing NGOs (HLAJAKAD), Climate Policy, Governance & NDC Support (BPADALAA)
Keywords
Where Speak Up Africa is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Dakar
- HQ country
- Senegal
- HQ region
- Africa
Offices2 records
Markets served
Speak Up Africa business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others
Revenue model
- Grants and Institutional Funding: Speak Up Africa operates primarily through grants and institutional funding from development partners, bilateral donors, and multilateral organizations. The organization does not generate commercial revenue but relies on philanthropic and government funding to sustain its advocacy programs.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels8 records
Speak Up Africa product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Speak Up Africa is an African-led, Senegal-based advocacy action tank that designs and coordinates programs to influence policy, mobilize domestic resources, and build civil society capacity on sustainable development issues across Africa. Its work spans malaria, neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), vaccination, sanitation, gender equality, global health R&D, and foundational learning, delivered through advocacy programs, coalition convenings, sub-granting, and strategic communications.
Product overview
Speak Up Africa is an African-led advocacy organization based in Senegal that operates as an advocacy action tank rather than a technology product company. The organization offers a portfolio of advocacy programs including Speak Up Africa in Action (core advocacy initiative), Education (foundational learning advocacy), Voix EssentiELLES (women's leadership in gender equality), the FLN Advocacy Hub (foundational learning network for literacy and numeracy), African Voices of Science (scientific advocacy), the WAVE project (women's malaria leadership), Africa Young Innovators for Health Award, and African Women in Digital Health. These programs work together to catalyze policy change, build coalitions, and advocate for sustainable development across Africa.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Voix EssentiELLES: Gender equality program focusing on women's leadership in health advocacy, particularly in malaria elimination
- FLN Advocacy Hub
- African Voices of Science
- LeadHERs Africaines
- African Women in Digital Health
- Africa Young Innovators for Health Award
Products and services
- Speak Up Africa in Action Core advocacy program catalyzing leadership, enabling policy change, and raising awareness for sustainable development across Africa through platforms and partnerships with governments, civil society, and global institutions.
- Education Program Advocacy program focused on improving foundational learning outcomes in reading and math across Africa, positioning education as essential for human capital and inclusive growth.
- Voix EssentiELLES Women's leadership initiative promoting gender equality in health advocacy, supporting women-led CSOs to participate meaningfully in health decision-making and dismantling gender barriers, with sub-grants to women-led organizations in Kinshasa.
- FLN Advocacy Hub Continental advocacy infrastructure for improving literacy and numeracy outcomes across Africa, providing minister-ready briefs, scorecards, and coalition convenings aligned with the African Union's foundational learning initiatives.
- African Voices of Science Initiative empowering African scientists and advocates to push for greater African leadership in global health research, particularly in genomics and women's health.
- Women Accelerating Victory towards Malaria Elimination (WAVE) Gender-focused malaria elimination initiative supporting women's leadership in malaria advocacy and health decision-making in Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, and DRC.
- Africa Young Innovators for Health Award Award and recognition program for young innovators developing solutions to improve health outcomes in Africa.
- African Women in Digital Health Initiative supporting women's leadership in digital health through mentorship and capacity-building programs.
Quantifiable outcome
- African experts account for less than 5% of global health research conversations despite Africa bearing a large share of the world's disease burden
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Speak Up Africa
Customer profileSegments4 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Speak Up Africa technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Speak Up Africa partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
25 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.
- Resolve to Save LivescoreResolve to Save Lives partners with Speak Up Africa on advocacy for cardiovascular health and epidemic preparedness, leveraging the organization's convening power and advocacy expertise to drive policy change in Africa.
- Africa CDCcoreAfrica CDC is a key strategic partner in advancing Africa's new public health order. Speak Up Africa's African Voices of Science initiative works with Africa CDC to promote African leadership in genomics and health research.
- African UnioncoreThe African Union is a strategic partner in the FLN Advocacy Hub, which aligns with the African Union's Ending Learning Poverty and Born to Learn initiatives. Speak Up Africa co-designs AU-level accountability mechanisms including annual minister-ready scorecards.
- World Health Organization (WHO)majorWHO collaborates with Speak Up Africa on global health advocacy, particularly regarding malaria, NTDs, and health system strengthening across the African continent.
- PATHmajorPATH partners with Speak Up Africa on health innovation and advocacy, leveraging shared expertise in disease elimination and health systems transformation.
- RBM Partnership to End MalariacoreSpeak Up Africa collaborates with the RBM Partnership to coordinate continent-wide malaria advocacy, mobilize resources, and support country-level elimination efforts.
- Uniting to Combat NTDsmajorSpeak Up Africa works with Uniting to Combat NTDs to advocate for the control and elimination of neglected tropical diseases across Africa, contributing to coalition advocacy and resource mobilization.
- Women in NTDsmajorWomen in NTDs is a strategic partner in promoting gender equality and women's leadership within NTD advocacy and programming across Africa.
- ALMA (African Leaders Malaria Alliance)majorALMA collaborates with Speak Up Africa on malaria advocacy and accountability, supporting the organization's work with African governments to advance malaria elimination.
- AMREF Health AfricamajorAMREF partners with Speak Up Africa on health advocacy and capacity building, leveraging both organizations' expertise in African health systems and civil society engagement.
- Africa No FiltermajorAfrica No Filter collaborates with Speak Up Africa on narrative change and storytelling to shift perceptions about Africa and amplify African voices in global discourse.
- AfricatalystminorAfricatalyst works with Speak Up Africa on policy advocacy and research to advance African development priorities.
- International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF)minorOIF supports Speak Up Africa's work in francophone African countries, aligning with the organization's bilingual (English-French) operational model.
- Basketball Africa League (BAL)majorThe Basketball Africa League collaborates with Speak Up Africa on sports-based advocacy campaigns, including leveraging the Africa Cup of Nations and basketball events to mobilize football leaders and sports personalities for health causes (polio eradication, malaria elimination).
- REMAPSENminorREMAPSEN is a media partner that supports Speak Up Africa's communication and advocacy campaigns in Senegal and francophone West Africa.
- Africa.comminorAfrica.com serves as a media partner, amplifying Speak Up Africa's advocacy messages and health campaigns across its digital platforms.
- Lighthouse Coalition (Kenya)majorThe Lighthouse Coalition works with Speak Up Africa's FLN Hub in Kenya to build government partnerships between local implementation experts and the Ministry of Education, supporting inside advocacy by non-state actors and a government-led numeracy coalition.
- ADEA (Association for the Development of Education in Africa)majorADEA collaborates with the FLN Advocacy Hub on education policy advocacy and alignment of foundational learning initiatives with continental education frameworks.
- CONFEMEN-PASECmajorCONFEMEN-PASEC works with Speak Up Africa's FLN Hub to align advocacy messages, indicators, and national/regional moments related to foundational learning outcomes in African education systems.
- Human Capital Africa PAL NetworkmajorThe PAL Network collaborates with the FLN Advocacy Hub on citizen-led assessments and advocacy for foundational learning across African countries.
- Global Coalition for Foundational LearningmajorThe Global Coalition for Foundational Learning partners with Speak Up Africa's FLN Hub to align messages, indicators, and advocacy moments to drive continental and global attention to foundational learning outcomes.
- West African Health Organization (WAHO)minorWAHO collaborates with Speak Up Africa on health advocacy initiatives in West Africa, contributing to regional health policy and disease control efforts.
- African Water Association (AfWA)minorAfWA partners with Speak Up Africa on water and sanitation advocacy as part of the organization's broader sustainable development agenda.
- Biolinx AfricacoreBiolinx Africa is a core partner in the South-South genomics partnership backed by $3.5 million from Equity Bank. The initiative aims to address the underrepresentation of African populations in global genomic databases and bring precision medicine closer to clinical application across the continent.
- Nextgen Molecular LabcoreNextgen Molecular Lab is a key partner in the South-South genomics partnership, providing sequencing infrastructure including a NovaSeq X Plus sequencing platform to expand genomic data generation capacity in Africa.
Scale indicators2 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Speak Up Africa competitors and assessment
Company assessmentMarket position
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Speak Up Africa social profiles
Digital presenceSpeak Up Africa financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Speak Up Africa leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Speak Up Africa funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Speak Up Africa M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Speak Up Africa
What does Speak Up Africa do?
Speak Up Africa is an African-led, Senegal-based advocacy action tank that designs and coordinates programs to influence policy, mobilize domestic resources, and build civil society capacity on sustainable development issues across Africa. Its work spans malaria, neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), vaccination, sanitation, gender equality, global health R&D, and foundational learning, delivered through advocacy programs, coalition convenings, sub-granting, and strategic communications.
Is Speak Up Africa a public or private company?
Speak Up Africa is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Speak Up Africa founded?
Speak Up Africa was founded in 2011. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Speak Up Africa based?
Speak Up Africa is headquartered in Dakar, Senegal, in the Africa region.
How does Speak Up Africa make money?
One revenue line is on record: grants and Institutional Funding.
Does Speak Up Africa have an API?
No public API is recorded for Speak Up Africa.
What industry is Speak Up Africa in?
Speak Up Africa's product category is Policy Advocacy and Public Health Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAJAKAO, Global Health Advocacy, Policy & Rights Organizations, with a secondary code of BPAGABAE, Education Access & Quality (International Development). Its NAICS code is 8133 and its SIC code is 8742.