III 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. CON. RES. 47 

Paying tribute to the Africa-America Institute for its more than 50 years 

of dedicated service, nurturing and unleashing the productive capacities 

of knowledgeable, capable, and effective African leaders through education. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 26, 2005 

Ms. LANDRIEU submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 

referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Paying tribute to the Africa-America Institute for its more 

than 50 years of dedicated service, nurturing and 

unleashing the productive capacities of knowledgeable, 

capable, and effective African leaders through education. 

Whereas the Africa-America Institute (in this resolution referred to as the ‘‘AAI’’) was founded in 1953, to help 

build human and institutional capacity in Africa and to 

promote mutually beneficial relations between the United 

States and Africa through education; 

Whereas 2 of the most prominent founders of AAI were leading African-American educators and intellectuals, Horace 

Mann Bond, the first Black president of Lincoln University, and Leo Hansberry, the Howard University scholar 
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•SCON 47 IS

and historian renowned today as the ‘‘father of African 

studies’’; 

Whereas with funding from the government, the private sector, and philanthropic sources, AAI has advanced its mission on the dual premises that higher education is the 

highest leveraging point for achieving sustainable gains 

all along the education pipeline, and that investments in 

education generate high rates of return by multiplying 

the impact of development achievements across sectors of 

global importance, such as health, education, trade, investment, peace, and security; 

Whereas the 22,000 education program alumni of AAI come 

from 52 African countries, including extraordinary individuals such as Wangari Maathai, recipient of the 2004 

Nobel Peace Prize; 

Whereas alumni of AAI are leaders in African education, 

business, government, and nongovernmental organizations working to change economic and social structures in 

African communities, societies, and nations for the better; 

Whereas a 2004 impact assessment commissioned by the 

United States Agency for International Development (in 

this resolution referred to as ‘‘USAID’’) found ‘‘USAID’s 

multi-million dollar investment in long-term training’’ 

programs that were managed and run by AAI ‘‘for over 

40 years produced significant and sustained changes that 

furthered African development in measurable ways’’; 

Whereas, as a corollary to its work aimed at expanding educational opportunities for Africans, AAI has also served 

as a source of reliable and balanced information on Africa for American public and private sector leaders; 
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Whereas Members of Congress and their staff are among 

those who have helped achieve and continue to build on 

this legacy, fulfilling the education mission of AAI by 

working with partners in Africa, the United States, and 

other parts of the world on behalf of Africa; 

Whereas competing in the information age requires high levels of technical knowledge and skills, but the level of need 

and demand for higher education and technical training 

in Africa exceeds the capacities of education sectors in 

most African countries; 

Whereas, consistent with the aspirations and goals of the African Union’s ‘‘New Partnership for Africa’s Development’’, AAI has stepped up to meet these new challenges 

with the creation of the ‘‘African Technology for Education and Workforce Development’’ initiative (in this 

resolution referred to as ‘‘AFTECH’’), a collaborative effort designed to harness the power of information technologies to deliver the highest quality global educational 

content to Africans where they live; 

Whereas, in order to improve and expand upon the reach and 

impact of AFTECH, and to raise awareness in the 

United States of the converging global interests that warrant greater United States public and private engagement with, and investment in Africa, AAI used the occasion of its 50th anniversary in 2003, to launch the AAI 

‘‘Education Partnership Campaign: 50,000 New Leaders 

in Five Years’’, with a goal of raising $25,000,000 in private and public sector support to educate and train 

50,000 Africans during the 5-year campaign; 

Whereas, with the Republic of Namibia in the vanguard, a 

growing number of African nations are choosing to invest 

in their people by directly supporting the advanced edu-
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cation, professional training programs, and other education resources that AAI has to offer; 

Whereas AAI works with sponsoring African governments to 

identify and leverage additional funding wherever feasible, and assists countries with making the case to multinational companies doing business within their borders 

that investing in the human capital of African countries 

through education is in their mutual interest; and 

Whereas AAI can boast of a remarkable history and unparalleled program track record, and is building on its past to 

meet current and future challenges facing Africa as well 

as the United States: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 

2 concurring), That Congress— 

3 (1) pays tribute to the Africa-America Institute 

4 for its more than 50 years of dedicated service, nur5 turing and unleashing the productive capacities of 

6 knowledgeable, capable, and effective African leaders 

7 through education; 

8 (2) embraces the mission and supports the work 

9 of AAI; and 

10 (3) urges Members of Congress and others to 

11 join the AAI ‘‘Education Partnership Campaign: 

12 50,000 New Leaders in Five Years’’, a major initia13 tive toward achieving closer United States-Africa re14 lations that advance mutual national and global in-
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1 terests and a high yield investment in Africa’s ca2 pacity to build a future. 

Æ