Washington, DC — For 32 years, Africare, founded and led by former Peace Corps official C. Payne Lucas, has sought to assist Africans and African nations in the arenas of development, governance, health and humanitarian services. It is the oldest and largest African American-led organization working across Africa as an NGO. Its annual dinner is the largest annual event for Africa in the United States.
But this year's dinner, which also honors entertainer and cultural scholar Harry Belafonte, has been roiled by critical comments Belafonte made about Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice in interviews earlier this month. It's a controversy that Africare's new president (since June 2002), Julius E. Coles, says he does not need as he takes the reins of the organization at a critical moment in the African development process.
Media attention has included an editorial in Monday's Wall Street Journal criticizing both Belafonte's comments and the organization's handling of the controversy. "The real victim here is Africare, which is addressing critical issues such as Malawi's food shortage and Zimbabwe's AIDS crisis," the paper said. Reporting that Rice had been "disinvited" as the keynote speaker at Belafonte's insistence, the paper said: "Mr. Lucas has betrayed the group's well-earned reputation for nonpartisanship, and the current leadership has stood by watching and fudging the truth."
Both the White House and Africare have sought to downplay any friction by citing "scheduling conflicts" as the reason Rice won't appear. The Senate Minority Leader, Trent Lott (R-MS), who along with Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) is national honorary dinner patron, has said he will not take part. Nevertheless, Lucas announced yesterday that the dinner is sold out. Andrew Young, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who also served as mayor of Atlanta, will give the keynote address.
The fight against HIV/Aids and agricultural development are the two critical priorities Africare has set for itself in a 'strategic plan' shaped during the transition from Lucas to Coles. There's a new attitude in Africa that opens the door of possibilities wider, Coles told allAfrica.com's Charles Cobb Jr. in an interview. Excerpts:
We're interested in how you're settling in as the new head of Africare. There is the need to maintain continuity on the one hand. On the other, a key question is what you think you need to bring into Africare and its work?
Let me just say that the transition process actually began before I came on board at Africare. C. Payne Lucas, who was president at that time, and the staff of Africare had reading materials on hand to bring me on board and to help give me a better understanding of the pragmatic side of Africare. I was also serving on the board of Africare for about seven years before I arrived at this position and I had participated in meetings dealing with personnel and programmatic issues before I came on board. So I can truly say that Africare was not a new organization to me. And this process of briefing and getting oriented in depth about the various programs has continued since I came on board in June of this year.
One does not take over an organization and learn about all of its various operations in a short period of time. One needs a longer period of time, and this is what I have been given.
In September, in Dakar, Senegal, I was also given the opportunity to meet with all of the Africare senior staff and field staff. We had what we called an 'Africare Transition Conference' where we reviewed Africare's goals and objectives and mission. We reviewed the strategic plan of Africare and we made changes in those documents as a team. The process was very useful to me to find out what people's concerns were; what were the things that needed to be worked on and where the strategic plan needed to be revised in order to have a strategic plan that was a living plan rather than a document that rested on the shelves.
Can you talk some about Africare's strategic plan and this transition process?
Yes. We had started this process with the headquarters staff before we went to Dakar. We used a methodology called 'appreciative inquiry' where we asked people what we can do to improve the organization rather than what might be done to overcome problems -- looking at how things can be done better. While this started with the headquarters staff, we also took this process to the staff in the field.
To look at what came out of this process let's start first with the strategic plan. That plan had emphasized three major programmatic areas: agriculture and food security, HIV/aids and health, and the third area was democracy and governance. What we did in Dakar was to make only two areas 'strategic priority program areas': agriculture and HIV/aids and health. We moved democracy and governance to a 'target of opportunity.' Another target of opportunity that was already in the plan was emergency assistance. We added some other interventions into this area we call targets of opportunity.
Meaning what by 'targets of opportunity'?
Meaning that when opportunities are afforded Africare we would be willing to invest the time and effort for a program area. This may not be across-the-board in all countries, but in specific countries something could be a target of opportunity that Africare has the capacity to carry out. One was emergency assistance, another was democracy and governance. The new areas that we've added are micro credit, basic education, water, and we're also looking at the whole question of environmental programs and are even considering a post-Dakar conference to consider the whole question of Africare becoming involved in de-mining efforts and education about de-mining in Africa.
With the question of governance threaded through development discussions related to Africa this year and in recent years -- Nepad, at World Bank and IMF meetings, Monterey and so-forth -- why did you move governance from being part of Africare's strategic goals to a target of opportunity?
The whole issue of democracy and governance is something that should impact on all of our programs, but Africare had not devoted the resources to really make it a major thrust or program priority. We had identified it as something we wanted to be involved in, but we had not made the commitment in staff resources, back in Washington or in the field, to actually carry out that program priority. So, I think it is a recognition that we had not put the people or the resources into that effort. We still look at it as important in development, but it is not something staffed up in Africare to really do. And I think what we are saying is we still want to do it; and we want to do it across program levels, but we also want to be honest - we are not devoting the resources to make this an equal area to the whole issue of Aids and the whole issue of food security. Those are our two primary thrusts.
Where do you see Africa at this point? Evaluate the shape you think it's in. From Washington the signals about Africa and its development often appear mixed. How does an organization like Africare, or Julius Coles for that matter, assess where Africa is today?
Well, I think Africa is really at the crossroads at this point in time. I think there are some very positive signs out there such as the increase in agricultural productivity in Africa, increase in the literacy rate, an increase in the number of people who are being educated in formal school systems, especially women. Another positive sign of Africa maturing is that about three fourths of the countries on the continent are moving toward some form of democratic government. People could argue that, but I think there is movement toward democracy in Africa. These are very positive trends.
On the other hand, there is continuing civil strife in Africa. There is an Aids pandemic which is major in terms of its implications and impact on African demography, on African development, on the African labor force, on African families and the way people live. Every year approximately two million people die, seven thousand people a day. These are dramatic figures and at least for the near term, it doesn't look like these figures are going to be reduced. It's going to require a substantial effort of the donor community to be able to overcome this problem. There's the whole question of leadership in Africa and where that goes. Political stability. There's the whole question of corruption and all of these things that still loom as problems for Africa in the 21st century.
There are other positive signs such as the African Union being formed, Nepad (New Economic Program for Africa's Development) where Africans are saying that they want to take more responsibility for their own development. They are saying, 'We're going to need external resources but we want to be in the driving seat of how those resources are used and how they are allocated.' So they have set up a structure under Nepad to be able to have that voice. And I think that we in the NGO community and donors in general are going to have to change the way we go about doing things because Africans are saying we want more of a voice in terms of how those things are done.
What do you mean when you say, 'change the way we are doing things'?
Well I think the donor community in general has had a very strong voice in what happens in development in Africa. The IMF, World Bank, IBRD (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development), USAID, the U.S. Treasury have had a strong voice in talking about what happens in terms of structural reform and those kinds of things. I think Africans are saying, 'We've had enough experience and enough people trained now, that we know what works in Africa and what doesn't work in Africa. We'll listen to you, but in the final analysis we're going to have to make some of these judgments on our own.' Africans are saying we will not be dictated to as to what has to happen with our own development.
Africare has also played an important role in focusing the attention of various U.S. administrations on African development issues. What do you think of this current administration with regard to Africa?
I think this administration has been very positive on Africa. While there are some people who may criticize the magnitude of resources that are being made available for Africa, I think there are projections, that, if realized, will have a dramatic impact in terms of the levels of U.S. assistance going to Africa. I'm speaking here of the fact that the Millennium Challenge Account which has been put forward by the Bush administration, if it is implemented at the levels being talked about of going up to a level of five billion dollars a year in development assistance to the most poor countries in the world, that will have a dramatic impact, especially if Africa is the focus of the Millennium Challenge Account as it is supposed to be and is expected to be. There are some people who say that they doubt whether it is going to be implemented that way; we'll just have to see what happens.
I think another important factor is that we have a Secretary of State who has visited Africa, who has a wealth of African experience behind him, and who has a keen interest in Africa. I think that is going to be very helpful in this administration in the brokerage process of the millennium challenge account in making sure that Africa gets its fair share.
There is worry, at least in some quarters, that southeast Asia, Afghanistan the Middle East and pending war will drain funds from Africa.
I've heard that also and we have voiced our concerns to the administration: If you're looking at the poorest areas of the world that should be impacted by the millennium challenge account, Africa should get a large share of the resources in this account. And we've been told over and over again that those decisions will not be made on political grounds but will be based upon need and the policy reforms that those governments have taken up. If they follow that, then Africa should get its fair share. If they don't follow that, I think there will be a lot of us out there who will be asking questions and who will become critical of the administration because they have not delivered on what they say will provide.
HIV/Aids is a huge problem in Africa and fighting it an Africare priority. Are you satisfied with this administration's commitment of resources to that fight/
At this point in time I am at least optimistic because of the levels that they are talking about, that they are headed in the right direction. There has been some criticism of the amounts of money being talked about for Aids, some three hundred million dollars. I don't think this is sufficient from a country as rich as this one. We're going to have to up the ante in the Aids account to really have a meaningful impact.
Are you talking about money to the Global Fund?
The Global Fund is a United Nations fund that's administered out of Geneva. I'm talking about the U.S. fund and resources made available to impact on HIV/Aids separate from the Global Fund. We're going to have to supply much more than what we've talked about to date. Given the fact that Colin Powell was at the sustainable development conference and received a less than enthusiastic from that group -- our secretary of health and human services was booed also at the Barcelona conference -- I think this was a reaction to our country having many more resources available to it that it could bring to the problem that it has not brought to the problem to date. So I think we're going to really have to take a serious look at the needs that are out there and become more responsive to those needs.
Another area Africare has been associated with, has to do with raising awareness here in the United States of Africa's potential, as well as its problems. Do you find any significant shifts in attitudes toward Africa by the U.S. general public? And what about the Black community as a community within the U.S. public? Africare has also made efforts to address this community too.
Africare was in the forefront early on in trying to build up a constituency for Africa. We were very actively involved in setting up the Constituency for Africa, which has as its primary role, developing a constituency for Africa. Mel Foote has done an outstanding job mobilizing and holding seminars and panels in different parts of the country to make people more sensitive to development issues in Africa.
We also had a National Summit on Africa and Africare again was involved in setting up that organization. That organization is still out there. But even with those two organizations it's still only a drop in the bucket. Much more needs to be done to get into the American press, to get out to the American public the pending, in fact today's crisis confronting Africa in terms of its economic situation, its health situation -- especially in regards to HIV/Aids. Most American are still not aware of this crisis in Africa. All of us need to do a better job in sensitizing the American public to this crying need.
I'm struck -- particularly with regards to the Aids crisis but also African issues generally -- that, Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ) notwithstanding, I don't really hear African American political voices speaking with any great consistency or volume.
One of the problems is that the Congressional Black Caucus has many high priority agenda items. Africa is one of those items but it does not loom as large as it might be able to loom among the many topics that they are looking at. I think we have to do a much more credible job of putting pressure not only on the Black Caucus, but other members of Congress about issues confronting Africa. One of the things I plan to be, as head of Africare, is an activist on the Hill. I plan to go up there every opportunity I have.
What's ahead for Africare, say between now and your next dinner?
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When I look at the work plan over the next year, especially the programmatic work plan, I think we have to give the highest priority to the HIV/Aids pandemic. Right now, Africare has been able to raise some 3-5 million dollars. That's not sufficient. We really have to try to double the amount of money available through Africare. That's a real serious concern that I have.
I am also very concerned about the food crisis in Southern Africa There's an emergency that really hasn't impacted on the American press -- people starving in Southern Africa. We need to be concerned about the people who may be starving as a result of the drought in Southern Africa. This is not going to go away in the short term; it's going to be a looming crisis in Southern Africa. With regards to the Aids pandemic, the whole region of Southern Africa needs special attention, especially with prevalence rates as high as twenty or thirty percent in some countries. What can we do to help lessen that prevalence rate? That's really a concern of ours.
How did you become involved with African issues? Tell me something about that.
I started my African career 41 years ago. I was a student at Morehouse College, majoring in political science, very interested in Africa. I was given the opportunity to participate in a student volunteer program called Crossroads Africa. So in 1961, about 800 students, just about the entire Morehouse student body, gave a dollar apiece to send me to Africa. I was very proud of that. Morehouse students paid for my going to Africa! They wanted to know about Africa, what was happening in Africa. They paid my way and I went to Africa and I worked in a village in Senegal.
That brief exposure as well as some travel to Mali just developed some warmth in my heart and an interest level in Africa that has carried me for the rest of my life. I went on to graduate school and I majored in international relations, specializing in the problems of development and started working with USAID right out of graduate school. I started off working on the Congo, and then transferred to Vietnam and spent two years there and then went to Morocco. From Morocco I went to Liberia and from Liberia to Washington, DC and from there to Swaziland then back to Washington to work on central and coastal West Africa.
So that one experience as a sophomore in college served me well. So I've spent most of the last 41 years working on development issues in Africa. I was fortunate enough to be able to end my career in USAID in Senegal where I had begun as a volunteer.
So I have worked on Africa as an academic. I've worked on Africa as a professional at USAID. And now I have the chance to work on Africa as a person heading up a major voluntary agency. Those are all good things that have contributed to my life.
Finally, how has this flap around Harry Belafonte, Africare's honoree at the dinner this year, affected the dinner in terms of attendance or support? How is it affecting Africare?
Well the Belafonte "story" as I choose to call it has certainly achieved more visibility for the dinner in the press. It's gotten the dinner more press coverage than we've ever gotten before. But so far, we've had very few cancellations and the dinner will be held, and it will be a typical Africare dinner with about 1,800 to 2,000 people. So far, I have not seen any dramatic falloff of support for Africare or the dinner.
Trent Lott?
Trent Lott may be one of them but when you look at the numbers of people who will be there it represents substantial support. And I hope people will realize that the dinner is not only to honor Harry Belafonte; it is to raise money for Africa. And we should not lose sight of the other dialogue that is going on as to what our major objective is. One of our objectives is to honor Harry Belafonte while at the same time, another is raising money to help Africa.
