[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 103 (Tuesday, July 26, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8987-S8988]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 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

  Ms. LANDRIEU submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                            S. Con. Res. 47

       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 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;
       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

[[Page S8988]]

     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 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 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
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That Congress--
       (1) pays tribute to the Africa-American 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;
       (2) embraces the mission and supports the work of AAI; and
       (3) urges Members of Congress and others to join the AAI 
     ``Education Partnership Campaign: 50,000 New Leaders in Five 
     Years'', a major initiative toward achieving closer United 
     States-Africa relations that advance mutual national and 
     global interests and a high yield investment in Africa's 
     capacity to build a future.

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