The Online Reflector

Several University of Indianapolis graduate students helped Sagamore Institute launch its “Indiana-Africa Connections Project,” a database listing hundreds of organizations and citizens in the state who regularly collaborate with and aid groups in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Second year graduate student Wesley Cate heard about the project in one of his classes, and quickly sent his resume to Sagamore, eager to get started on the work. He’s been working for the institute since January. According to Cate, the project is an example of a case study in the emerging approach to foreign aid.

“In the past, foreign aid has typically been given through the government, which is called official development aid,” Cate said. “There have been a lot of dollars poured into the developing world—over the last 50 years, it’s been $2.3 trillion from Western countries. There’s been little to show for that. It has not been effective.”

Because of this seeming ineffectiveness, the Indiana-Africa Connections Project focuses its attention solely on non-governmental aid, including philanthropy, volunteerism and business investment.

According to Cate, the goal of the project itself is to leverage and mobilize the unofficial private contributions within the state.

Second-year graduate student Sarah McMains also began working on the project in January.

“I got involved because researching Africa is one of my main interests and a major reason why I decided to study international relations,” McMains said. “This project is great because it allows for synergy between organizations. They can share resources and work on projects together.”

Spearheaded by Sagamore Senior Fellow Donald Cassell, the project resulted in a database designed to organize efforts, reduce redundancy and open a line of communication between these organizations. Although they weren’t given much direction to begin with, Cate, McMains and the other students involved managed to help pull together a pretty lengthy list.

“We were given a sheet of paper that said ‘find individuals and organizations in Indiana that are producing meaningful aid,’” Cate said.

Despite the vagueness, the students set to work researching and making contacts.

“It was overwhelming at first and we didn’t realize just how overwhelming it would be until we got started,” McMains said. “We were told to have three entries per week, and at first we thought that was impossible, but we attended different networking events and called lots of people. It was almost like detective work and we really had to be detailed with our research.”

Cate warns that it’s not a comprehensive list and they undoubtedly missed some, but it’s a growing and continuing project. The organizations are categorized as corporation, foundation, private voluntary, religious or universities/colleges.
McMains and Cate feel that they learned a lot about government and so-called do-it-yourself aid.

“Major organizations do good work, but to really make a difference, things need to be carried out at the grassroots level,” McMains said. “‘Grassroot’ has been a buzz word throughout this project.”

A ceremony was held on Oct. 21 at the Levey Mansion to unveil the database, and Indiana Senator Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was present to verbalize his support.

“I applaud the work that has produced the Indiana-Africa Connections Project,” Lugar said. “It is a welcome contribution to strengthening the bonds between our State and the African continent, and it underscores the initiative of many Hoosiers who are engaged with the people of Africa in economic and humanitarian endeavors.”

According to the institute’s Web site, Sagamore is “an Indianapolis-based non-partisan research group—or ‘think tank’—that brings policy makers and practitioners together to turn ideas into action.”