[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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