By DaQuan Lawrence, Politics Reporter,
Howard University
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) recently held the first in-person session since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Officials arrived on Sept. 13 at the UN Headquarters in New York City for the 77th session.
Members of the UNGA, world leaders and key officials from historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) held a side meeting and discussed HBCUs role in world affairs, education and development initiatives in Africa.
The discussion took place from Sept. 26 to Sept. 27, and was held at the Permanent Observer Mission of the African Union in New York City, organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Bureau for Africa, the African Union (AU) and the Office of Historically Black Colleges and Universities Development & International Cooperation (OHBCUD) and included virtual participants.
The theme of the two-day meeting was “Diaspora for Development: Leveraging Africa’s Sixth Region to Realize the Continent’s Promise.”
The discussion featured Ambassador Fatima Kyari Mohammed who serves as Permanent Observer of the AU to the United Nations, senior African leaders, prominent international scholars, development practitioners, as well as development partners and civil society representatives. The international and virtual audience included approximately 1500 participants.
Participants from HBCUs included Dr. Jo Ann Rolle, dean of the School of Business at Medgar Evers College, Dr. Charles Richardson, dean of the School of Business at Alabama A&M University, Dr. Isaac McCoy, dean of the School of Business at Stillman College, Dr. Fikru Boghossian of Morgan State University’s School of Business, as well as Mr. Ron Price of Texas Southern University’s Board of Regents and Dr. Lamin Drammeh, director of strategic initiatives, evaluation, and external affairs at South Carolina State University.
Rolle also serves as the president of the HBCU Business Deans Roundtable and focused on the collaborative potential of HBCUs in her keynote address. Speakers on the first day included Mohammed, Drammeh, Boghossian and Price as well as Dr. Raymond Gilpin, who serves as chief economist of the Regional Bureau for Africa at UNDP, and Dr. Farid Muhammad, who serves as chair of the OHBCUD.
The HBCU Business Deans Roundtable provides a forum for deans of business schools at HBCUs to address challenges and opportunities associated with enhancing business programs. The organization seeks to develop strategic partnerships and alliances with corporations, government and national organizations to provide resources for student success.
Dr. Alem Hailu is an associate professor in Howard University’s African Studies department in Washington, D.C., with experience working with academic, public and non-governmental institutions. Throughout his career, Hailu has been engaged in development, public policy and human security initiatives in Africa and the Global South. He considers the event a significant feat for HBCUs and believes students should pay attention to the UN year-round to stay informed about the international economy and global affairs.
“Students and young people should pay attention to the General Assembly, and [the] UN in particular on an ongoing basis, as leaders, problem solvers and members of the globalized world,” Hailu said. “Young people of African descent have an additional stake as the UN demographic forecast underlines the fact that they will comprise the majority of the global population in the coming decades.”
Gilpin discussed HBCU’s potential to influence world affairs during his remarks.
“We believe that the diaspora and its institutions could be fundamental change agents in terms of the conceptualization of development initiatives across Africa and in terms of the operationalization of these goals,” said Dr. Gilpin. “We look forward to working very closely with HBCU colleagues and with the African Union, permanent mission here in New York to accomplish these goals. We all know that this is not something any one institution is going to be able to do on its own.”
Boghossian echoed Rolle’s demand for increased partnerships among HBCU in their engagement with African states. “I’m suggesting HBCUs start collaborating among ourselves and deliver whatever expertise we have to the continent,” he said. “The approach could be divided into regions or subjects, but we need not compete among ourselves. We need to collaborate on how we can do it more efficiently and effectively and deliver what is required.”
Panelists on day two discussed how HBCUs can use their business-school expertise to help African governments and the AU harness the potential financial resources of the African diaspora, and how collaboration between HBCUs, the private sector and African universities can help address development challenges on the African continent.
Samuel Anthony is from Tuscaloosa, Ala., and currently a junior African American and African studies major at Howard. Anthony believes world leaders should focus on improving the relationship between the West and African states and focus on issues of significance.
“In the past three years, the relationship between the metropolitan states and satellites has shifted further into a space of parasitism. We must examine Africa’s relationship to the world and how it got there and formulate transformative solutions that might require us to relinquish the comfort we have been afforded at the demise of Africa,” Anthony said. The conveners of the sessions believe HBCUs are strategically located to work with UNDP, the AU and African countries to improve social and economic conditions and these institutions include useful centers for Africa’s progress towards UN Agenda 2030 and AU Agenda 2063, respectively. A McKinsey study recently showed that graduates of HBCUs and predominantly Black institutions in the U.S. have higher socio-economic mobility opposed to African Americans who attend predominantly White institutions.
Help us Continue to tell OUR Story and join the AFRO family as a member – subscribers are now members! Join here!