Programme de subventions de l'organisation de protection des animaux basée en Afrique d'AKI-2021
AKI's 9th annual (2026) Grant Program for African & Latin American/Caribbean
Animal Welfare Organizations
We received 123 applications from east, west, north, and southern Africa, South and Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Thank you VERY MUCH to the 12 committee members who reviewed the proposals from Africa and the 10 committee members who reviewed LAC proposals. We selected the following grants, 8 from Africa, 7 from LAC, to support in 2026.
Animal-Kind International's 2026 Grant Recipients
Our 2026 Animal Welfare Grantees: Africa
Animal Smile Africa -Tanzania is a 2nd time AKI grant recipient. Their grant project, modeled after last year's, is Hands On Healing. Working with Visele Live Crop Skills Training Center, Animal Smile will again train 60 para-veterinary students over a 6-month period by providing hands-on experience vaccinating about 1000 dogs and 200 cats; spaying/neutering about 100 dogs and 20 cats; and participating in humane education. In Tanzania, the para-veterinary student curriculum is heavily weighted towards livestock, and many para-vet graduates are uncomfortable handling and treating companion animals. This year's grant project incorporates lessons learned from 2025, including a monitoring plan to gauge para-vet students' confidence and interest, before and after the training, in working in the field of cat and dog care and welfare.
Coalition pour le Bien-Etre Animal du Senegal's grant project, Keeping the dogs cool and dry and the horses footloose, will improve the current infrastructure at the COALA refuge. The improvements will protect the dogs from the rain and the heat and will give the horses a larger area to move around. When it's hot, the 25 resident dogs (most of whom enjoy free run in the refuge) dig holes in the sand to get cool. Unfortunately, this means they get infested with mango worms. The new horse stalls will allow the refuge's eight horses to move around more freely. All eight horses are ungelded males, and for safety, their movement is currently restricted. (Below: horse stalls will be placed in the section shown; a concrete and tile floor will be placed in this section to keep the dogs cool and more comfortable; the roof to be replaced)
Rwanda Animal Welfare Organization's project, Humane stray dog population management through sterilization and education, will improve dog welfare, reduce the stray dog population, and safeguard wildlife in Volcanoes National Park. Over the five-month grant project, RAWO will sterilize 100 dogs in six villages from four cells of two sectors around VNP. A significant part of their project involves education and collaborations. For example, RAWO will build partnerships with conservation organizations around VNP, including the Rwanda Development Board, to ensure continued support for using humane methods to protect wildlife from roaming dogs. These partnerships are critical for both dogs and wildlife. Data from RDB, the institution in charge of VNP, indicate that roaming dogs enter the park and threaten wildlife, including endangered species such as mountain gorillas and golden monkeys.
Lakeside Animal Welfare Organisation in Tanzania is a 2nd time AKI grant recipient. LAZAWO's grant project, Donkey packsaddle introduction at the Mgusu gold mine in Tanzania, will develop and produce a durable donkey packsaddle that is acceptable and will be used by the workers in the Mgusu gold mine, where donkeys walk down steep slopes from the mine site to the processing area, carrying plastic sacks of gold ore weighing about 70 kg directly on their backs. This results in many injuries, yet the donkeys are given no time to rest and recover. The new packsaddles are expected to significantly reduce injuries, and become widely used.
The One & Only Animal Sanctuary (Ghana) will implement the grant project, The One & Only Hope, which will build a safe space for rescued kittens at the sanctuary to reduce stress and overcrowding and improve their health and well-being. The One & Only Sanctuary will also equip the new kitten area with feeding bowls, litter boxes, and bedding, and will purchase supplies to ensure the environment remains sanitary and disease-free. (Below: 1st 2 photos are the cattery with spayed/neutered cats; photos 3 and 4 are the garden pen for unspayed females. The new kitten area will be built near the garden pen.)
The National Council of SPCAs in South Africa aims to improve horse welfare and strengthen community awareness in rural traditional racing areas through education, outreach, inspections, and enforcement of humane and lawful equine care practices. Over a six-month period, their grant project, Horse Protectors: Traditional Racing Welfare Project, will monitor and inspect underground traditional horse racing events, which take place in poor and marginalized rural communities. The events typically have no veterinary oversight or animal welfare controls, placing horses at serious risk of preventable injury, suffering, exhaustion, dehydration, unsafe transportation, harmful mouth bits, poor harnessing, and rough handling practices. The grant project will deploy NSPCA Inspectors to traditional racing events, where welfare assessments will be conducted for about 80 horses/event. (Below are examples of unsafe transport; unsafe offloading of horses at a bush race; a bit, typical of the bits used in traditional racing events, causing injury)
Ethiopian Society of Small Animal Veterinarians' grant project, Strengthening Animal Welfare Practices in Ethiopia: Spaying and Neutering, Rabies Vaccination, is an ambitious initiative that will spay/neuter 100 dogs, give rabies vaccinations to 1000 owned dogs, and provide animal welfare education to around 1000 community members and 1000 students at four primary and secondary schools. These activities will address recent inhumane, shocking actions that took place in Addis Ababa and the Amhara region and that have raised deep concern among veterinarians, dog owners, and the public. Dr Samuel Derso, President of ESSAV stated that, "These actions [the killing of dogs living on the street and even in an animal shelter] violate the five animal freedoms and we fear that such practices may expand to other regions. As a society, we believe that animals have the right to have their freedoms respected. However, due to government policy in Ethiopia this right is violated and dogs are killed. We are deeply disappointed by this situation. Government intends to make it a policy to kill stray dogs and limit ownership to only one or two dogs per household, and therefore, as veterinarians we are responsible to advocate for animal welfare and also to do spay and neuter unowned dogs and cats."
Zambezi Animal Welfare Services' grant project, Livingstone Spay and Neuter Campaign 2026, aims to spay or neuter and vaccinate 100 dogs or cats from under-served residential areas of Livingstone, Zambia. Importantly, the grant project will address the shortage of vets in Livingstone, where there's only one vet in private practice who is only available to ZAWS on weekends. ZAWS recently hired a new vet, who will work with three senior, experienced vets so that once the project is completed, the new vet will be able to spay and neuter without the costs of transport and accommodation for vets from Lusaka or payment for the vet in private practice. Lynne, the founder and director, said, "This is going to be of significant impact in the effectiveness of ZAWS and for the first time there will be a skilled vet dedicated to population control in this part of the country. There is no other animal welfare organisation, vet clinic or individual working in this part of Zambia on humane domestic animal population control, making ZAWS the only option." (Below: Vets from Lusaka at ZAWS; transporting their dog to a ZAWS community event)
Our 2026 Animal Welfare Grantees: Latin America & Caribbean
Fondation Quatre Pattes in Haiti improves the welfare of working animals, particularly equids, through community-based projects, access to care, and education. Their grant project, Wound reduction through safer saddles and padding will test and adjust improved saddle and protective padding prototypes, establish a small group of local saddle makers and padding makers from target communities, and host practical sessions to show how to replicate the saddle and protective padding designs with low cost and locally sourced materials. This is a very important step in preventing wounds and decreasing the discomfort of the saddles and padding that are typically used. (Below photos show the condition of equines in communities targeted by FQP and the saddle equipment commonly used)
Organización de Amigos Rescatistas Independientes (Organización ARI) in Tegucigalpa, Honduras was contacted by a children’s home in Santa Barbara, asking for help. A total of 22 cats and dogs, originally living on the street, who have found a safe place on the grounds of the children's home, have been adopted by the home. An additional 30 are estimated to wander in the surrounding community. Dogs and cats at the home provide emotional support to the children who have suffered psychological and physical abuse. But the children's home can't afford to sterilize and provide vet care for the animals. Org ARI's grant project, Causes in Honduras Unite for Animals will provide comprehensive health care, will sterilize the dogs and cats at the home, and will do the same for as many cats and dogs as possible from the surrounding community. (Below: a few members of the Org ARI volunteer team)
Asociación Huellas de Amor in Colombia is a 2nd time AKI grantee. This year's grant project, Sterilizations and Responsible Pet Ownership in Buenaventura – Year 2 is a continuation of their previous grant, incorporating lessons learned from Year 1. Huellas de Amor will continue educating the population of Buenaventura on responsible pet ownership and will sterilize 100 vulnerable female dogs, preventing abandonment and addressing the high incidence of illness and road accidents in the community. CEO & Founder, Manuela, told us that, "Over the past three years, we have rescued more than 150 animals from Buenaventura, dogs and cats that were sick, injured, or abandoned on the streets, brought them to our shelter in Pereira, gave them the veterinary care they needed, and found homes for many of them.
Animal Love Rescue Center, Costa Rica, a no-turnaway shelter located in the district of San Ramón in Alajuela Province, will build an outdoor dog park, adding more running space and reducing kennel stress for their ~ 600 dogs. Their grant project, Green Hill Playground, will give the dogs more time outside of their kennels, and more time playing and running in an enriching environment. Their overall quality of life will be improved, and they will be better prepared for life in a real, forever home. The dog park will include obstacles for the dogs to play on, such as A Frames, tunnels, and steps. Recycled materials, already available at the shelter, will be used for the enrichment items and waste stations. (Below: 1st 2 photos, proposed location of the dog park; a dog habitat at the shelter; a cat habitat at the shelter)
Fundación para la Capacitación y Asistencia Equina en Panamá (Foundation for Equine Training & Assistance in Panama) will expand their grade school program that they began in 2024, from one school per year to five. Their grant project, Educating the Next Generation of Working Equid Owners focuses on grade school children because they are the primary caregivers of their families' working equids. Although fathers generally use the family's horse for transportation, plowing, agriculture, etc., the children are the ones who look after the horse’s daily needs. Rommel, Executive Director & Founder, explained: "We picked the schools because we already support those communities with farrier and saddlery support as well as with door-to-door visits, community days and owner training. This way, all of the people who look after, work with and are responsible for the working equids will be participating in our program and learning about the equids in some way." As part of their grant project, FUCAEP will showcase the direct link between humane education and improved animal care.
The Animalover Solidaridad-Peru grant project, Cine con Huellas: Building Empathy for Animals, will promote empathy, responsible animal care, and humane behavior among children and communities in vulnerable rural areas near Iquitos through interactive humane education. During their field reconnaissance in riverbank settlements and remote villages accessible only by boat, Animalover Solidaridad found that dogs are frequently abandoned once they reach adulthood, while very young kittens are commonly discarded in forests or on riverbanks. Malnutrition, mange, untreated wounds, parasitic infections, and transmissible diseases are common. To address these problems, Animalover Solidaridad will train teachers in humane education and will conduct interactive education events in target communities with no regular animal welfare programs, no veterinary presence, and no educational initiatives addressing humane treatment of animals. Increased awareness and empathy will increase demand for services, so Animalover Solidaridad will provide basic support to vulnerable animals. Karina (Founder & President) told us, "We are pleased to share that Animalover Solidaridad has recently signed a cooperation agreement with the Beneficencia of Iquitos, which allows us to use the Municipal Veterinary Clinic facilities for veterinary campaigns and sterilization surgeries. This partnership will allow us to connect families with available veterinary services and provide follow-up support for priority cases identified during the project." (Below: humane education events; Animalover volunteer team)
Asociación Equinos de Honduras, located in Choluteca, Honduras, will improve equine welfare by training cart horse owners in sustainable saddlery production. Cart horses in rural Honduran communities are widely used for rubbish collection and firewood transport. However, many of these animals suffer from severe lesions caused by poorly constructed harness equipment, particularly on the saddle tree and breastplate. These injuries reduce the horses’ ability to work, cause significant suffering, and negatively affect the livelihoods of the families who rely on them. The Equinos de Honduras grant project, Saddlery Training for Equine Welfare in Honduras, will train 10 participants in saddlery skills, distribute 10 starter tool kits, conduct ongoing quality control checks on all items produced by the trained artisans, organize promotional campaigns and demonstration events to showcase the new saddlery equipment, and conduct veterinary assessments of horses using improved saddlery. Equinos de Honduras will monitor the uptake of the improved saddlery and document the reduction in harness related injuries.
The FAQs-2026 (eligibility criteria) are here:
The 2026 FAQs are available at this link.
the 2026 AKI Grant Application is here.
You can see all previous years' grant projects starting with Grant Program 2025 on our website under "Grant Program."
Our grant program is 100% donor-funded! We are grateful to our supporters for their generosity. To help us fund more grant projects: DONATE HERE & WRITE IN THE COMMENT LINE: GRANTS 2026.