17th October, 2007
AMREF launches new website, bringing out the ‘the voice of the people’
AMREF has launched a new website, giving a direct voice to the many fascinating characters who are involved in our work across Africa. From an assistant chief in the remote region of Turkana in northern Kenya to a young boy living in Dagoretti slum in Nairobi, you will be able to read their stories, straight from the horse’s mouth.
“Our new strategy reflects a more ‘people-centered’ approach to our work and we want the new website to reflect this,” says Louise Orton, AMREF UK’s communications manager. Our projects are tailored to the specific needs, values and beliefs of the different cultural groups that we work with and we want the new website to bring this to life.”
The new website also reflects how AMREF has moved away from focusing on single diseases such as HIV, TB and malaria towards a more holistic approach of improving health services. There is a greater focus on AMREF’s work preventing all diseases through education at community level, training health workers and improving health systems.
A new section entitled Our Partners looks at all the different groups who help us achieve our objectives; from African communities and governments to corporate and institutional donors. We are also encouraging members of the public to support AMREF in many different ways within a new comprehensive ‘get involved’ section.
Feedback from our supporter survey showed how some of you want the website to be more interactive and fun and others expressed a need for serious in-depth health information. AMREF will take care to strike the right balance, in order to meet all of your needs.
Coming soon will be blogs and podcasts from our staff and the people we work with across Africa, as well as a comprehensive report on an important conference held recently in Nairobi. The conference looked at how local communities can play a bigger part in determining health policy and practice in their respective countries.
The website is designed by Ichameleon, a company specialising in charity communications.
Stuart Johnson, Ichameleon's Managing Director, says: "AMREF's new website will be a rich, interactive experience; it will communicate effectively to a wider audience by personalising the work AMREF does, using real people to tell real stories. From donors, through AMREF workers, to beneficiaries, the website will inform supporters, researchers and the general public about the great work AMREF is undertaking throughout Africa. Ichameleon are excited to be working on such a great project, with such a successful and effective charity."