Africa and Indiana
Eldoret-Indianapolis Communities Pamoja
Twenty years ago, Indiana University formed a partnership with the Moi University School of Medicine in Eldoret Kenya. This collaboration has led to the formation of AMPATH (the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare), one of the most effective programs for treating HIV/AIDS in Africa. It also has generated hundreds of personal and professional connections between Indianapolis and Eldoret. IU students, interns, and physicians who traveled to Moi returned to Indianapolis and set up relations between churches, grade schools, civic clubs, and other organizations in the two cities. Many organizations in Indianapolis and Eldoret first connected through the channel initially carved by the two Medical Schools; relations then flourished independently of IU and Moi. The Global Interfaith Partnership, for instance, a coalition of congregations in Indianapolis and the Chulaimbo region of Western Kenya, have developed the Umoja Project (“umoja” means unity in Kiswahili), which provides urgently needed care to orphans and vulnerable children in Chulaimbo. The Rotary Clubs of Indianapolis and Eldoret have set off on a ten year project to work with women in Kenya and provide clean water. IUPUI has set up a strategic partnership with Moi University distinct from AMPATH and the IU-Moi Medical School partnership.
In 2007 Eldoret and Indianapolis began the process of formalizing a sister-city relation that would be based on these connections. The possibilities of partnership and the ambitions of the participants grew beyond what is normal for a conventional sister-city relation. Thus the two cities have chosen to establish a new form of partnership, Communities Pamoja. The two Pamoja committees will help broker new partnerships, and inspire and initiate projects between the two communities. The Pamoja committees have identified four areas for collaboration: education, women’s issues, orphans and vulnerable children, and arts and tourism.
Since it was established, Sagamore has conducted research on relations between Indianapolis and Eldoret. As it began strategizing about its plans for Eldoret, the Rotary Club of Indianapolis requested that Sagamore analyze and assess the results of a fifteen year partnership with a Rotary Club in Savanna la Mar, Jamaica. The study, Local-to-Local solutions for Global Problems, provides a new way of thinking about foreign aid and economic development. Sagamore fellow Carole Kariuki continued the analysis of the evolving links between the Rotarians of Indianapolis and Eldoret (as well as writing about Nobel Prize winning Kenyan Wangari Mathai and the development of the private sector in Kenya). A detailed analysis from the inside of the development of connections between Indianapolis and Eldoret offers Sagamore researchers a unique perspective on patterns of glocalization in the 21st century.
Central Indiana PanAfrica Initiative
Thanks to the Nobel Prize nominated partnership between IU Medical School and Moi Medical School, many people in Indiana are aware of the many links between Indianapolis and Eldoret. But these are a small subset of the thousands of connections between Central Indiana and Africa as a whole. Examples include art and culture partnerships, such as that between the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the West African Museum Program, and Indianapolis businesses such as Endangered Species Chocolate. Idealistic and committed Hoosiers have established nonprofit ventures to help the poor and vulnerable in Africa, including Congo Helping Hands and the Malawi Project. The Institute for Affordable Transportation has designed and is manufacturing a “basic utility vehicle,” a cheap and dependable “car for humanity” that promises to transform the most isolated parts of Africa. Colleges and universities in Indiana have some of the world’s top experts in all areas of African life, and attract some of the very best students from Africa. Churches across Africa have partner churches in Indianapolis. Ambassadors for Children and the Timmy Foundation organize “volun-tourism” missions across the continent. The Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic is providing free services to newly arrived African immigrants from dozens of countries who now make Central Indiana their home.
The Central Indiana PanAfrica initiative was set up in 2009 as an infrastructure for the actual and potential links with Africa. The PanAfrica initiative is carrying out an inventory and preliminary assessment of existing connections between Indiana and Africa. This inventory will form the basis of an easily accessible directory of linkages; the assessment will be used for groups in Central Indiana to formulate “matchmaking” strategies to increase the number and improve the effectiveness of Indianapolis-African ties.
Sagamore Institute Senior Fellow John Clark helped launch the Central Indiana PanAfrica Initiative. The Initiative offers first hand empirical data about the local-to-local partnerships between wealthy and poor parts of the world. The grassroots knowledge aggregated from these many links can help for the basis of an early warning system that identifies problems in Africa before they erupt into crises; drawing on the expertise of researchers and academics from across Indiana, Sagamore can target analyses and recommendations for addressing these early problems.
“Give Back to Africa” Foundation Project
Many African immigrants in Central Indiana are trying to address challenges in their home countries by establishing foundations and nonprofit groups. Some are very small, such as a Rwandan who wishes to help children in his country heal from the lingering wounds of genocide, or a young woman from Benin who wants to help more girls in her country get the educational opportunities she had. Others are much bigger. The African University Foundation is establishing a new university in Tali, Cameroon. Working with the African Center of Indianapolis and other groups, Sagamore is assessing the goals and achievements of these young foundations, and will help design a support infrastructure that will allow them more effectively to “give back to Africa.” This project represents a special insight into part of the development of civil society in Africa.
An Indianapolis Center for Social Entrepreneurship
Indianapolis boasts several innovative social entrepreneurs who are transforming the lives of individuals and communities in Africa. The Village Experience, for instance, combines volun-tourism, microfinance, and fair trade marketing. Building Tomorrow mobilizes young people in Indiana to help build schools in Uganda. In recognition of the power and possibilities of social entrepreneurs, Indiana University’s Kelley Schools of Business, Center on Philanthropy, and Schools for Public and Environmental Affairs combine to offer a certificate in social entrepreneurship. But past this, few efforts have been made to nurture and support creative new socially conscious ventures. Sagamore Institute is helping establish a space that will collocate many enterprises, provide pro bono services to nascent nonprofits, and encourage groups to collaborate and learn from one another.
Sagamore Institute
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