The Constituency for Africa (CFA), exhibited today at the Mandela Washington Summit in Washington. The Summit is the concluding activity that brought together more than 1,000 young African leaders from across the continent, who have spent the past six weeks in intensive education and training programs carried out in 40 educational institutions across the United States.
The idea for the Young African Leaders initiative was provided to former President Barack Obama by CFA’s President Melvin Foote in early 2009. The future of this program is now threatened by proposed cuts in the State Department’s budget.
Pictured are CFA’s Melvin Foote with Dr. Jamechia Hoyle, who is coordinating CFA’s “Next Generation Leadership” strategy for the upcoming 2017 Ronald H. Brown African Affairs Series, and Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins, who served as the U.S. Department of State’s Threat Reduction Programs during the Obama Administration. Ambassador Jenkins is now affiliated with the Brookings Institution here in Washington.
