March 27 2012 
By Jacqueline Muna Musiitwa and Charles Wachira


This piece was originally written by DAWNer Jacqueline Musiitwa in the IOL News. The original post can be read here. 



South Africa's election into the Brics bloc of big emerging economies (along with Brazil, Russia, India and China) comes with many expectations and obligations.

As Africa's only Brics member, we need to ask whether SA's inclusion is solely for its own benefit or as the gateway to the rest of Africa, as SA would have us believe.

There are many reasons, however, why SA should not be considered the world's gateway to Africa.

As different countries and regions in Africa continue to improve their individual competitiveness, the need for a gateway is being diminished.

Proposing SA as a gateway implies that African countries are not capable of accessing the world, which is not the case.

African countries are making great strides to integrate into the global economy.

Further, SA does not have sufficient soft power to act as a gateway between Africa and the world.

And finally, SA has myriad domestic issues that hinder it from being a continental gateway.

SA has the highest GDP in Africa, but it must be asked how long it can maintain its lead.

Other parts of the continent are continuing to integrate, increasingly operating as unified trading blocs linked by efficient transport systems, an uninterrupted and affordable supply of electricity, and telecommunications.

Other countries are also eliminating barriers to trade. If SA does not improve its competitiveness, it might flounder.

Furthermore, many African countries are taking advantage of their links to China and India.

Ethiopia, for example, is increasingly diversifying its economy and expanding growth after the global recession, which continues to diminish SA's economic power.

The Economist recently ranked the world's fastest-growing GDPs from 2001 to 2015, and SA was not on its list.

So why would the rest of Africa need SA as its gateway? Other African countries need to focus on increasing their own competitiveness in order to attract more investment for their development directly.

Nigeria, an African country that did make it onto The Economist's list of fastest-growing economies, is continuously ranked as the second largest African economy behind SA.

Considering its large population, a rapidly growing middle class, an increase in domestic industries and the expansion of Nigerian companies across the continent, Nigeria is a force to be reckoned with, especially as it is expected to restructure the basis of its GDP calculation, enabling it to pass SA in 2014 - a major psychological barrier.

However, like SA, Nigeria is plagued by corruption and crime. Nevertheless, as evident on the streets of Lagos, which are overflowing with businesses of all sizes, Nigerians are an entrepreneurial people, very focused on making money by whatever means necessary.

This contrasts sharply with SA, which is likely to be distracted for some time by major disputes over issues such as nationalisation, the legacy of apartheid and distributing wealth to the marginalised.

For SA to be a successful gateway to Africa, the Africans on the other side of the fence, so to speak, must agree to confer on it that status.

While it is true that SA has been the default “Africa brand” on such matters as hosting international sporting events, Africa has never chosen SA to be its stepping stone on other matters.

SA's failure to win anything close to the support needed to get Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma elected as chairwoman of the African Union Commission in January was a glaring demonstration of the weakness of Pretoria's soft power.

SA's “exceptionalism”, which often causes South Africans to talk about Africa as though it was another continent, also counts against this country being accepted by other Africans as their gateway.

At its extreme, of course, this sense of otherness manifests itself as xenophobia, a disease which doesn't seem to want to go away.

SA also has to solve its many domestic issues before taking on Africa's problems. Since the ANC took power in 1994, unemployment has increased substantially, while the few who have the right political connections have grown immensely wealthy.

With about 20 percent of the population owning 80 percent of the country's wealth, future political stability is becoming a growing issue for investors - as is crime, especially violent crime.

Though official figures claim a small decline of just over 6 percent in murders in the year to March 2011 compared to the previous year, even the government acknowledges that rape is increasing. A survey by the Community of Information, Empowerment and Transparency in SA of 4 000 women indicated that one in three had been raped. Coupled with SA's status as having the highest number of HIV infections in the world, this is not attractive to foreign business people.

SA needs to shake off its complacency. Other countries on the continent are finding solutions to their own problems and are prospering. This is reflected by progress in Rwanda, Botswana, Zambia and elsewhere.

Due to globalisation and technological advances, African countries do not need a go-between. African countries are ready to face the world, on their own, regionally and continentally.

*Jacqueline Muna Musiitwa is founder of Hoja Law Group and a Mo Ibrahim Leadership fellow at the World Trade Organisation.

Charles Wachira is a journalist in Kenya.

I am not an African, but in the two years of my Peace Corps service in Cameroon, I had fallen in love with the African people. Like most naive twentysomethings who set out to go “change the world”, I was humbled by my time in Cameroon. The country changed me in more ways than one. I barely made a dent in changing my village, much less the world.

I discovered Africa beyond the mainstream portrait of the continent. Africa is a massive place, and while civil wars, famines, and the like do still exist in parts of the continent, the Western media somehow rarely highlights the incredible growth that is taking place in this part of the world. In working with the Cameroonian people, they taught me the realities of African life. Western solutions to problems often do not align with these African realities. Western perceptions of Africans often belittle the incredible motivation, pride, and ingenuity that many Africans possess.

I taught business classes to my villagers. Sure, a little accounting and marketing skills are helpful, but my villagers know the landscape of operating business in Cameroon far beyond my knowledge. At the end of the day, they know what works. Africans know what they need to fix their problems. That’s not to say that problems are easy to fix and foreigners should back off completely. But it is time for the world to give Africans a lot more credit and recognize their own power to develop their own countries.

Articles like The Hopeful Continent: Africa Rising in The Economist gives me hope that the international community are finally recognizing the many positive aspects of African growth. But what will it take for Africa to reclaim its on power? And what is the role of the international community in this process?

Columbia University’s 2012 African Economic Forum will address exactly these questions. The theme this year is Africa Reclaiming Africa: Changing the Rules of Engagement. I hope you will join us in this discussion and network with the Continent’s finest at our formal gala on April 13-14th, 2012. For more information and to register, visit http://www.aef2012.com.

To read the original post from the Christian Science Monitor, click here. 

By Semhar Araia

This week’s biggest Africa news isn’t from Africa. It’s from a massive online and social media campaign launched by the US group Invisible Children to capture indicted war criminal and Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony.

As with their previous campaigns Displace Me & How it Ends, Invisible Children launched Stop Kony 2012 on Tuesday to mobilize the next generation of young Americans to help end the conflict in northern Uganda. Except this time, they called on their mostly white, privileged and educated youth followers to get involved through web-activism on their Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and YouTube accounts. 

It all begins with a remarkable 30 minute video highlighting the instantaneous & hyper-connected world we live in. Founder Jason Russell narrates, stating “there are more people on Facebook than there were in the world 200 years ago” and that “humanity’s greatest desire is to belong and connect”. He may be right. In just two days, it has been viewed 32 million times and quickly grabbed the attention of personalities such as Oprah Winfrey, Van Jones, Sean Combs and Rihanna.

It is a powerful example of how social media, art and activism can merge to mobilize privileged people into action and how open-minded Americans want a safer, fairer and more prosperous world.

I appreciate their role. They are reaching a core constituency -- many of whom have never thought about these issues before -- and getting them to care about Africa. But caring is no longer enough. 

Sadly, there are concerns that history may be repeating itself, as seen in responses from emerging African diaspora leaders Solome Lemma and TMS Ruge.

Of course Joseph Kony should be captured. But this approach is flawed. The video shows only a Western audience, without any reference to African partners or leaders.  They are disempowering and undermining the role of Africans. They failed to recognize the role of individuals like Betty Bigombe, a long-time Ugandan activist or seek partnerships with African organizations for the launch, such as Ushahidi or Africans Act for Africa. 

Invisible Children and other Africa-focused advocacy organizations should deliver more sophisticated, nuanced, and respectful  narratives that recognize capturing Kony is a collective responsibility and that Africans must play the primary role in bringing peace in the region.

Calling for the use of the latest technology, tools and organizing tactics to attract millions of peope who have never heard of Kony before (as they say, 99% of the world) into action is exciting. But for Africa’s sake, it is no longer enough.  

On its face, it’s eerily reminiscent of previous Africa advocacy movements, such as Save Darfur in its early days: grand public launches, with minimal partnership and little substance. Dangerous. Whether they meant it to or not, whatever the intentions, it ends up looking like yet another Western campaign to help Africans who can’t help themselves. Africa can’t be handled that way anymore. 

Besides the most obvious concern of another “white savior” narrative for Africa (complete with a young blonde child learning of Africa’s “good guys” and “bad guys’), there’s an absence of depth and deference to the power of Africans who are standing up for themselves. There’s also a complete failure to recognize the role the Ugandan government has had and should have in protecting its citizens and ending the conflict. 

Invisible must be careful not to sell a simple narrative, raise unreasonably high expectations of the conflict’s resolution, ignore the power and agency of Africans on the ground or rely too much on Western solutions and audiences.  They must do better. 

The anti-apartheid movement of the 80s, the debt relief movement of the 90s and the Save Darfur movement just a few years ago, showed us that legislation, peace agreements, foreign aid and ICC arrest warrants don’t always end suffering. For conflict zones like this, there must be global political will focused on long-term security, peacebuilding, development and investment in local leadership and capacity building. 

We also now know that young people’s minds are open and hungry. They should be inspired by knowing Africa is empowered, saving itself and working with partners to remove Kony. That is the real story.  

Invisible must be willing to take their followers on a journey through the Africa that Africans know. They must be willing to inspire - but also to  manage - their followers’ expectations. They must be willing to use their media to amplify African voices, not simply their own.  

This isn’t about them. 

Lastly, this campaign must be better at representing and working with a more accurate reflection of young America. This includes diverse voices, communities of color and new Americans. African-American organizations, historically black colleges and universities and African diaspora groups are missing from the video. Additionally, Invisible’s own US-based staffing and board of directors lack the requisite diversity and representation where critical decisions are made. 

I want Kony captured and I hope everyone uses their power to push our governments to act. But when I say everyone, I mean everyone. 

Including, and most importantly, Africans. 

To date, Columbus Metropolitan Library has raised almost $1.5 million to fund the Ready to Read Corps – nearly $1 million from grants and the rest were donations from United Way of Central Ohio, the Siemer Family Foundation, JPMorgan Chase and Nationwide Insurance Foundation. I believe that education is the great equalizer and I am grateful that Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Ready to Read Corps has allowed me this wonderful opportunity to make such a positive impact in the community.

Beyond my current work with Columbus Metropolitan Library, I have been highly involved in Somali diaspora issues. I believe that diaspora communities in America have the unique ability to form a critical link to, and have an impact in, their countries of origin. I co-founded End Famine (www.endfamine.com), a grassroots advocacy and fundraising initiative, to mobilize American and Somali communities to fundraise for famine relief and raise awareness of the impact of extreme poverty and the famine in the Horn of Africa. End Famine also seeks to support short-term and sustainable long-term solutions to famine through partnerships with local NGOs and increasing local ownership of relief efforts.

Somali-Americans as a whole are highly committed to addressing poverty in Somalia whether it is through sending remittances or volunteer work. When the greatest famine in the history of Somalia occurred in 2011, Somali-Americans of all backgrounds stepped up to provide famine relief. I am inspired by these everyday heroes and changemakers that are winning the future by uplifting and engaging their communities in service work.  These heroes are Somali-Americans such as Hibak Kalfan, the co-founder and President of The African Future, and community activists in Ohio such as Roda Olad and Sahra Ahmed who worked tirelessly to fundraise for emergency relief efforts in Somalia. I co-founded Iftiin, the Somali Forum for Leadership and Development (www.iftiinleadership.org) to bring such Somalia diaspora changemakers together to find solutions to the issues affecting Somalia diaspora communities and to build better Somali leaders.

I strongly believe that in order to win the future, we as a country should support the future success of American children by investing in education and early literacy. As a Somali-American, I am deeply committed in working to reduce economic disparities and poverty in America and extreme poverty in Somalia and the Horn of Africa.

Sagal Ali is a Program Lead with the Ready to Read Corps, an early literacy initiative of Columbus Metropolitan Library that seeks to improve educational outcomes for low-income communities. Ali is also co-founder of Iftiin, the Somali Forum for Leadership and Developmentt.

By DAWNer Solome Lemma

This blog was originally posted on the White House Champion of Change Blog. Click here to read the original post.

When I left Ethiopia for the United States at the age of 11, I promised that I would return and give back. What a tremendous honor today to be recognized as a Champion of Change alongside a dynamic group of leaders with roots in the Horn of Africa. For the Diaspora, our engagement in social change is inextricably wedded to our lived experiences and personal connections with Africa. One of the most valuable contributions we can make to our communities is to own and tell our stories in whole, placing our work in the context of our personal narratives.

Since I left Ethiopia, I have traveled to and/or worked in approximately 25 countries throughout Africa. I have lived in both disenfranchised inner city neighborhoods and middle class suburban towns across America. I have attended underfunded ESL programs as well as the most elite Universities. Through these encounters, my sense of identity has also expanded and contracted, occupying multiple “minority” statuses as a black woman, an African among Black Americans, and an Oromo, a historically marginalized ethnic group, among Ethiopians.

As I traversed these complex layers of identities, communities, and places, I grappled with questions about the nature and focus of my contribution. Where is community and home? What is the most appropriate and effective role for me in the US, Ethiopia, and Africa? Where do I add the most value and why?Over the past decade, I explored these questions through different academic and career lenses, working with grassroots, international, multilateral, advocacy, and philanthropic organizations.

What did I learn? Identity is fluid, dynamic, inclusive, and ever-evolving. Home and community are made over time and with experience and mine are found in and between many parts of Africa and North America. As Diaspora Africans, our lived and indigenous knowledge of Africa—coupled with our financial, intellectual, and human capital—gives us a unique perspective and platform in social change. We play critical roles as intermediaries of ideas, people, communities, and institutions that do not or cannot talk to one another.

We are intermediaries of access and opportunity.I spent over five years overseeing the Africa portfolio at The Global Fund for Children (GFC), a public foundation that invests in innovative grassroots organizations that work directly with vulnerable children and youth. Examples of these trailblazing organizations include: Horn Relief, a Somali-led organization, which has addressed environmental and sustainable development issues in the Horn of Africa region since 1991; Nia Foundation, which runs the first school for children with autism in Ethiopia; and Center for Domestic Training and Development, which is working to standardize and professionalize an unregulated domestic work industry in Kenya. In this role, I was able to facilitate access to funding for African organizations that are at the forefront of social change in their communities but limited in their financial reach and networks.

We are intermediaries of culture and representation.When news of the recent famine and drought in the Horn of Africa broke, many of us in the Diaspora cringed immediately at the disparaging ways in which the region was represented. The stories and images in the media often denied subjects their dignity and humanity and focused exclusively on lack and victimhood. In response, we created HornLight.org, an online platform that promotes nuanced, diverse, and dignified narratives on the Horn of Africa.

We are connectors that can transfer and translate knowledge, skills, and resources to and from the continent.The global African Diaspora sends over $40 billion in remittances each year. We are an indispensable stakeholder and partner in African development, though we are not always visible or integrated in conversations around development, philanthropy, and policy. On the other side, throughout Africa, there are a countless number of social change organizations and ventures that are tackling the most pressing challenges in their communities through innovative programming. Although they’re engaged in transformational work, they don’t always have access to resources.

Currently, I am working with a colleague, Zanele Sibanda, to establish an organization that connects the skills and resources of the Diaspora with the knowledge and innovation of Africa-based organizations. Once launched, Africans in the Diaspora (AiD) will provide a platform for the Diaspora community to invest in and volunteer with indigenous social change organizations and ventures, thereby unleashing the Diaspora’s collective intellectual and philanthropic capital to advance sustainable social and economic development in Africa.

What inspired an 11-year old to make a grand statement about giving back? I was leaving behind friends who were eager to receive a better education, relatives who were hungry for work, and a community that wanted sound leadership. With my newfound access and opportunity, I wanted to give back to the very people who gave to me. After all, development is personal.

Solome Lemma is a philanthropist, activist, and organizer and co-founder of HornLight. She currently serves as a grantmaking program advisor at The Global Fund for Children (GFC).

By DAWNer Semhar Araia


This blog was originally posted on the White House Champion of Change Blog. Click here to read the original post.

If I were to tell a 10-year old girl in Middle America that she, the daughter of African immigrants, would one day start her own organization focused on women and girls like her and it would one day be recognized by the White House, she probably wouldn’t believe me.  She’d probably think it would be just a dream because she’d never seen it happen before.  Until now.

As a member of the Horn of Africa diaspora, as an Eritrean-American, and as the founder of the Diaspora African Women’s Network, I am humbled and honored to be selected as a White House Champion of Change.  I am proud to share my story & offer you a glimpse into a community I care so much about.  I am even more proud to share this moment with my fellow Horn of Africa diaspora colleagues, who I know also share the same passion for this region as I do. 

When most people hear of the Horn of Africa, they tend to think of chillingly negative images of suffering, famine and war. Maybe even pirates or Black Hawk Down.  They miss the brighter moments of opportunity, success & resilience.  The Horn of Africa is a beautifully proud, complex, and rich region. But it’s had limited success in showing its strengths against these negative stereotypes.

I am the daughter of Eritrean immigrants. My parents came to the States in the late 1960s for education and work.  I was raised to be proud of my heritage and developed an early and loving relationship with our homeland. I learned everything I could about our history, culture, language and our 30-year struggle for independence from Ethiopia. There were countless days I’d share Eritrea’s story with as many people as I could.  It was a love affair of the best kind.

Ultimately, I took my love and tested it by moving to Eritrea to work for two years.  It was there I learned that I was just as much American as I was Eritrean, that I carried habits from both worlds, and that I didn’t have to pick one over the other to define who I was.  I could have and enjoy both!  

I returned to the States eager to take these lessons to task and find other women like me.  Within weeks, I met women whose identities, beliefs and professions were simultaneously rooted in Africa and America, as mine were.  We instantly bonded.  It was a great feeling.  I had somehow tapped into a hidden gem, discovering a part of America and Africa’s diverse social fabric that I dreamt about as a little girl, and finally discovered it for myself.

In 2007, I decided to invite the women to a dinner so we could begin meeting regularly. Now, we are DAWN, or the Diaspora African Women’s Network, a volunteer-run organization whose mission is to support women and girls of the African diaspora focused on African affairs.  Our goal is to connect, empower and elevate the role and contributions of African diaspora women in African affairs while celebrating our rich diversity and excellence. DAWN provides Africa-related networking, leadership, mentorship and professional development opportunities for our members as well as host regular private events and community service projects. 

Our members are inspiring, phenomenal, passionate next generation leaders of African descent. We are American and African, hailing from both continents by way of citizenship, birth or culture.  We represent 28 African countries, the United States, the Caribbean, South America, Europe and the Middle East.  Each woman is a proven diaspora community leader with professional focus on African affairs.  Most are in careers that are often underrepresented in our diaspora communities, such as public policy, international development, journalism, communications, government, and nonprofit management.

I want to show that Africa’s greatest strength is its people and communities everywhere.  Being in the diaspora is about owning and sharing your heritage, embracing your multiculturalism and building bridges between your communities and homelands. I want to show that the Horn of Africa is full of bright minds & leaders. It is not a place of misfortune and misery. And most of all, I want to show that 10-year old girl in Middle America, whose parents are African immigrants, that she can do whatever she sets her mind to because she can and because she matters. 

Semhar Araia is founder and Executive Director of the Diaspora African Women's Network (DAWN), an organization whose mission is to develop and support talented women and girls of the African diaspora focused on African affairs. 

By DAWNers Hassanatu and Hussainatu Blake

January was declared by President Barack Obama National Slavery and Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Now that the month has concluded, what do we really know about this global issue?

According to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC), Human Trafficking is an act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring or receiving a person through a use of force, coercion or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them.  Commonly labeled as “Modern Day Slavery,” this social issue affects nearly every country in the world and impacts everyone, especially women and youth. Approximately 800,000 people are trafficked annually with 2.4 million people living as modern day slaves and a global enterprise worth in the region of US$ 32 billion[1].

However, with these statistics, human trafficking is still taboo to many. The need to bring attention to this issue and educate the public about what it is, what it looks like, and its causes, can help to tackle and prevent human trafficking in communities. Collaborations are imperative to provide additional and effective interventions to address the matter.

To assist in increasing awareness around human trafficking, our non-profit organization, Focal Point Global, has partnered with local organizations in cities where human trafficking is prevalent - Atlanta, GA and Bamenda, Cameroon. Focal Point Global’s US-Cameroon Child Trafficking Awareness Project will launch on Saturday, February 4, 2012 and empowers youth in Atlanta and Bamenda to become more aware of the problem, understand how culture and community impact child trafficking, and collaborate with one another to minimize this epidemic. The project will include Atlanta organizations such as Young, Fit and Fly, and Innocence Atlanta; and Bamenda organizations GLOWA Cameroon and YCW Cameroon.

Help educate people about human trafficking by getting involved and staying informed. Learn more about Focal Point Global and its project by visiting www.focalpointglobal.org.

Hassanatu and Hussainatu Blake, Founders and Executive Directors of Focal Point Global, a 501c3 non-profit organization using global education and technology to link, educate, and mobilize underserved youth in the US and African countries on global issues.

[1] Statistics from United Nations Office of on Drugs and Crimes and International Office of Migration

By Semhar Araia
January 12, 2012

This was originally posted on the Royal African Society's African Arguments Diaspora Debate Blog. Readers are welcome to post their comments here. 


Beyond the broad categorizations of the African diaspora and rhetorical questions posed by Dele Fatunla in his blog post, “What’s Diaspora Got To Do With It?”, he raises an important and timely question about what role the African diaspora plays and should play in supporting Africa’s growth.

Fatunla correctly lists remittances, tourism and brain drain as areas where diaspora have proven to have a critical impact in Africa, albeit sporadic at times.  These are the most recognizable ways in which diaspora relate with Africa.  They are not comparable to the experience of day-to-day living in Africa, but as a member of the diaspora that once relocated to my ancestral homeland of Eritrea for two years and currently spends half my time on the continent, I know there are additional ways Africans abroad are making an impact in Africa.

Before we explore those examples, it’s worth noting that Fatunla fails to define who exactly the diaspora is within the context of his analysis.  It is overly simplistic and dangerous to suggest they are “a group of people who by and large fled the continent when it was most in need, and returned when it least needs them”. The diaspora must be disaggregated into its many parts and identify what contributions they actually are providing.

To begin, the “African diaspora” is not monolithic.  We are a diverse, multifaceted & multigenerational demographic spanning every continent and socioeconomic status.  There are exhaustive studies by the World Bank, Migration Policy Institute, DFID and countless NGOs exploring this definition.  Many diaspora left home or were raised abroad for a variety of reasons, including war, conflict, insecurity or the lack of economic opportunity.  Yet we remain connected with our homelands.  Others grew up abroad and maintained a relationship with the continent by any means, either through regular visits, community language school or establishing transnational business ties.  Even more significant however are the emerging diaspora youth leaders raised abroad and seeking to forge deeper relationships with their homelands, as will be revealed later in this piece.

The other shortcoming with What’s Diaspora Got to Do With It is that it falls completely short on recognizing the diaspora’s added value – which is far beyond economic remittances and sporadic tourism.  Even though remittances continue to be the largest form of diaspora contributions, amounting to roughly $40 billion a year to support livelihoods and development, it is not the only form of significant deliverables from diaspora.

The last decade’s sudden explosion of technology, social media and new models for change has resulted in more contributions from the diaspora, particularly around long term development and advocacy.  Here are just a few examples:

1.      Promoting development:  Through innovation, broad based networks, and tried and true outreach, diaspora are taking their love for Africa and applying it with ingenuity for good.  Diaspora entrepreneurs and organizations are widening spaces in the continent for African-led development and growth. Initiatives such asVillages in Action, Shea Yeleen, Sierra Visions, Face Africa, and Akili Dada are just a few of the successful diaspora efforts launched in Africa with local communities.  With each example, these organizations were founded by diaspora who arrived to the States at a young age, or were educated abroad, or were raised entirely abroad.  The new face of diaspora and development is continuing to change.

2.      Support for humanitarian emergencies: When disaster strikes, Africa’s greatest resource has consistently proven to be its people.  Diaspora groups are a crucial lifeline to access those in need, by sending messages and delivering help.  The current drought ravaging East Africa spurred Africans on the continent and abroad into action.  Within weeks, Kenyans, South Africans, Nigerians, the broader Horn of Africa diaspora and more helped to raise millions of dollars for relief.  Somalia’s famine motivated Somalis abroad to relocate and help people most in need.  Efforts such as the Global Somali Response is one of many incredible examples of partnership and support.  Again, another organization founded by a next generation diaspora leader.

3.      Building bridges between Africans & non-Africans: Africa is not bound by its borders.  As Nigerian-American journalist Dayo Olopade calls it, Africa is the “Bright Continent”. Its people are a rich source of energy, life and innovation.  They are the bridges between countries and continents.  By celebrating our rich cultural heritage, diversity and histories, relationships are forged with foreigners, including those unable to visit the continent themselves. Photos and stories are shared in the halls of the diaspora community center.  Myths are dispelled. Messages are conveyed. And stereotypes are broken.



4.      Adding new layers to the African narrative: Stories of Africa’s development and its needs must be told by those on the continent first, but diaspora do help facilitate those stories. They add a deeper layer to Africa’s story and are an asset.  As diaspora groups grow in presence and participation, so too will these narratives. In addition to storytelling, diaspora owned businesses, faith based groups, community organizations, youth associations, and private enterprises are eager to carry Africa’s message to newcomers and supporters alike.

5.      Helping to shape Western & regional foreign policy agendas and offering models of civic participation:  New advocacy groups, civic associations and diaspora networks have also flourished in the West, particularly around conflict resolution, networking and economic trade with the continent.  Assuming diaspora apply effective advocacy strategies, they can help shape foreign policy priorities and shift analyses for Africa’s betterment.  Governments, organizations and decisionmakers recognize this power and potential of the African diaspora. They understand that beyond their wallets, diaspora are legitimate stakeholders in Africa’s future.  The African Union has already declared the African diaspora as the Sixth Region of the AU.  The United States, United Kingdom, and various African countries have also created initiatives and opportunities to engage with diaspora directly.

I agree with Fatunla’s premise that more investment must be made in Africa’s leaders on the continent to create the next generation of Adichies, Okollahs, Iewalas, and yes The Elders.

But having worked for and traveled with The Elders myself, and having had the chance to learn from African leaders in the diaspora, I can personally attest to the power and notion of Ubuntu: I am because you are.  It is clear that diaspora have quite a lot to do with Africa because Africa has quite a lot to do with the diaspora.

Semhar Araia is founder & executive director of DAWN, the Diaspora African Women’s Network.

December 28, 2011

Dear Friends, 

It's been a very long six months for DAWN. Certainly far too long since we sent our last newsletter! When I returned from Kenya in late July, I became immersed with my work at Oxfam around the massive emergency in East Africa, where 13 million people across five east African countries have been facing the worst drought in sixty years and millions in southern Somalia were suffering from famine, both which still continue to this day. 

Like so many other African diaspora, I found myself personally and professionally pulled between my life here and the needs there. I couldn't focus on much else and the crisis became all I could think about. My heart and mind were heavy with the massive needs of 13 million people.  As a result, DAWN had to switch gears and we laid low with our outreach and marketing while our programs continued. 

I realized that for real change and impact, my heart and attention must continue with DAWN and the diaspora, fully and completely. That's why I've decided to leave my policy work in DC and make it official.  We are finally becoming a full time non-profit organization and will expand nationally in the new year.

As of January 2012, I'll be based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, home to one of the largest Horn of Africa and Liberian diaspora communities in the United States, and continue building DAWN's foundation. Our DC chapter will continue and we look forward to starting chapters in other cities, like New York and San Francisco.  

As I read this month's special newsletter, I'm very proud of DAWN's accomplishments and thankful to be around so many strong women. In five months, we were featured in more media, we launched a new event for our Twitter friends, presented at a major conference, and held two community service project fundraisers ! All the while celebrating our fourth birthday!I thank you for believing in us and supporting DAWN over the years. 

If you would like to help us with our expansion, as a volunteer, advisor, or future donor, please contact us at info@dawners.org!  2012 is the year for more great things to come and we are ready for it!  Like our saying goes, we must be Fearless in Our Excellence!

Thank you,

Semhar Araia 
Executive Director and Founder of DAWN 

By DAWNer Solome Lemma

Born into a nomadic, pastoral family and motivate by love for the fragile, semi-arid landscape and the pastoral way of life, Fatima Jibrell of Somalia has dedicated her life to the preservation of the natural environment in Somalia. 

1n 1993, Fatima founded Horn Relief, a non-profit organization, to mobilize local and international resources for protection of the fragile pastoral environment in Somalia. In the late 1990s, Fatima organized and advocated against unrestricted use of charcoal in Puntland.  

Through Fatima's powerful advocacy, the Puntland regional government of northeast Somalia was persuaded to prohibit export of charcoal through the port of Bosasso in 2002. This has reduced charcoal exports by 80 percent.  In 2004, Fatima established Sun Fire Cooking to promote solar alternatives to charcoal cooking. Bender Bayla in Somalia is the first solar cooking village in the world. By 2007, Sun Fire had distributed over 1,000 solar cookers to villages.

I nominated Fatima for the National Geographic Conservation Award, which she received in 2008. When we met then, she told me she had just completed a first-hand assessment of the environmental degradation along the Somali coastline. She walked the coastline-a journey of about 100 miles, I believe-for days for this assessment. She was 60 or so at the time!

In an era when Somalia's public image has been reduced to conflict and piracy, Somalis need and deserve recognition of someone that represents their very best efforts in working for peace and restoring their ravaged natural, social, and political environments.

Fatima Jibrell has shown through her life and work that she represents the best aspects of Somali pastoralist culture, peace building, love for the natural environment, and belief in Islam as a religion of caring and commitment. A true African heroine!