The Africa-America Institute (AAI) is an international education organization dedicated to advancing the continent's development through higher education and skills training, convening activities, and promoting greater engagement between

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

History

Horace Mann Bond Horace Mann Bond (November 8, 1904 – December 21, 1972) was an American historian, college administrator, social science researcher and the father of civil-rights leader Julian Bond. He earned a master's and doctorate from University of C ...

, President of Lincoln University and Professor William Leo Hansberry, of

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

founded Africa-America Institute in 1953 to provide financial assistance and hospitality to Africans studying in the US. As African nations gained independence, AAI offered higher education scholarship programs in the United States to support African scholars in gaining a higher education and skills that could be applied in post-colonial Africa. Its programming expanded to provide academic and professional skills training opportunities for Africans in both the U.S. and Africa in the 1990s. AAI's programs evolved in the early- 2000s to focus on increased U.S.-Africa engagement on issues impacting the African continent with policymakers and business leaders from the U.S. and Africa. In 2013 the organization celebrated its 60th anniversary in the New York Hilton. The event included a discussion by

Hailemariam Desalegn Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe ( amh, ኃይለማሪያም ደሳለኝ ቦሼ; born 19 July 1965) is an Ethiopian politician who served as prime minister of Ethiopia from 2012 to 2018. He also previously served as deputy prime minister and Minister ...

, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Hifikepunye Lucas Pohamba, the President of Namibia and Foreign Affairs Ministers of Ghana,

Hanna Tetteh Hanna Serwaa Tetteh (born 31 May 1967) is a Ghanaian barrister and politician. She served in the cabinet of Ghana as Minister for Trade and Industry from 2009 to 2013 and Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2017. She was also the Member o ...

and Tanzania as regards Africa's past, present and future. The organization highlighted how more than 23,000 individuals from 54 African countries had been supported by the organization.

AAI Programs

Transformational Leadership Program (TLP) The Transformational Leadership Program (TLP) is a leadership and management training program for leaders of African civil society organizations and small micro-enterprises (SMEs). TLP educational partners include

United States International University United States International University (USIU) was a nonprofit university based in San Diego, California that was accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. At its peak, it had two additional American campuses and three inter ...

(USIU) in Kenya; Pan-Atlantic University in Nigeria; UNISA– The University of South Africa, and

University of Stellenbosch Business School University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB) is the business school of the University of Stellenbosch in Bellville, Western Cape, South Africa. History The University of Stellenbosch Business School was founded in 1964, enrolling 14 MBA s ...

(USB) in South Africa. AAI Future Leaders Legacy Fund The AAI Future Leaders Legacy Fund provides scholarships for African students to earn bachelor's degrees and vocational and technical training certifications at high performing African institutions. Partner institutions include

Ashesi University Ashesi University ( ) is a private, non-profit university located in Accra, Ghana. The mission of Ashesi University is to educate ethical, entrepreneurial leaders in Africa; to cultivate within students the critical thinking skills, the concer ...

, Ghana; United States International University (USIU-Africa), Kenya; and UNISA—The University of South Africa. AAI Speaker Series The AAI Speaker Series and ''Conversations on Africa (COA)'' series in Washington, D.C. offer a platform for thought leaders on U.S.-Africa policy. EADB Math, Science, Technology and Engineering University Scholarship Program The

East African Development Bank The East African Development Bank (EADB) is a development finance institution with the objective of promoting development in the member countries of the East African Community. Overview EADB plays a threefold role of lender, adviser, and developm ...

(EADB) scholarship program for experienced teachers and lecturers to earn a post-graduate degree in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

and

New Jersey Institute of Technology {{Infobox university , name = {{nowrap, New Jersey Institute of Technology , image = New Jersey IT seal.svg , image_upright = 0.9 , former_names = Newark College of Engineering (1930–1975)Ne ...

in the United States. Past AAI Programs Past programs include: The African Graduate Fellowship Program (AFGRAD), Advanced Training for Leadership and Skills Project (ATLAS), African Scholarship Program of American Universities (ASPAU), International Visitors Program (IVP) and International Fellowship Program (IFP).

Annual Awards Gala

Held annually during the week of the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

, AAI's Annual Awards Gala brings together African Heads of State and diplomats, business and philanthropic leaders to celebrate African achievement.

State of Education on Africa Conference

AAI's annual State of Education on Africa (SOE) conference is a space for learning and dialogue between students, parents, teachers, leaders, and innovators interested in transforming K-12 education by infusing it with scholarly and unbiased knowledge about Africa and the worldwide Diaspora through effective teaching that supports student academic achievement. The SOE conference provides a platform to discuss and put forth solution on education at levels in Africa. Previous SOEs were held in New York City in 2014, and in Lagos, Nigeria in 2015. 2021's SOE, “Teaching Africa in the World,” explored recovered histories that center the contributions of Africa and its worldwide Diaspora in the making of the modern world. The conference has featured renowned academics such as Dr. Michael A. Gomez, Dr. Pearl T. Robinson, and Dr. Lyra Monteiro.

Board of trustees

Current members

* Nik Amarteifio *

Ousseina Alidou Ousseina D. Alidou (born March 29, 1963) is an Africanist scholar focusing on Muslim women, and a professor in the Department of African, Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Literature at Rutgers University. She received a Master of Art ...

* Kofi Appenteng, President & CEO * Mamadou Beye * Rebecca Lowell Edwards, Vice Chair * Michelle Gavin * Christal Jackson, Chair * Humble Lukanga * Bob McCarthy, Vice Chair * Peter McKillop * Khumo Shongwe

Trustees Emeriti

* Peggy Dulany * Maurice Tempelsman * Roger Wilkins

President Emerita

* Mora McLean

Past board members

Former members are listed with their affiliation at the time of their service. * Brian Atwood, former Administrator of

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...

* William Asiko, The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation * Etta M. Barnett,

The Links The Links is an American invitation-only social and service organization of prominent Black women in the United States. Founded in 1946, it is the largest nationwide organization of Black women in the USA. Members include multiple prominent wome ...

, Inc. * Alexander Cummings,

Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation founded in 1892, best known as the producer of Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company also manufactures, sells, and markets other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups ...

Richard Holbrooke Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke (April 24, 1941 – December 13, 2010) was an American diplomat and author. He was the only person to have held the position of Assistant Secretary of State for two different regions of the world (Asia from 1977 ...

, U.S. diplomat * Anne Kabagambe, executive director of the

World Bank Group The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Gr ...

's Africa Group 1 Constituency *

Olusegun Obasanjo Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Obasanjo, , ( ; yo, Olúṣẹ́gun Ọbásanjọ́ ; born 5 March 1937) is a Nigerian political and military leader who served as Nigeria's head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its presid ...

, former President of Nigeria

Prominent AAI Alumni

Marian Ewurama Addy Marian Ewurama Addy (née Cole; 7 February 1942 – 14 January 2014) was a Ghanaian biochemist and the first Host of the National Science and Maths Quiz. The first Ghanaian woman to attain the rank of full professor of natural science, Addy ...

, first Ghanaian woman professor of natural science, first host of the National Science and Maths Quiz and recipient of the 1999

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

Kalinga Prize The Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science is an award given by UNESCO for exceptional skill in presenting scientific ideas to lay people. It was created in 1952, following a donation from Biju Patnaik, Founder President of the Kalinga ...

Hassana Alidou Hassana Alidou (29 March 1963 − 10 June 2023) was a Nigerien diplomat who served as Ambassador to the United States and Canada from 2015 to 2019. She then became the first scholar in residence for the Union Institute and University Institute fo ...

, Ambassador to the

U.S The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, Embassy of the Republic of

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesThelma Awori Thelma Awori is a Ugandan professor, former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, and African feminism, feminist. She was born on March 25, 1943, in Monrovia, Liberia and came to Uganda in 1965. She is a former Uganda People's Congre ...

, Honorary Consul of Liberia to

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

& Founding Chair and Co-president Sirleaf Market Women's Fund * Claude Borna, Director, managing director and Chief Innovation Officer, Sèmè City Development Agency * Austin H. Demby, Director,

PEPFAR The United States President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is a United States governmental initiative to address the global HIV/AIDS epidemic and help save the lives of those suffering from the disease. Launched by U.S. President Geo ...

, Office of Policy and Program Coordination, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs,

United States Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...

* Austin Esogbue, first Black tenured professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the first African to have served on the board of

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

* H.E.

Hage Geingob Hage Gottfried Geingob (born 3 August 1941) is a Namibian politician, serving as the third president of Namibia since 21 March 2015. Geingob was the first Prime Minister of Namibia from 1990 to 2002, and served as prime minister again from 2012 ...

, President of the Republic of

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

Ablade Glover Ablade Glover Order of the Volta, CV (born 1934) is a Ghanaian artist and educator. He has exhibited widely, building an international reputation over several decades, as well as being regarded as a seminal figure on the West African art scen ...

, Ghanaian artist and academic * Mohamed Helmy, CEO of District Spaces and Progress * Dr.

Wangari Maathai Wangarĩ Muta Maathai (; 1 April 1940 – 25 September 2011) was a Kenyan social, environmental and a political activist and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. As a beneficiary of the Kennedy Airlift, she studied in the Un ...

, Founder of the

Green Belt Movement The Green Belt Movement (GBM) is an indigenous grassroots organization in Kenya that empowers women through the planting of trees. It is one of the most effective and well-known grassroots organisations addressing the problem of global deforest ...

and the 2004

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

Laureate * Strive Masiyiwa, Founder & Executive Chairman,

Econet Wireless Econet, officially known as Econet Global Ltd, is a diversified telecommunications group with operations and investments in Africa, Europe, South America and the East Asia Pacific Rim, offering products and services in the core areas of mobile ...

Thandika Mkandawire Thandika Mkandawire (10 October 1940 – 27 March 2020) was a Malawian economist and public intellectual who was a Chair of African Development and professor of African Development at the London School of Economics. He is a widely published schol ...

, Leading economist, academic, and former Chair of African Development at the

LSE LSE may refer to: Computing * LSE (programming language), a computer programming language * LSE, Latent sector error, a media assessment measure related to the hard disk drive storage technology * Language-Sensitive Editor, a text editor used ...

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (; born 3 November 1955), South African Government Information. is a South African politician and former United Nations official, who served as the Executive Director of UN Women with the rank of Under-Secretary-General ...

, executive director of

UN Women The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women advocates for the rights of women and girls, and focu ...

* Ann Therese Ndong-Jatta, Director, Multi-Sectoral Office for East Africa,

* Sophia Abdi Noor, Member of Parliament, the Republic of

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

& Founding Member of Womankind Kenya *

Alassane Ouattara Alassane Dramane Ouattara (; ; born 1 January 1942) is an Ivorian politician who has been President of Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) since 2010. An economist by profession, Ouattara worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF)Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

Cyril Ramaphosa Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa (born 17 November 1952) is a South African businessman and politician who is currently serving as the fifth democratically elected president of South Africa. Formerly an anti-apartheid activist, trade union leader, and ...

, President of the Republic of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Kandeh Yumkella Alhaji Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella (born July 5, 1959) is a Sierra Leonean agricultural economist, politician, and the former United Nations Under-Secretary-General and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy ...

, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...

and CEO of Sustainable Energy for All

References

"Envoy Seeks Clarity On U.S. Energy Plans for Africa"
''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', January 31, 2014 CNN.com: Africa's secret weapon – The diaspora http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/01/opinion/africas-secret-weapon-diaspora/index.html Kenya's Daily Nation: Africa takes centre as US campaigns hot up: http://www.nation.co.ke/news/world/Africa-takes-centre-as-US-campaigns-hot-up/-/1068/3173370/-/12soouhz/-/index.html Voice of America: US Campaigns Tackle Africa Policy With Some Unexpected Results: http://www.voanews.com/a/presidential-campaign-advisers-discuss-united-states-africa-policy/3298995.html Ebony.com: Africa-America Institute Honors African Female Heads of State at 2012 Annual Gala http://www.ebony.com/photos/news-views/africa-america-institute-honors-african-female-heads-of-state-188 Radio France Internationale – Africans in New York http://www.english.rfi.fr/africa/20140219-africans-new-york-part-35 BlackEnterprise.com: Africa-America Institute Will Kick Off 60th Anniversary with Career Expo http://www.blackenterprise.com/career/africa-america-institute-60th-annivarsary-career-expo-new-york-gala/

External links

AAI Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Africa-America Institute 1953 establishments in Washington, D.C. Organizations established in 1953