THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
Members of The African Network of Germany (TANG) have elected a new board to pilot the affairs of the organisation for the next five years. The election, part of the activities of the group’s ordinary general meeting 2023, took place on 11 March 2023 in Freiburg.
Dr Sylvie Nantcha was unanimously re-elected Chairperson of TANG, an umbrella body for African non-profit associations and individuals in Germany.
Others elected into the board are Georginah Nussbaumer and Lewis Samuel Ehiwario as deputy federal chairpersons and Nelly Djappa as treasurer. Other new board members are Abderrahim En-Nosse, Hervé Tcheumeleu, Fouzia Hammoud and Guy Mewoekporan.
In her acceptance speech, Ms Nantcha, who has been leading the organisation since its founding in 2013, thanked the members for their trust. She paid tributes to the former Executive Director of TANG, Gabriela Bernauer, as well as to “the many TANG members from the 54 African countries and 16 German states who have been with TANG since its launch 10 years ago”. Ms Bernauer headed the management of the organisation from 2016 to 2022.
“This year we are celebrating our anniversary. We have turned 10 years old. I especially thank everyone who started this adventure with us 10 years ago,” Nantcha said.
TANG was founded in Berlin on 24-25 May 2013 at the Kenako African Festival with the goal to bring together people of African descent living in Germany to develop their full potential as a driving force in society.
In its new term of office, the board of TANG expects many new exciting challenges. “We want to intensify our previous cooperation both at the federal level with all federal ministries and at the state level with the 16 state governments,” said Nantcha.
“In particular, the new board has set its sights on the successful strengthening and further development of the TANG state associations as registered associations, the acquisition of 100 new associations because we want to gain a total of 1000 member associations, and the redesign and improvement of the TANG Academy for the professionalisation of the TANG member associations.”
It was decided at the general meeting that the existing eleven TANG state networks should register as associations (e.V.) in their respective states. This would require the adoption of their own state statutes. Already, three of the eleven regional networks have elected their respective boards. There will now be four new associations in the near future: TANG BW e.V., TANG Rheinland-Pfalz e.V., TANG NRW e.V. and TANG Hessen e.V.. The rest will elect their state boards and register in the course of the year.
TANG, through its regional networks, implements projects to promote the integration of Africans in Germany and advise governments at all levels on issues of international co-operation and development. TANG is also involved in efforts to raise awareness of the dangers and risks of irregular migration in Africa.
Femi Awoniyi
More about The African Network in Germany (TANG) at http://tang-ev.de/
