Professor Wangari Maathai will address ad3 2005 in London on 2nd July

Professor Wangari Maathai will address ad3 2005 in London on 2nd July

PRESS Release

On Saturday 2 July 2005 Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Wangari Maathai will address hundreds of Africans gathered in London at the annual African Diaspora & Development Day or ad3 to explore ways to further mobilize the diaspora’s resources to support the creation of enterprises, jobs and wealth in Africa.

“The message for Africans (of my winning the Nobel Peace Prize) is that the solutions to our problems lie within us,” says Professor Maathai. ad3 will present Africans in the UK and Europe with a unique opportunity to build upon their ongoing work in support of Africa’s development to the priority set by Africans themselves for their lives.

In what was probably the largest ever survey of Africans’ public attitudes, the BBC’s 2004 “Pulse of Africa” survey questioned 7,500 Africans living in the urban areas of 10 African countries. Two out of three Africans identified their priority as making money and 20 percent of respondents mentioned getting a well-paid job. Other significant mentions included getting training/education and starting a business. Oddly, very little development activity tackles this challenge head-on.

“As we Africans in the diaspora are among Africa’s biggest ‘aid donors’ and ‘investors’ through the remittances we send, our trading activities, and so on, it’s important that we come together to reflect on how best to respond more strategically to what our counterparts at home are telling us,” said Gibril Faal, chair of AFFORD’s board and himself a business advisor and consultant.

The Africans most actively involved in supporting the continent’s development from a distance are extremely diverse, from individual entrepreneurs, students, cleaners, and professionals to hometown and alumni associations, lobby groups, community organizations and associations of professionals. Because each individual or group brings their own experience, ad3 has over the years built a reputation for being highly participatory, interactive and fun.

The day kicks off with numerous hands-on practical masterclasses including business planning, careers in Africa, marketing African arts and culture. Then based on the experience gained from her successful Green Belt Movement, Professor Maathai will deliver an inspiring keynote address at the morning Plenary which also allows for general surfacing of views among the participants.

Professor Mathaai was recently quoted as stating that: “All through the ages the African people have made efforts to deliver themselves from oppressive forces. It is important that a critical mass of Africans do not accept the verdict that the world tries to push down their throat so as to give up and succumb. The struggle must continue. It is important to nurture any new ideas and initiatives which can make a difference for Africa.”

Facilitated workshops which follow after lunch will be the arena for breeding theses new ideas, particularly around building and supporting successful models of enterprise and wealth creation in Africa. Throughout the day participants will have ample opportunities to purchase products and services and learn about the work of African organizations in the African development marketplace.

In contrast to conferences that provide a platform for experts to lecture at passive delegates, ad3 emphasizes the intermingling of different stakeholders and the arrival at commonly understood and shared positions and commitments to act, at individual and organizational levels.

“Because we emphasize shared responsibility and ownership through the participatory approach we take within ad3 we find a stronger commitment among participants to follow through with actions after the event,” explained Alache Ode, AFFORD’s vice-chair and a trainer, community leader and lecturer. In advance of each ad3 Ode organizes training for the volunteer facilitators who are just part of the army of volunteers – many of them young Africans – who make ad3 possible each year.

“Professor Maathai’s message communicates an eloquent testimony to an holistic approach to sustainable development that integrates concerns about the environment, with the livelihoods, well-being, dignity and empowerment of some of society’s most marginalized peoples, with good governance and respect for human rights,” explained Faal of AFFORD. “It is precisely this sort of holistic, integrated framework within which we wish to set an enterprise agenda for the African diaspora’s support for Africa’s development.”

ad3 2005 will nurture new ideas and initiatives that will make a difference for Africa and these will be generated, owned and implemented by Africans themselves. "What is done for the people without involving them cannot be sustained," warns Professor Maathai.

Notes for editors:
The annual African Diaspora & Development Day or ad3 is organized by the London-based African Foundation for Development (AFFORD). This year’s theme is “Enterprise Africa! Mobilizing the African diaspora’s resources to create enterprises, jobs & wealth in Africa”. The event will take place between 8.30am and 6pm on Saturday 2 July at The Rocket, 166-220 Holloway Road N7 8DB. The event will be followed by an Afro Rhymes & Rhythms session with DJs from the Shakara group from 7.00pm until late.

Honourable Professor Wangari Maathai is Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources, Republic of Kenya; Member of Parliament, Tetu Constituency, Nyeri District, Republic of Kenya; Founder and Former Coordinator, the Green Belt Movement.

In 2004 Professor Maathai became the first environmentalist and first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2004 to Wangari Maathai for her holistic approach to sustainable development, democracy and peace. She is also President of the African Union's Interim General Assembly of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC).

According to the Greater London Authority, “black businesses make up 3% of all London’s businesses. 29% of black business owners are women – the highest rate of ownership among women of any ethnic group. Black owned businesses provide over 40,000 jobs and have a total turnover of almost £1.8 billion (and growing).” Some 28 percent of these businesses are owned by black Africans (3,000 businesses) and mixed white and black Africans own 9 percent (900).

The World Bank estimated remittances – monies sent by migrant or diaspora individuals and communities to counterparts in their countries of origin – channelled via formal channels at $72 billion in 2001 and $93 billion in 2003. Globally, remittances significantly exceed global aid flows (roughly $52 billion and $69 billion in the respective years). The majority of remittances flow through informal channels that do not easily lend themselves to data collection. Some analysts estimate total remittance flows to exceed $300 billion a year. Speaking to Ghanaians in London in 2003, President John Kufuor thanked Ghanaians abroad for their remittances, which he said the Bank of Ghana had tracked and found to exceed the $1 billion mark [“Kufuor Expresses Gratitude to Ghanaians Abroad And Asks for More,” Accra Mail (Accra) February 25 2003)]

A study commissioned in 2004 by the Department for International Development estimated at ?1.4 billion the total remittances flowing out of the UK toward developing countries, with ?0.5 billion of this total flowing out through informal mechanisms. [See “Informal remittances from the UK:
Values, Flows and Mechanisms - A report to DFID, March 2004, Michael Blackwell & David Seddon, Overseas Development Group, Norwich]

AFFORD’s recent achievements include
Supported creation of two leading diaspora networks - African Diaspora Voices for Africa's Development (ADVAD); Connections for Development
Provided Africa-related careers training for nearly 100 young Africans in London & secured internships in four African countries for young diasporic Africans
Contributed to & helped shape policy debates around migration/diaspora & development with recommendations helping to influence government & funder policies
Helped to place & keep the African diaspora's contribution to Africa's development firmly on the policy agenda
Helped over 100 African diaspora organizations build their capacity as development agencies
Initiated the UK's first award ceremony for Africans in the diaspora contributing to Africa's development
Pioneered widely emulated models of mobilizing the African diaspora thru initiation of the precursor to the African Diaspora & Development Day in 2000
Developed one of the UK's widest networks of African diaspora organizations & individuals working for Africa's development.

For more information please contact:
Onyekachi Wambu
AFFORD
ad3 2005
31-33 Bondway, Vauxhall Cross, London SW8 1SJ
Tel: +44 (0)20 7587 3905
Fax: +44 (0)20 7587 3919
[email protected] or check the website: www.afford-uk.org