About

Up with Africa (UW/A) was formed on the premise that WITH is the best place to start. We partner “with” because the value of mutual partnership facilitates relationships of dignity. To partner “with” requires honesty in recognizing and navigating imbalances in power. It requires that we humble ourselves to be in a position of support to those with intimate knowledge of their local context.

  • We partner with local, entrepreneurial leaders to strengthen sustainable and scalable solutions at the intersection of East and Central Africa’s most intractable problems.

  • A world where global economies value the mutual prosperity of wildlife and human populations.

  • Dignity.

    We value the dignity of both human and animal life. We know that the wellbeing of one is mutually bound up within the other.

    Partnerships.

    We value mutually empowering relationships, honesty and humility in navigating complex power dynamics, and the importance of local leadership.

    Entrepreneurship.

    We value the role of markets in local change-making and the importance of creating sustainable solutions.

Up with Africa was officially formed by Steve Dobo in the summer of 2018 at a small neighborhood coffee shop in Denver, Colorado. Up to that point, Steve had worked extensively with homeless teens and families, parents in poverty and youth at risk of education failure across the country. He had done so in various settings including municipal government, school districts and nonprofit organizations. Through the years, Steve maintained an active interest in addressing challenges faced by vulnerable populations and developing partnerships with community leaders to employ solutions.

So why Africa? Having experienced continued success in the US with the education programs, Steve started turning his attention abroad to learn more about vulnerable populations in other countries and the issues affecting them. His research led him to want to focus on: endangered species, mass-forced migration & refugee settlements, and access to education. After scanning the globe, he saw a clear intersection of all these issues in one region, East and Central Africa. And so it all began there.

Today, Up with Africa is actively partnered with local community-based organizations in Uganda and Democratic Republic of the Congo and remains open to other opportunities in Africa. We operate in an organic manner by way of continually connecting to new people and organizations. We aren’t always concerned with mission alignment as we have interest in building a network of relationships with the common goal of creating measurable impact in a positive way.

The organization remains based out of Denver, Colorado. We are a modest-sized team of three, working simultaneously on UW/A initiatives and projects within our sister organization, Zero Dropouts.