The African Union Commission broadly defines the African diaspora as "peoples of African origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality and who are willing to contribute to the development of the continent and the building of the African Union."
According to the Pew Research Center, between 2000 and 2016, the black African immigrant population in the United States more than doubled, from 574,000 to 1.6 million. Africans now make up 39% of the overall foreign-born black population, up from 24% in 2000.
The African diaspora is not a monolithic group. Some in the diaspora were born and reared outside of their African country of origin. Many migrated to Europe, the United States, and other parts of the world at a young age or to attend college; others left their African countries of origin later in life as economic migrants searching for more promising and better paying job opportunities. Regardless of how or where they settled, people of African descent often have something in common: a desire to leverage their skills, talents, and resources towards Africa's development and prosperity.
USADF-National Basketball Players Association Foundation Partnership
Increasingly at the U.S. African Development Foundation (USDAF), we are forging partnerships to enable us to tap into the African diaspora. Why? First, we cannot create pathways to prosperity for underserved African communities alone; and second, the African diaspora is a powerful force that is already investing in members’ countries of origin to engineer economic growth. For example, the diaspora's knowledge transfers facilitate development because of the focus on skills, tools, and resources gained outside of their home country that improve businesses and commercial startup ventures in their country of origin.
Why does this all matter?
It matters because USADF wants to support the mobilization of pools of diaspora capital within the United States and abroad through partnerships designed to create long-term, self-sustaining, community-driven impacts in various African countries. Therein lies the impetus for our new five-year partnership with the National Basketball Players Association Foundation to jointly fund development projects supported by NBA Players of African origin and other Players interested in and committed to development in Africa. The partnership seeks to create these self-reliant ecosystems across Africa that USADF is interested in developing.
We recognize the need to change the model of investing and development in Africa. Through the USADF and NBPA Foundation partnership, we intend to increase support for persons, communities, and organizations that seek to improve the lives of those in need and bring greater visibility to grassroots, African-led community solutions. USADF and NBPA Foundation target this funding to prioritize engagement with various African diaspora communities and accelerate the collaborative and philanthropic work that NBA players do worldwide to build their communities and create meaningful change.
Over the coming months, we will look for opportunities to deepen the relationship with the NBPA Foundation further and enhance the model of high net worth individual (HNWI) philanthropic investments across Africa in a way that leverages USADF's unique participatory development approach and 21 country footprint. This opportunity, envisioned by USADF, will focus on sustainable income and revenue-generating projects that can repay capital loans.
And we are just getting started.
Other USADF Diaspora-Focused Partnerships
USADF is also part of the African Diaspora Network (ADN), a non-profit membership organization whose mission is "to harness and engage the intellectual, financial, philanthropic, and entrepreneurial capacity of Africans and friends of Africa in support of economic and social development across Africa." Additionally, USADF has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the African Renaissance and Diaspora Network (ARDN). This international non-governmental organization supports United Nations development goals related to Africa and the Africa diaspora. The MOU provides a framework through which we cooperate in undertaking or implementing innovative, forward looking, and proactive projects.
As USADF seeks to pool capital resources from the African diaspora, particularly from HNWIs, in an intentional way, we also want to be sure that the appropriate enabling environment exists for these partnerships to thrive. USADF's involvement with both ADN and ARDN is designed to promote that enabling environment that encourages the return of skills, knowledge, and resources from the diaspora to invest in and partner with us to continue serving underserved populations across Africa.
At USADF, we pride ourselves on being agile and innovative to meet the needs of the communities we serve continuously. We are excited about this new approach to engage Africa's remarkably positioned and resourced diaspora. We look forward to collaborating with you.