In 2000, APIC continued its program work in outreach and information dissemination, completed an organizational development review with the Management Assistance Group, and appointed Salih Booker as acting executive director with the mandate to manage negotiation of a merger with The Africa Fund and the American Committee on Africa. . Merger negotiations involving all three boards were successfully launched in 2000, and completed in the first quarter of 2001. On March 21, 2001, the new merged organization was launched under the name AFRICA ACTION.

APIC program during the year 2000 included:

* Successful implementation of a successful electronic roundtable discussion in collaboration with the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), entitledInternational Policies, African Realities , which ran from January through April, 2000, involving more than 500 people in Africa, the U.S. and elsewhere in on-line discussions highlighting contributions of African panelists and participants.

* Continued cooperation with the Economic Commission for Africa by providing on-line moderation services for the African Development Forum 2000 from October through December..

* Continued quantitative growth and qualitative improvement in APIC's two well-established electronic communications channels: the Africa Policy Electronic Distribution List and the Africa Policy Web Site ;

* Significant advances in highlighting and framing key issues - particularly health and debt -- through an enhanced media presence.

* Continued strengthening the capacity of the Advocacy Network for Africa (ADNA) for communication and advocacy collaboration, including launching of an APIC-hosted ADNA web site as a sub-site of our website (www.africapolicy.org).

* Continuing the Constituency Assessment Project, designed to get direct feedback from local Africa-interested groups and activists on their needs and their expectations of national Africa-focused groups.

Outline

I. Outreach

Objective: establish new programs of outreach, information exchange and interactive dialogue with domestic and international networks and constituencies

1. International Policies, African Realities: An Electronic Roundtable

2. Constituency Assessment Project

3. Communications facilitation for Advocacy Network for Africa

4. Other outreach activities

II. Information Dissemination

Objective: expand, sharpen and deepen APIC's successful programs of electronic dissemination of information and framing key issues in original publications

1. Africa Policy Electronic Distribution List

2. Africa Policy Web Site

3. Framing Issues

III. Institutional Development

Objective: strengthen institutional capacity, by securing a full complement of professional staff, diversifying funding sources, increasing funding, and improving management

1. Management and Staffing Changes

2. Management Assistance Group / Merger

3. Fundraising

Outreach

Objective: establish new programs of outreach, information exchange and interactive dialogue with domestic and international networks and constituencies

1. International Policies, African Realities: An Electronic Roundtable

This on-line discussion, which ran from January to early May 2000, made a significant advance in the use of electronic communications to provide an electronic space within which African voices can project themselves more forcefully into global and U.S. debates about policies affecting the continent .

The roundtable represented a unique partnership in the history of both APIC and ECA and itself demonstrates how electronic media can make possible collaborations otherwise likely to be inconceivable.

By its conclusion, a total of 549 participants had signed up for the Roundtable. More than one-fifth, counting only from the two-letter country codes on e-mail addresses, were resident in African countries. The actual percentage resident in African countries was much greater, including participants using un.org, hotmail.com and other addresses lacking country codes. The number of messages a day, including panelists' presentations, and remarks by respondents and participants, averaged approximately 2 per day.

Panelists' presentations, as well as a full archive of the discussion, are available on the Roundtable home page (www.africapolicy.org/rtable) . Selected presentations from the first session were produced in February 2000 as a printed background paper, in time for the National Summit on Africa. Finally, an edited version of extracts from the first three sessions is being published on the APIC web site in June 2001, together with reflections on lessons learned from the principal moderators and APIC senior research fellow William Minter.

An e-mail survey of Roundtable participants elicited 100 completed questionnaires. While the return was too small for a statistical analysis of results, it provided significant positive feedback from participants in Africa as well as outside the continent. One participant in South Africa, herself a pioneer in electronic communications in the region, told us "I use African Realities as an example when training civil society organisations in the strategic use of internet tools." .

The Roundtable was designed as a pilot project, and Africa Action does not have immediate plans to replicate the project. However, experience from the Roundtable was incorporated into ECA's ongoing work when ECA requested APIC to designate Karin Santi to step in to assist in moderation of the on-line discussion preceding the African Development Forum 2000 on HIV/AIDS , held in Addis Ababa in December 2000. Ms. Santi was successful in animating a previously slow discussion, and ensuring input from a greater diversity of voices into the ADF discussion, which in turn has had significant impact on the increase in African participation in the international debate on HIV/AIDS.

2. Constituency Assessment Project

The Assessment project - directed and implemented by former APIC executive director Imani Countess - featured focused interviews with activists and others involved in linkages with Africa at local levels to seek their views, activities and needs. It was designed to explore the disconnect between the abundance and diversity of such local activities and the failure of such activities to impact national policy.

A project advisory committee, in addition to APIC staff and other key informants with a national perspective, assisted in evaluating the study design, choice of cities/regions, focus group questions and the interview guide used for semi-structured interviews with invidividuals and groups.

Prior to the National Summit on Africa, select participants covering a diversity of geographical areas and sectors were identified to receive invitations to participate in a focus group during the summit. Two focus groups were held at the Summit in February 2000, with 11 and 7 participants respectively. Participants included men and women, African-Americans, Africans and white Americans. They came from all regions of the U.S. except the southwest, and from the education, government, business and NGO sectors . All but two had worked or lived in Africa.

Four field trips to specific regions were carried out during the year: (1) the Research Triangle area in North Carolina in May, (2) the San Francisco Bay area in August, (3) New Orleans in September, and (4) Houston in October. In addition similar interviews were carried out in November in the Baltimore/Washington area (with informants involved in local rather than national activities). The trips were prepared by e-mail, mail and phone contacts with lists provided from APIC contacts and from a wide variety of other groups, and the choice of interviewees made in order to ensure a variety of sectors. In all, interviews were carried out with more than 50 individuals and groups.

The results from the focus groups and field trips fully confirmed the existence, in every region, of a wide variety of links with Africa, including business ties, involvement of educational institutions, NGOs involved in contract work or in voluntary linkages with Africa, neo-diaspora communities with multiple links to their home countries, as well as social justice activists engaged on global issues particularly affecting Africa .

They also confirmed that only a small fraction of interviewees were engaged in policy advocacy or identified any national Africa group as an essential partner . Even within a given geographical area, many were also not aware of Africa activities carried out by others. Reasons for lack of policy engagement included mandates that barred such engagement but also lack of awareness of options for action. When presented with a list of issues, most said they would likely be willing to engage with campaigns focused on debt or HIV/AIDS in particular. It was clear, however, that the potential for sustained coordinated engagement on this or other issues would not happen without clear leadership and persistent organizing efforts by national advocacy groups.

Results from the project have been presented in meetings with APIC staff and on a panel at the African Studies Association. A final written report is in preparation and will be posted on our website in PDF format.

3. Communications facilitation for Advocacy Network for Africa

APIC serves as the communications facilitator and co-chair of the Advocacy Network for Africa (ADNA) , a progressive non-partisan network of organizations, which grew from some 180 member organization in early 2000 to almost 220 a year later. It includes national, regional, state, and local level member organizations.

In 2000 APIC continued to host the ADNA e-mail distribution list which serves as a vehicle for ADNA member organizations to share action alerts, updates, and event notices. The service was used extensively by ADNA member groups, with 47 even notices, 73 action alerts, and 129 updates during the year. Beginning mid-year, APIC provided a space on its web site for ADNA, with provision for maintaining a current list of member groups and for achives of postings through the e-mail list (see www.africapolicy.org/adna). These files on the web site serve as a useful reference for member organizations and information resource for other visitors, with page views rising to over 1000 per week by early 2001.

Unlike APIC's own Africa Policy Electronic Distribution List, postings to this list are originated by ADNA members, with APIC hosting the list but not choosing among postings or limiting their frequency. Postings may be frequent or infrequent depending on what material is provided by ADNA member organizations. Among other functions, the ADNA list has proved to be a effective vehicle for member groups to coordinate joint signatures on advocacy letters and statements.

New groups joining ADNA in 2000 and early 2001 included the International Rivers Network, the Globalization Challenge Initiative, Amnesty International - Texas, the Center for Economic Justice, the Critical Path AIDS Project, the Margaret Sanger International Center, the Partnership to Cut Hunger in Africa, the Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group, the Better World Campaign, African Quest Newspaper, Women's International Net Magazine, and the National Peace Corps Association.

4. Internships and Other Outreach Activities

APIC's volunteer internship program has served as a youth research and advocacy training experience for the interns, who receive no stipend from APIC. APIC, in turn, benefits from the additional personnel hours (a total of 3,736 hours in 2000) and diverse experiences of the interns. Interns during 2000 were again a very international group, coming from the U.S. (3), Canada (1), Ireland (1), Sudan/Germany (1) and Ghana/Denmark (2).

The second Sindab Fellow, Karin Santi, of South Africa, served effectively as co-moderator for the APIC/ECA Electronic Roundtable, bringing her own network contacts and electronic communication skills to that endeavor, as well as gaining experience. The Sindab Fellowship is not funded for 2001. However, the experience showed the tremendous advantages to both APIC and the fellow of having an experienced fellow capable both of making independent contributions and of maximizing the learning opportunities of working with APIC and related networks..

In addition to APIC's regular participation as co-chair in monthly ADNA meetings and other gatherings organized by ADNA during the year, highlights of APIC's outreach activities during the year also included the following:

* Despite serious questions about leadership and orientation of the National Summit on Africa process which culminated in the final days of meetings in Washington in February 2000, APIC facilitated engagement by ADNA members and other NGO networks attending the summit. APIC helped organize caucusing among state delegates and other participants on the deliberative process. It also promoted other opportunities to address policy issues at the summit, and publicized both official summit documents and critical statements coming from concerned participants. In the aftermath of the summit, APIC was one of the organizations whose organizational representatives decided to withdraw from the summit steering committee. APIC actively participated in providing its own views to the Ford Foundation's evaluation study, and in facilitating access for the evaluator to other non-governmental organizations.

* In May, in conjunction with InterAction and ADNA, APIC hosted delegates from African NGOs in its annual exchange of views on Africa advocacy.

* APIC stepped up collaboration with The Africa Fund / ACOA, particularly around the common issue foci of health and debt.

* APIC, using the opportunity of the African Development Forum among other occasions, stepped up networking with U.S.- and African-based activists working on HIV/AIDS and related issues. Vicki Ferguson from APIC and Aisha Satterwhite from The Africa Fund participated in ADF 2000 in Addis Ababa in December as invited guests of ECA.

Information Dissemination

Objective: expand, sharpen and deepen APIC's successful programs of electronic dissemination of information and framing key issues in original publications

1. Africa Policy Electronic Distribution List

The list, in effect an electronic magazine of original and reposted documents, continued as a unique source of information and connection-building among diverse Africa-focused constituencies in the U.S., on the African continent and elsewhere .

The number of addresses on the list grew from 2,744 at the end of 1999 to 3,080 at the end of 2000, an increase of 336 new subscribers , or 12%. The number of e-mail addresses with Africa country-code suffixes grew proportionately, from 225 to 241 during the year, staying at 8% of the total. However, this is likely to be a very substantial underestimate of the number of subscribers in Africa, given increases in access to e-mail in Africa through computers registered in the U.S., particularly the new web services such as hotmail.com, yahoo.com and others.

The list continued to cover a variety of issues related to Africa policy and advocacy, combined with focused coverage of issues determined to be strategic in terms of APIC's action priorities. During the year the HIV/AIDS pandemic along with other health issues and Africa's debt along with related economic policy issues were the two topics of primary focus. During the second half of the year the list, as well as other APIC information efforts, reflected closer cooperation with The Africa Fund and the American Committee on Africa as merger negotiations continued.

2. Africa Policy Web Site

Readership of the Africa Policy Web Site continued to grow rapidly in 2000, aided by a home page redesign in June. The number of views of the home page during the year was 342 a day, up from 291 a day in 1999 and 200 a day in 1998. Total views of all pages on the site climbed to 2,620 a day for the year, up from 1,597 a day in 1999 and 871 a day in 1998 .

Thus views of the home page grew by 18% in 2000, while total page views grew by 64%. The fact that total page views grew more rapidly than views of the home page probably reflects two trends: visitors to the site staying to visit more pages, and individual pages on the site being referenced by more internet search engines. The statistics also show that all sections of the site, which now exceeds 1000 pages, are gaining visitors. The volume and consistently high quality of information on the site has made it a preferred location for those seeking Africa policy information on the web. Thus, even a year after the Roundtable discussion, the pages with panelists' contributions were being visited at a rate of more than 80 page views a day. And the pages focused on strategic action issue areas averaged more than 150 page views a day in 2000.

A new section "From the desk of Salih Booker," was added in December 2000, and was averaging more than 50 page views a day by the end of the first quarter 2001.

3. Framing Issues

The year 2000 saw a shift away from APIC's investment in print publications in favor of greater efforts to project APIC perspectives through other media outlets, including television, radio and the print media. Thus APIC's two principal channels for framing issues are (1) continuing to use its own comparative advantage in electronic communication as the primary channel for communication to those interested in Africa, and (2) expanding penetration of other media outlets in order to reach wider audiences and shape public opinion.

The rationale for this shift in emphasis included not only the increasing difficulty of justifying cost effectiveness of print publications, but also the opportunities opened up by the media access and skills of the acting executive director appointed in May.

Print publications produced during 2000, accordingly, were limited to the Economy and Development background paper produced in conjunction with the Roundtable, and an Africa's Children poster produced in the fall.

The Africa Policy Outlook for 2000 (www.africapolicy.org/docs00/afpo2000.htm), an annual feature written in January, was viewed more than 1,800 times on the web during the year, as well as sent to the distribution list and printed out as a handout for conferences and meetings.

Questions on Africa Policy for Candidates and Policymakers, a joint APIC/Africa Fund brochure prepared in October, was sent to the debate moderator and other media outlets, prior to the presidential debates, as well as sent to the distribution list and produced as a handout. APIC believes that it was influential in getting the moderator of the debates to raise several African issues.

The Coming Apathy: Africa Policy Under a Bush Administration , by Salih Booker, was released on December 13 by APIC and The Africa Fund, as well as published by the Foreign Policy in Focus project of the Institute for Policy Studies and the Interhemispheric Resource Center. It was widely reposted and reprinted in the U.S. and Africa, including by the United Nations.

Other media outlets in which APIC staff appeared during 2000 included the Boston Globe, Mail and Guardian (South Africa), Newsday, Marketplace Radio, Associated Press, Washington Times, Black Entertainment Television (BET), Howard University Television (WHUT), National Public Radio (NPR), and Public Radio International (PRI). APIC also received major coverage by C-Span (and others) of a joint press briefing organized in cooperation with The Africa Fund for journalists covering President Clinton's August trip to Africa. The media strategy continued to bear fruit in 2001 with appearances or article placements in an even wider range of media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, CNN, NBC, VOA, The Nation, Providence Journal, Current History, Worldnet, Africa Journal, South African Broadcasting Corporation, Boston Globe, InterPress Service, BBC radio and television, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Institutional Development

Objective: strengthen institutional capacity, by securing a full complement of professional staff, diversifying funding sources, increasing funding, and improving management

1. Management and Staffing

Until the conclusion of the Management Assistance Group review in April, APIC continued to function with the three-person management team consisting of Adwoa Dunn-Mouton, on leave from her position as board vice-president to serve in a part-time staff position as development director, Vicki Lynn Ferguson, director of education and outreach, and William Minter, senior research fellow.

In May Salih Booker accepted the invitations of the boards of APIC, The Africa Fund and the American Committee on Africa to assume a shared position as Acting Executive Director, ½ time for APIC and ½ time for the two organizations based in New York. Adwoa Dunn-Mouton withdrew from her staff position to return to her position on the APIC board, and senior research fellow William Minter reduced his paid hours from 4 days a week to 2 days a week.

In the fall, Ann-Louise Colgan completed her one-year unpaid internship, and joined the staff for the rest of the year with a modest stipend. Dr. Simone and Ms. Santi completed their work on the Roundtable project in the fall. Ms. Santi provided additional hours during 2000, with support from the ECA, in order to assist in moderation of the on-line discussion leading up to African Development Forum 2000.

At the end of the year 2000, APIC staff included a total of 6 people (or 4.8 fte - full time equivalent).

2. Management Assistance Group / Merger

In late 1999 and the first half of 2000, the Management Assistance Group worked with APIC staff and board on an intense organizational development review, with particular concentration on leadership staffing, organizational sustainability, financial management, and fundraising. A separate report is available on request.

APIC's organizational review and the simultaneous retirement of Africa Fund/ACOA executive director Jennifer Davis provided the opportunity for joint reflection on strategic priorities for action on Africa by the three organizations which shared common history, common perspectives and experience of working together. Boards and staffs were eager to explore the possibility of a merger for more effective action, but were aware of the complexity of such an endeavor. Decisive steps in the process included appointment of Salih Booker, previously a member of two of the boards, as acting executive director, and use of the services of LaPiana Associates, a specialist in non-profit mergers. While some legal formalities remained to be completed even in mid-2001, the three boards formally adopted the merger proposal and established an interlocking board which held its first joint meeting on March 8, 2001.

3. Fundraising

At the beginning of February 2000, on the advice of MAG, APIC launched an intensive emergency fundraising campaign . This was directed by a board/staff coordinating committee (Adwoa Dunn-Mouton, Imani Countess, William Minter, board treasurer Carolyn Long, Bob Edgar and board president Cherri Waters).

Particularly notable is the increase in individual contributions to $77,593 in 2000 (cash basis, accrual basis figures not available until completion of audit), more than two-and-a-half times the 1999 figure of $28,796.

A total of $32,300, including $5,000 in-kind, was obtained from ECA to support the Roundtable and APIC's role in the on-line discussion preceding the African Development Forum 2000.

In mid-year, the Ford Foundation renewed its general support grant for APIC, with $200,000 for the two-year period beginning July 2000. Ford also committed $75,000 to support the merger process in 2000 and 2001. Prospects for funding from other major funding sources, however, could not be fully explored until after the merger negotiations, still under way at the end of the year, were completed in 2001.

Carnegie's withdrawal from this area of funding combined with the Ford Foundation's new reticence flowing from its understandable disillusionment with the National Summit on Africa project, has created an environment where it is more difficult to raise funds from the larger actors in the philanthropic community. But the merger has excited many of our long-term supporters who are now increasing their contributions. The new organization has also participated in a Ford-funded Capacity Building Initiative involving a series of meetings and consultations with experts on strengthening our development strategy planning and execution.

Audited financial statements for 2000 and earlier years are available by writing to Africa Action, 110 Maryland Ave. NE, #508, Washington, DC 20010 USA.



Africa Action - Incorporating American Committee on Africa (ACOA), The Africa Fund, Africa Policy Information Center (APIC)