What We Do

Objectives of the Organization

 

    1. Serve as a centralized student-led professional development body to raise awareness to faculty and students about the University’s various levels of engagement with Sub-Saharan Africa.
    2. Create new and promote existing opportunities for students to engage in academic and professional development experiences.
    3. Act as the chief organizer of student exchange conferences and programming in the African context via the School of Public Policy and Administration (SPPA) as its academic affiliate.
    4. Serve as a central location for faculty to recruit students with an interest in the African continent for study abroad programs, research projects, etc. and to explore what UD projects exist in areas of interest on the continent.
    5. Create and maintain both an inventory of University-wide contacts and engagement with Sub-Saharan Africa and a framework of strategic avenues of engagement that UD has undertaken around different fields (i.e. the Arts, Agriculture, Engineering, etc.).

Read the entire document here: Constitution Public Affairs Initiative to Africa

 

See more about our members below…

 

 

Congrats to SPPA grad student Kendra Brumfield who was awarded first place as a student presentation at the CIMPAD Conference in Livingstone, Zambia. She presented on a panel with colleagues from Delaware State on preliminary findings of the role of pastors/the Black church in delivery of mental health services and the lessons it might offer for Zambia to address mental health issues in partnership with civil society.
Kendra is also vice president of UD’s newly formed Public Affairs Initiative to Africa. Students, if you are interested in participating in the group, find Kendra (or stop by 184 Graham Hall).

'Kendra (left) with professionals from Cameroon, Mali, Namibia, and Zambia.'
'Kendra Brumfield and SPPA alumna Kristie Mikus.'

 

“Harnessing Entrepreneurial Potential in Soweto as a Catalyst for Inclusive Growth”

Alexandra Davis Alexandra Davis, PAIA President (2014-2015)

Over the course of the past several decades, momentum has grown across developing nations in favor of the advancement of policies rooted in the linkage between entrepreneurial activity and economic growth. In line with this momentum, South Africa – a nation experiencing depressed entrepreneurial activity, sluggish growth rates, and unemployment rates just under thirty percent – has adopted the development of the small, medium, and micro enterprise (SMME) sector as a national priority. This analysis sought to assess the accessibility of public supports in place to facilitate the startup and development of SMMEs in historically underrepresented communities of the country, particularly in urban settlements colloquially referred to as “townships,” where tens of millions of South Africans live. This study was conducted as a case study of the communities of South Africa’s largest and oldest township, Soweto. This research supports that there is a severe lack of access to SMME supports in Soweto, as well as various institutional barriers, many due to legacies of the apartheid structure, and an inability of top-down governmental policy to filter to Sowetan communities. …. Read more