AVN News is the first edition of the newsletter containing news about the SKA African partner countries. The AVN is a network of VLBI-capable radio telescopes on the African continent, that will strengthen the science which the international VLBI community can do. The AVN will help to develop the skills, regulations and institutional capacity needed in SKA African partner countries to optimise African participation in the SKA and enable participation in SKA pathfinder technology development and science.