African Patnership Initiative


GEP president Arthur Whitman and UCLA African Studies student Adam Gilman returned from Ghana in September after having worked with local and national government to finalize the structure and partnership base of a revolutionary new program in volunteer driven international aid. The effort centers around the construction of a nation-wide network of information technology resource centers, staffed by long term volunteers. These centers will be highly effective interface points between indigenous communities and the array of partnering organizations and agencies which seek to serve them. The initiative has been developed as a model for added value in the field of international assistance in Africa, for replication in other nations in Africa and possibly elsewhere in the developing world. It makes sense because it fills a gap in the field- the need for increased communication and synergy between funders, organizations, government agencies, and indigenous groups on the ground. It feeds off the basic understanding that American volunteers and many American programs will never be able to understand the vastly complex and idiosyncratic world of effective and sustainable assistance in Africa. However, motivated American volunteers (driven by both a desire to help as well as by the level of responsibility conferred on them by the program) can implement a program of information management which will augment the ability of other agencies and organizations to implement their specific programs.

The events of September 11th brought even more urgency to the creation of the API. The operating principles of the organization are those which can lead a new and positive thrust in relating to Africa, and potentially the third world. It is a spirit of partnership, of accountability, and of recognizing mutual limitations in a healthy way. It is bold enough to assert certain principles of modernity as being wholly positive, while simultaneously creating room for other peoples to determine their relationship to their subsequent place in the global village which is implied by those principles. In short, it is an organizational dynamic that indigenous people and governments can and will trust. We are starting new, starting fresh, and have a tremendous opportunity to work in a new direction with President Kufuor's forward-thinking administration.

On the other side of the coin, the program brings motivated Americans- the best and the brightest- into the world in a dynamic fashion, arming them for lives of significant responsibility while also giving them an experience that will sensitize them to the need for conscientiousness as Americans, as we (they) lead the world in new, dangerous, and potentially beautiful directions. On both sides of the Atlantic, this is a beautiful flower opening.

 

The API is aggressively seeking a seed grant to begin operations and grow out the organization. For more information, including a complete Project Proposal please contact GEP President Arthur Whitman.