Daily rainfall estimates over Africa are derived using the CPC Rainfall Estimation version 2.0 (RFE) algorithm. The RFE technique is used operationally by FEWS-Net and the Africa Desk at the NOAA/Climate Prediction Center to provide weekly weather hazard assessments to the U.S. State Department’s Agency for International Development. The RFE algorithm provides daily 0.10° x 0.10° estimates by combining passive microwave and infrared-derived satellite rainfall estimates with daily gridded surface rainfall measurements. This paper and associated presentation will describe the point-to-grid box verification technique and present a preliminary validation of the RFE algorithm by comparing the estimates to rain gauge data from the Global Telecommunication System and other independent surface weather stations in Africa. Two other near-real-time precipitation estimates that have comparable timeliness and time/space grid intervals, the NASA Goddard TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis – Real Time (MPA-RT) and the CPC MORPHing technique (CMORPH), will also be compared to similar stations to help gauge the performance of the RFE approach.