[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 261 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 261

Paying tribute to the Africa-America Institute (AAI) for its more than 
   50 years of dedicated service toward nurturing and unleashing the 
productive capacities of knowledgeable, capable, and effective African 
                       leaders through education.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 6, 2005

Mr. Payne (for himself, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Ms. Watson, Mr. Meeks 
     of New York, Mr. Rangel, and Ms. Lee) submitted the following 
     concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
                        International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
Paying tribute to the Africa-America Institute (AAI) for its more than 
   50 years of dedicated service toward nurturing and unleashing the 
productive capacities of knowledgeable, capable, and effective African 
                       leaders through education.

Whereas the Africa-America Institute (AAI) was founded in 1953 to help build 
        Africa's human and institutional capacity and to promote mutually 
        beneficial United States-Africa relations through education;
Whereas most prominent among AAI's original founders were two leading African-
        American educators and intellectuals, Horace Mann Bond, the first Black 
        president of Lincoln University, and Leo Hansberry, the Howard 
        University scholar 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 premise that higher 
        education is the highest leveraging point for achieving sustainable 
        gains all along the education pipeline, and investments in education 
        generate high rates of return by multiplying the impact of development 
        achievements across sectors of global importance: health, education, 
        trade, investment, and peace and security;
Whereas AAI's 22,000 education program alumni from 52 African countries--
        extraordinary individuals such as Wangari Maathai, recipient of the 2004 
        Nobel Peace Prize--are leading heads of 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 (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 education opportunities 
        for Africans, AAI has also served as a source of reliable and balanced 
        information on Africa for American public and private sector leaders;
Whereas Members of Congress and their staff are among those who have achieved 
        and continue to gain a fuller understanding of Africa through AAI 
        programs;
Whereas today AAI continues to build on this legacy, fulfilling its education 
        mission 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 the African Technology for Education 
        and Workforce Development (AFTECH) Initiative--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 AFTECH's reach and impact, 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 more Africans over its 
        5-year length;
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 education, 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 nation's human capital through education is in 
        their mutual interest; and
Whereas AAI can boast of a remarkable past 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
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That Congress--
            (1) pays tribute to the Africa-America Institute (AAI) for 
        its more than 50 years of dedicated service toward nurturing 
        and unleashing the productive capacities of knowledgeable, 
        capable, and effective African leaders through education; and
            (2) embraces the mission and supports the work of AAI and 
        urges Members of Congress and others to join the AAI Education 
        Partnership Campaign: 50,000 New Leaders in Five Years, a major 
        initiative toward closer United States-Africa relations that 
        advance mutual national and global interests, and a high yield 
        investment in Africa's own capacity to build a future.
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