Togo Jetzt! e.V.

Our association Togo Jetzt! e.V. (Togo Now!) was founded in 2021. As a non-profit association we seek to express our solidarity with the people and the culture of Togo by means of ground level projects with our local partners.

Donation account DE07 1405 2000 1713 8136 92

Planning and implementation of agricultural projects in Togo

Together with our partner organization SEFA-Togo, we are supporting a cooperative in the vil-lage of Kovié near Lomé. As a first step a machine for shredding and grinding cassava was ac-quired (please see below under “News”).
Our long-standing partner organization in Lomé, SEFA-Togo, approached us with this proposal, which we gladly accepted as a new project. Monsieur Jean-Marc Pelei, co-founder of SEFA-Togo, contacted the small rural cooperative in the village of Kovié Djémekè, about 50 km northwest of Lomé’s city center. Around ten men and women are engaged in farming in the small cooperative in Kovié, focusing on the cultivation and processing of cassava.
In many village communities in rural Togo, cassava is traditionally processed by hand. The root tubers are grated and ground into gari, a flour that is a staple food in West Africa. Cassava flour is used, among other things, to make fufu, a type of dumpling dough eaten with spicy sauces.
Our collaboration with the cooperative in Kovié will continue beyond this project, and we hope that the cassava machine will serve as a starting point for implementing further agricultural pro-jects. Our associate member, an agricultural scientist from Togo, advises us in this regard.

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Microcredit: We are looking for sponsors!

At present our association supports young women in Togo who have completed their vocational education and have the courage to venture into professional self-employment. We are looking for sponsors who are willing to support these women with a monthly sum of 15 Euros (any sum greater than 15 Euros will always be welcome!) The donations of the sponsors will be used for microcredits that will be provided to the sponsored women.

Worldwide microcredits are an important way to strengthen the rights of women in countries of the Global South. A single microcredit does not only pave the way for setting up a business, it can also ensure the livelihood of a whole family.

15 Euros can make a big difference!

Have a look at what we have already achieved and what we have been able to implement.

Our commitment

We are in direct contact with the women supported by Togo Jetzt!, which makes coordination easier for everyone involved. Our local contact is Miss Essi Mawutowu, who coordinates our project work in consultation with Togo Jetzt!

As an association we remain committed to helping young people enter into professional life and to supporting them during their apprenticeships or training, because in Togo young professionals have to pay tuition fees during their training.

Similar to the German model of the Ich-AG (self employment) we would like to use the funds of our association to support young people who want to set up their own businesses with a microcredit. The young people are thus able to become self-dependent. This step should “help these people to help themselves.” It is our aim to ensure the financial independence of these self-employed small business owners.

Partnership in Lomé
Our partners in Lomé are:

Essi Mawutowu

Miss Essi Mawutowu is our contact person in Lomé and special member of our association. She helps us to distribute donations and gets in touch with young people in Lomé. She also supports our aim to provode microcredits. Our chairman Roman Hanowell and Essi have met in person and have organized food donations in Lomé.

We will soon add a brief portrait of Mr. Gbiete, who also helps coordinate our projects: coming soon!

SEFA-TOGO

Mr. Jean-Marc Pelei is the founder of the NGO Sefa-Togo and one of our local partners in Lomé. Together with Jean-Marc, our association has taken care of children who live on the street. We are always in contact with Mr. Pelei and his staff and are open to any proposals for projects that Sefa-Togo can implement together with Togo Jetzt!

Our trainee support

Take advantage of opportunities in your own country
Achieve self-employment

Togo Jetzt! supports young women in Togo who want to use their professional skills to start their own businesses. Although many people in the countries of the Global South have their own ideas about how to set up a business, they lack security, especially since local banks refuse to grant them loans as long as they do not know whether the money will ever be repaid. Often entrepreneurs then turn to local lenders who charge extremely high interest rates.

Microcredits

Microcredits create at least a small possibility for investment and are the lifeline people need to help themselves out of the poverty trap. They support the principle of “helping people help themselves” and do not fall into the realm of donations or alms, which ultimately turn out to be only a drop of water in the ocean. This is why it is so important to start poverty eradication at the grassroots level and with the people themselves, as the pioneer of global microcredit, Muhammad Yunus, has emphasized.

Empowering Women

Microcredits enable women to start or expand their own small businesses. In this way, they can make a significant contribution to family income. They not only improve the social standing of women; they also increase the voices of women within the family structure. The women’s self-confidence and self-esteem are strengthened.

Have a look at the women we have already been able to support

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15 Euros can make a big difference!

Support women in Togo with your donation or sponsorship

Donation account DE07 1405 2000 1713 8136 92

Impressions from Togo

Togo is located in West Africa on the Gulf of Guinea. The official language is French, but there are also numerous national languages, such as Ewe and Kabiyé. Togo has a population of approximately 7 million and, at 56,785 km², is a relatively small country. The climate is tropical and humid year-round, with average temperatures of 86°F in the north and 81°F on the coast in the south. The capital, Lomé, with its overseas port on the Gulf of Guinea, has a population of approximately 1.7 million.

About us

Roman Aaron Hanowell is our chairman

He completed a voluntary social year in two orphanages in Lomé in 2018/2019 and is studying Protestant theology and English at the University of Rostock.

He has traveled several times from the south to the north of Togo. He is currently studying theology and English with the goal of becoming a teacher. He is the founder of Togo Jetzt! and lived in Togo for two years, where he met his wife. This commitment is a matter close to his heart. He currently lives with his wife in Rostock.

Dr. Holger Hanowell

is a freelance translator and lives in Schwerin.

He is vice chairman of the association Togo Jetzt!
He has been to Togo several times and got to know the country and its people during his travels there.

www.hanowell-translations.de