The charity works with rural communities in fifteen African countries – supporting farm families to grow more and earn more from their produce.

In 1998, Gorta relinquished its links with the Irish government to become a completely independent NGO with its head office in Dublin.

[17] Since the 1960s, Gorta funded small and large-scale agricultural development projects in close to 50 countries across Africa, Asia, South and Central America.

[18] In later years, a majority of projects were focused on Sub-Saharan Africa, with the exception of funding for a large-scale rehabilitation centre for differently abled children in Tamil Nadu, India.

[citation needed] During the year the organisation also co-authored a report by NGOs in Ireland on the application of climate smart agriculture techniques in Africa.

[32] Self Help Africa responded to the coronavirus pandemic by providing personal protective equipment to vulnerable communities in several project countries during 2020.

The expedition took the participants ten months to complete, and succeeded in raising close to €50,000 to support the charity's work in Africa.

[42] From October 1981, Gorta hosted an annual conference in Dublin to mark the FAO's World Food Day.

Notable past speakers included Bob Geldof, Mary Robinson, Father Niall O'Brien and Olivier de Schutter (UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food).

Initial support focused on providing inputs in the form of improved seeds, livestock, machinery or infrastructure, to projects run by missionary groups or Irish volunteers.

With the shift in who Gorta was working with also came a move away from the model of providing inputs to a more comprehensive approach to modern development.

[48] Self Help Africa collaborates with government agencies and local partner non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on programmes in Ethiopia, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Togo and Burkina Faso.

It has a presence in Goma in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and in Bujumbura, Burundi from where it runs a number of agri-trade development projects.

[citation needed] Other projects carried out by Self Help Africa include a cassava development project in Kenya that was backed by the European Union, and two challenge funds – AgriFI Kenya Challenge Fund[49] and ENTERPRISE Zambia,[50] which provided investment match-funding to agri-businesses in these two countries.

[citation needed] Self Help Africa are founder members of the Irish Forum for International Agricultural Development (IFIAD).