ANNIE LENNOX is to launch a charitable foundation for Africa, which will help women escape poverty and tackle the continent’s Aids epidemic.

The singer, who was one of the star attractions at this month’s Live 8 in Hyde Park and the concert at Murrayfield stadium, said she was inspired to set up the trust during visits to African Aids projects and orphanages.

The former lead singer with the Eurythmics is consulting with charitable and financial experts to finalise plans, but hopes to launch the venture early next year.

She is being supported by Eve Ensler, the playwright and creator of The Vagina Monologues whose V-day awareness-raising project campaigns to stop violence against women around the world.

Lennox, best known for her 1980s hits Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves, Redemption Song and Here Comes the Rain Again, said her decision to set up the trust was driven by “mixed feelings” about her wealth.

“I would be lying if I said that I didn’t like being wealthy or the lifestyle that affords me,” she said. “But I get charitable requests all the time. I look at each request and I do my best. It makes life worth living. It makes you feel you can lift your head up and look in the mirror.”

Lennox is already an ambassador for the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s Aids awareness campaign 4664 — named after the former South African leader’s prisoner number in Robben Island.

The Aberdeen-born singer, who has a personal fortune of £35m, has performed in two concerts this year, one in South Africa and one in Norway, to highlight the Aids emergency. Last month she pledged to give record sale profits, driven by the publicity surrounding her appearance at Live 8, to charity.

Rarely performing now unless the concert benefits a worthy cause, she visited Aids projects in Uganda on a trip to support Comic Relief. She also took her daughters, 14-year-old Lola and 12-year-old Tali, to visit an orphanage in South Africa. She claims this forced her to “wake up” to the scale of the “Aids genocide”, which has killed 14m Africans and infected a further 23m.

“Everywhere you go there are children just like the ones you see on posters. Children in bare feet with bare backsides or in filthy little dresses that are more holes than fabric. I keep thinking of two words — ubiquitous rags. It’s like Dickens,” she said.

“The Aids genocide is unprecedented in its scale. Half the children in Uganda have lost one or both parents. It’s just not acceptable. But I don’t think condom use or abstinence is going to work. So how do we protect a new generation of teenagers? How do we break the cycle?”

A spokeswoman for the singer confirmed that plans for the trust were taking shape.

“Annie is very hands-on with this and has lots of ideas,” she said. “It is something that she has been interested in doing for some while, but she wants to make sure everything is done right. Women living with Aids will be one of the main focuses of the foundation.”

Charitable giving is on the increase according to recent figures. In 2002 a total of £7.3 billion was donated in the UK, up from £6.76 billion in 2001. Women are more likely to give, with 71% making donations compared with 63% of men.

Teresa Lloyd, a charity consultant and author of Why Rich People Give, said that Lennox’s decision represented a real long-term commitment.

“There are many advantages to people such as Ms Lennox in setting up a trust,” she added. “Of course there are tax benefits, but it allows more control in terms of what the money is used for.

“These days philanthropists such as Tom Hunter want to do more than just sign the cheques. They get closely involved and ask intelligent questions about the issues. They are interested in helping to fund solutions, rather than just providing money to treat the symptoms.”

A trust also allows family members to get involved, according to Lloyd. “Everyone I spoke to during my research said that was one of the aspects they most enjoyed. Children can become trustees when they are old enough, and it can bring a family closer together.”

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