Time for Africa Foundation Receives Prestigious Global South Sustainability Award at Global South Maritime Heritage Summit
LONDON, UK – On Tuesday, November 25, 2025, the Time for Africa (TFA) Foundation was presented with the esteemed Global South Sustainability Award at the Global South Maritime Heritage Summit. The award was given during a ceremony at the House of Lords, UK Parliament, and was distributed by the Honourable Louie French, Member of Parliament, and Lord Roger Evans. The event was attended by 115 distinguished guests, including Lord Rami Ranger, AI expert Prof. Ajit Jaokar of the University of Oxford, sustainability and economics expert Prof. Kamiar Mohaddes of the University of Cambridge, the Heads of State of Sri Lanka and Malaysia, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Indonesia, and leaders from business and government.
The Global South Sustainability Award recognizes the transformative impact of TFA’s collaborative work across Africa. The foundation’s leadership team, including Dr Abiodun Olushola, Dr Kanhu Pattnayak, Rebeca Díaz Romanenko, Ethan Wang, Leo Wang, Dan Chapman, and Pravena Mohan, were honored for their visionary leadership in implementing comprehensive multi-sector programmes that address community development through sustainable financing.
TFA’s innovative programmes integrate cutting-edge technology with community-driven sustainability initiatives to address critical challenges facing African communities. The foundation was recognized for its comprehensive service portfolio, which includes the Clean Cookstove Programme, Advanced Waste-to-Energy Technology, Climate Resilience & Blue Economy Development, Food Security and Agricultural Transformation, and Integrated Healthcare Access Programme.
The Clean Cookstove Programme, which has reached over 50,000 households in rural Nigeria, aims to reduce fuel consumption and harmful emissions through the distribution of high-efficient cookstoves. This not only addresses health and environmental challenges but also creates local manufacturing jobs and empowers women through micro-enterprise opportunities.
TFA’s waste-to-energy initiative utilizes advanced biomass gasification systems to convert agricultural residues and municipal waste into clean energy for cooking and electricity generation. With each installation processing approximately 5 tons of waste daily, this innovative approach not only addresses waste management challenges but also provides affordable, reliable energy to off-grid communities, creating a circular economy model that benefits both the environment and local economies.
Recognizing the vulnerability of coastal communities to climate change, TFA has also developed comprehensive climate resilience programmes, including mangrove restoration projects and sustainable aquaculture initiatives. These projects have replanted over 100,000 mangrove saplings, creating natural barriers against coastal erosion and enhancing marine biodiversity. Sustainable aquaculture projects also train local fishermen in environmentally friendly practices, increasing yields while preserving marine ecosystems.
TFA’s food security initiatives take a holistic approach to address hunger and malnutrition while building climate-resilient agricultural systems. The programme introduces drought-resistant crop varieties, water harvesting techniques, and sustainable farming practices that have increased crop yields by 40% in participating communities. Through the establishment of community seed banks and farmer cooperatives, TFA ensures food sovereignty while creating sustainable agricultural value chains that connect smallholder farmers to broader markets.
The foundation’s healthcare initiative focuses on improving health outcomes in underserved regions through mobile health clinics, telemedicine services, and community health worker training. This has improved healthcare access for over 200,000 people across remote areas of Nigeria, with a particular focus on maternal and child health.
TFA is also dedicated to delivering cutting-edge digital payment systems built on state-of-the-art blockchain technology. This enhances financial and transactional efficiencies between the Global South, Africa, and the rest of the world, providing unprecedented transparency in resource allocation, real-time impact monitoring, and secure digital identities for beneficiaries. TFA’s technical partner, Smartware Innovations, received the Global South Technological Innovation Award at the Global South Maritime Heritage Summit 2025 for its role in developing blockchain projects that enable TFA’s impact at scale.
The success of this collaboration demonstrates how technological innovation and community-led development can create synergistic impacts. Smartware Innovations’ technical expertise has enabled TFA to deploy solutions that are not only effective but also sustainable, scalable, and replicable across different contexts. The blockchain platform, in particular, has revolutionized how development outcomes are measured and verified, providing donors and stakeholders with unprecedented visibility into the impact of their investments.
The award ceremony at the House of Lords brought together over 115 dignitaries, policymakers, and thought leaders from across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, highlighting the growing importance of Global South cooperation in addressing global challenges. Time for Africa acknowledges the collaboration of Smartware Innovations, which underscores the critical role of technological innovation in achieving sustainable development goals.
“The award validates our approach of combining technological innovation with deep community engagement,” said Dr Abiodun Olushola, representing TFA. “Our collaboration with Smartware Innovations has enabled us to create solutions that are not only technologically advanced but also culturally appropriate
Derick is an experienced reporter having held multiple senior roles for large publishers across Europe. Specialist subjects include small business and financial emerging markets.