If you’re in the Atlanta area, be sure to stop by Emory University for our Roundtable Discussion on Leadership and Underserved Communities on April 5th.

Moderator: TJ Holmes

Panelists: Ambassador Andrew Young, Hope Sullivan Masters, President/CEO Leon H. Sullivan Foundation, and John Hope Bryant, CEO Operation Hope

Contact info@thesullivanfoundation.org for more information.

This Friday, March 2nd, Melanie Campbell, President & CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, will be discussing the role that black women’s organizations and the African Diaspora can and should play during International Women’s Month.

Featuring panelist: Melanie Campbel

Friday, March 2nd, 2012
1:00 PM EST

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server

Macintosh-based attendees
Required: Mac OS X 10.5 or newer

RESERVE YOUR WEBINAR SEAT NOW!
Click Here

Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo Photo Credit Jon-alexander.com

Our 10^th Sullivan Honors event brought together Africanists from around the US, ready to see the 2011 Sullivan Honorees revealed. It was an exciting evening that brought together members of the African Diplomatic Community, Heads of State, Congressmen, and Senators.

The Sullivan Honors are named for the late Reverend Leon H. Sullivan, and Honorees were being recognized for championing human rights, democracy, good governance, poverty eradication, and a commitment to solving Africa’s ailing issues in economic development.

The 2011 distinguished Honorees were former Ghanaian President John A. Kufuor, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, and the African Union.

Mrs. Hope Sullivan Masters, President and CEO of the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation stated at the 2011 Sullivan Honors, “Tonight, we honor Africa…we celebrate all of Africa…and we celebrate very significant sons of Africa this evening.”

US Agency for International Development Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah was also in attendance and gave a speech stating, “We (USAID) remain committed to making sure we engage with the continent…in a manner that is respectful, in a manner that prioritizes partnerships, in a manner that respects the great innovation and incredible success of so many African economies; that even during this challenging time for the global community are growing at 7, 8, 9, or 10%.”

The role of development: promoting economic growth, eradicating poverty, and creating an environment of hope, is one in part of the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation’s ideals.

Dr. Shah went on to say, “We stand with you in a spirit of real partnership and support, and we seek to learn as much from our engagements on the continent as we have to offer…”

Distinguished guests of the night included members of congress such as Congressman Bobby Rush, who was honored with the title of “Sullivan Soldier”—a title given to individuals for their commitment toward building community service projects and providing a voice to individuals who have none. Other Sullivan Soldiers included Reverend Peter Mathews, Reverend Tony Lee, and Ralph Perkins.

Congressman Bobby Rush, in the opening of his speech, paid tribute to the late Rev. Sullivan stating that, “Dr. Leon Sullivan was a visionary who saw beyond our problems and recognized our potential, he saw beyond our differences and recognized our distinction, he saw beyond our poverty and recognized our prosperity. Let me remind you that the Sullivan Principles are the proven pathways for Africa and the diaspora…”

The 2011 Sullivan Honors ended with R&B singer Tyrese Gibson and remarks by John Hope Bryant, CEO of Operation Hope and a member of President Barack Obama’s Presidential Advisory Council on Financial Capability.

The evening’s Master of Ceremonies was Dr. Mark Lamont Hill, a leading Hip-hop intellectual, Columbia University professor, TV Host, and writer for the Washington Post, Essence Magazine, and the New York Times. Other distinguished guests included President Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea, who had the opportunity to speak, and Prime Minister Guillaume Soro of Ivory Coast. Former President of the World Bank and former Under Secretary of the Department of Defense Mr. Paul Wolfowitz was also present.

We also want to make sure that all of our Sullivan constituents and sponsors know how grateful we are to each and every one of them for their longstanding support and contributions to the mission and vision of the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation

Dear AIESEC members, friends, and family,

On behalf of the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation, an AIESEC US partner, our hearts go out to all of you during this difficult time. We had followed the amazing progress of your International Congress in Kenya very closely and remain impressed with all of your drive, dedication, and persistence. Your persistence to promote positive change in the world will only become more apparent in these days following the tragic bus accident that involved 65 AIESEC members after your international conference in Kenya.

We await the news of the AIESEC members who were on the bus having safely returned to their hotel in Mombasa, while joining you in mourning the loss of Elmer Pérez Requiz (President of AIESEC in Bolivia) and in looking forward to the quick recovery of Irma Bedjic (Vice President of AIESEC in Bosnia & Herzegovina). Again, please accept our deepest sorrow for everyone in the AIESEC community as you come to terms with this tragedy.

Most sincerely,

Hope Sullivan Masters

President & CEO of the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation

NOTE: AIESEC is the largest student-run non profit in the world, present in over 110 countries. They focus on promoting global understanding through international internships and events (www.aiesec.org/). The Sullivan Foundation is a proud supporter of AIESEC and its mission. We have two AIESEC alumni on our staff, supported an AIESEC intern during the summer of 2010, were an AIESEC US Summer Conference Sponsor in 2011, and are working toward an ongoing partnership.

For ongoing updates regarding this accident, please see their message of compassion page. http://www.facebook.com/AiesecCompassion?sk=app_106878476015645

Africa’s share of Earth’s freshwater is about nine percent.  How can we help give Africans clean drinking water?The Leon H. Sullivan Foundation will explain its multi-level SPLASH water project, which provides water purification equipment, medicines to treat those with water-borne diseases, education on the dangers of using unclean water and uses the Global Sullivan Principles for Corporate Social Responsibility to encourage companies to clean their waste water and provide fresh drinking water to the communities in which they operate.

Africa is becoming the focus of an expanding group of people – from celebrities who make public contributions to average people who give of their time and money to help.  The Leon H. Sullivan Foundation has created the term “Afripolitan” to describe someone who not only has an interest in Africa and its people, but who takes the next step to do something about it.  We’ll look at how this trend is changing the relationship between America and the nations of Africa today.

Featuring panelists Hope Sullivan Masters, President and CEO of the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation,Raynard Jackson, President and CEO of Raynard Jackson and Associates, LLC, Asratie Teferra, Board Member of Books for Africa, and Gregory Simpkins, Vice President of Programs and Policy Development at the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation.

We have Black History Month, African Studies and Black Studies programs, but why is the history of Africa’s children still segregated? Does teaching about the history of Africa’s descendants expand understanding or make Africa seem separate from the rest of world history?

Mr. Gregory Simpkins will discuss with Bernadette Paolo, President and CEO of the Africa Society of the National Summit on Africa, and Gary Flowers, Executive Director and CEO of the Black Leadership Forum.

Will an integrated infrastructure in the five regions of Africa finally result in a united continent?  Colonial powers talked of rail lines and roads linking the African continent for more than a century, but they ended up making these linkages suit their own needs.  There have been discussions of improving infrastructure in Africa, including power and communications, as well as air and sea linkages.  Will the international community help Africa improve intra-African travel?  How will this affect African unity?

When I looked ahead last January to important African developments in 2010, I focused on elections because they seemed to offer the most important events that could be foreseen. This new year is little different in that election issues are important, but there are non-electoral developments that loom large for the continent as well. The following are my five top forecasts for Africa in 2011.

1. The results of next week’s referendum on the independence of Southern Sudan could produce the world’s newest country or a renewed North-South conflict in that country. According to a recent article in the New York Times, neither the National Congress Party government in Khartoum nor the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement government in Juba wants a return to war because each has too much to lose. Both North and South depend on oil for most of their revenue, and renewed war would be devastating in that regard.

While that is true, and while Northern leaders have sounded accepting lately of the upcoming referendum’s likely results, the Khartoum regime has not taken any action in recent memory that didn’t have loopholes allowing it to renege on promises. In this case, the government has not removed its troops as required by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, continues to support rebels in the South and has prevented the full level of voter registration as required in the 2005 peace accord. That sounds like the government is hedging its bets. However inevitable independence of southern Sudan is, this will not be an easy process, and problem likely will linger beyond this year.

2. My next forecast is that for the more than two dozen African elections scheduled for 2011, the international community’s response to serious discrepancies could be different from what it has been — depending on the outcome of the deadlock in Cote d’Ivoire. The usual international community response has been to complain about election irregularities when it involves an ally and sanctions when it is not a friendly government. Most often, the preferred solution has been to call for a government of national unity to smooth over problems. In the current Cote d’Ivoire case, though, there has been pressure on the presumed losing party to step down rather than accept the winner as a partner.

Having set this new precedent, it will be difficult to go back to taking the easy way out of electoral deadlocks in the future. Perhaps it also will encourage more international support for earlier training of parties and election officials and monitoring of the pre-election environment. It is much easier to prevent bad elections before they actually happen than to correct them once they have taken place. Elections in Nigeria, Egypt, Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other countries are too important to rely on cookie cutter approaches to electoral problem solving.

3. In the largest change of land ownership since the colonial era, more than 50 million hectares of African land has been leased or is in the process of being leased by 20 African countries. This modern land grab is displacing African farmers and failing to create jobs for African workers. In 2011, the trend toward leasing massive amounts of African land will accelerate due to the continuing global food shortage and dwindling supplies of water. This shortage is especially acute in the Middle East, which happens to be the main source of African land leasing arrangements. In Madagascar in 2009, a government was displaced largely due to reports of a land deal with foreigners. Perhaps as early as this year, there will be other citizen eruptions because of what they see as negative consequences from these land deals.

4. African societies, especially in rural areas, cling to traditions that are sometimes millennia old. One of these traditions is the disdain for open homosexuality. Those who keep their sexual orientation to themselves usually are ignored, but in recent years, evangelical activists have taken their war against what they describe as the gay agenda to Africa to warn of foreign influences drastically changing African cultures. Some point to Zimbabwe, where gays there were encouraged by outsiders to be open about their sexuality. Unfortunately, African societies are not as tolerant of behavior celebrating what African spiritual leaders largely find as being in violation of religious standards. Apparently, these American evangelicals did not realize that African governments would not react as the U.S. government has. Gays have been arrested and prosecuted in countries like Zimbabwe and Malawi, and Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, speaking to supporters in November, called for gays to be arrested and jailed for their behavior. Pressure from the international community forced Uganda to back down from a law that would in some cases have sentenced homosexuals to death sentences. In 2011, the clash between modern views of human rights and traditional views of acceptable sexual behavior in Africa may come to a head, provoking court challenges to laws and rising harassment of openly gay citizens in African countries.

5. Finally, a hopeful sign in 2011 will be an increase in foreign investment. The continent as a whole is expected to see a growth rate of 5% or more this year. The fall of interest rates in many African countries is caused by lowered rates of inflation. Along with the anticipated rise in the level of bank credit on the continent, one can expect renewed interest in the more than two dozen African equity markets. Various economic analysts say the fastest-growing areas will be telecoms, banks, retail outlets and manufacturing. With the broad use of advanced telephones in Africa, many on the continent are in a position to take advantage of tele-banking. Members of the recent African Diaspora have been increasing their transfer of funds to Africa, and remittances now outpace foreign aid. Moreover, traditional elements of the African Diaspora, some of whom have been linked to specific countries through DNA testing, are taking a closer look at the African equity markets and see opportunities for profits that exceed what traditional Western stock exchanges are offering.

I see a mixed picture for Africa this year, with some progress and some challenges, but even the challenges provide opportunities for advancement.

There are important elections coming in 2011 and 2012 in Africa, including in Sudan, Nigeria, Liberia, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.  Recent African elections have had charges of rampant fraud and questionable results following vote counting.  However, the international community’s knee-jerk reaction has been to call for governments of national unity rather than try harder to prevent electoral problems before they occur.  What should be done to facilitate free, fair and acceptable elections on the continent?