Sub-Saharan Africa - Where - British Council



	East Africa delegates on a study tour to the UK, 1960

	Sub-Saharan Africa

We have been working in Sub-Saharan Africa since 1936, when the first group of student English teachers from West Africa were granted bursaries to study in the UK, and we brought our first art exhibition to Johannesburg. The first overseas representative was appointed to the Congo in 1941. He was followed in 1942 by representatives in Addis Ababa and Accra. Since then we have worked throughout the region, with permanent staff based in twenty-six countries.
Find out more about our work in Sub-Saharan Africa, and when we opened in each country, on this page.

When did we open in…?

Find out when we opened in each country in the region, from Angola to Zimbabwe

Early work in West Africa

From our Report for 1943-1944: 'Professor Macmillan, Chief Representative, established his headquarters at Accra. Representatives in Freetown and Lagos have since been appointed. The proposal that the Council should assist in the development of libraries was welcomed by the West African Governments...'

Working under apartheid

What were we doing in South Africa during the apartheid years? Why did we continue to work there? Read about the debate, and about what we did in South Africa during those years

Scholarships for Zimbabwe

From 1975 to 1980, when we had no representative in the country during the UDI years, our Rhodesian African Training Department managed several thousand scholarships for black students to study in the UK. The programme was funded by the Ministry of Overseas Development.

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