Enda is the result of a long journey of enlightened and complicit minds who have noted the failures of the development of a South that failed to take off, after a decade of independence, and a "system" already too compartmentalized and unaware of the realities of a "third world" that was getting poorer every day. Born from this shared vision, "ENDA" was first conceived in 1972 as a project of the African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP), funded by the newly established United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). created, and the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida).

Then, from the end of the 70s, Enda gradually became an international non-governmental organization which, for nearly 30 years, was able to implement unsuspected resources to counter this ever-increasing poverty, to preserve an environment that was deteriorating then in a relative indifference, and to promote a citizenship essential to the decision making idoines in phase with the interests of the most deprived. Enda has been a pioneer in its methods and themes of intervention, and has served as a model for many organizations still present today in what is now called the world of development.

Born in the South, to serve the peoples of the South, Enda has always fought against the socio-economic marginalization of the less fortunate and for sustainable development, mainly on two levels. Firstly, by acting at the grassroots for the improvement of the living conditions of the vulnerable groups that are the inhabitants of the disadvantaged urban areas and the rural populations of the countries of the South. Then, taking an active part in the battle of ideas, even in the management of knowledge, which implies an unwavering commitment in the fight against the hegemony of the neoliberal single thought, action-research for the development, the reinforcement of the stakeholder capacities, lobbying and advocacy at international conferences (on fair trade, WTO negotiations, debt cancellation,

One of Enda's originalities has always been its flexibility and ability to intervene in real time on problems identified by its members - always present in the field - without the inertia too often inherent to the implementation. projects, sometimes frustrating and even penalizing for populations in difficulty, whose situation is always evolving more rapidly than traditional procedures for allocating funds. This flexibility arose from the synergy that has developed between certain financial partners and the Organization, then headed by its father-founder, Jacques Bugnicourt whose legitimacy and vision, as well as the convincing results have long inspired the confidence necessary to the defense of such a system. Enda has produced studies and research that have made reference, such as the study on "post-dam issues in Senegal". The dual competence reactivity-analysis has made the originality of his skills and his approaches, going as far as to generate a "budding of entities" to forms so diverse.

After the disappearance of Jacques Bugnicourt in 2002, aware that this upheaval at his head called for profound changes, Enda then entered an intense cycle of reflection, fruitful and punctuated by the production of several documents rich in proposals. The context in which Enda is evolving now gives an image of its size and diversity that constitutes a unique richness of its kind. Enda acts on 4 continents and 14 countries where it fulfills 16 distinct missions, across 28 domains or fields of intervention, implemented by about thirty autonomous operational structures (thematically anchored or national) called "entities", supported by more than 40 donors and addressing nearly 50 types of actors.

Specific missions

The specific missions contribute to the achievement of the general mission as follows:

1) Strengthen the social protagonism:

Enda aims to contribute to the protagonism of communities and other actors who are suffering the impact of the escalation of impoverishment. The transformation of social relations involves social protagonism and the empowerment that implies. This specific strategy of Enda, which appears since the 1970s, is still in force, given the exacerbation of inequalities, tensions and violence that continue.

General Mission

Enda is committed to promoting fairer, more equitable, plural and inclusive societies for political, economic and social change. Enda works concretely - through action research, experimentation, coaching, technical assistance, political pressure and social and civic mobilization - to reduce poverty in the world.