Every country throughout the world has concerns and problems which are continually being addressed by their various leaders. Countries in Africa are no different.
     As many of us know, industrializing countries consume less than ten per cent (10%) of the world's annual output of mineral raw materials.  Yet, they produce thirty-three per cent (33%) of the total output and possess forty per cent (40%) of all known reserves.  Through exports, which account for four fifths of their output, they supply fifty per cent (50%) of the domestic requirements of industrialized nations (both market oriented and centrally planned economies) and seventy per cent (70%) of their import requirements. While these figures point up the producer-consume dichotomy, they are in keeping with the obvious link between development and raw material based production. Under-consumption of raw materials of such proportions on the part of the industrializing countries reflects their lack of industrialization.
     Developing countries, in essence, are complaining less about prices and more about their low industrialization levels.  At the heart of their argument is the proposition that they were denied opportunities as well as means, such as technology, capital, an market access to develop on all levels.
     The African Scientific Institute (A.S.I.) thinks that the most effective way to assist a people is to help them become self-sufficient. For Black people, throughout the world, there is hope for enhancements through constructive utilization of materials under their control and through the establishment of an international "Brain Bank" ---- dedicated to help develop our resources.
     While each country in Africa is unique and requires specific solutions to respective problems, there are general problems which exist in each country and require solutions which are common across national boundaries. To resolve problems, each country must clearly state which problems have highest priority. Many countries have attempted to do so by initiating and developing plans. However, why many African countries have so much difficulty overcoming inertia to effectively implement their plans is baffling. Perhaps such difficulty can be attributed to incorrect defining of problems, or incorrect prioritizing of problem solutions, wrong solutions, insufficient or incorrect resources to implement solutions, poor and/or incorrect leadership, or cultural impediments.
     Whatever the reasons for the challenges to overcome difficulties, the clarification of existing conditions, resources, and problems, both specific and general, must be made prior to the initiation of pragmatic solutions.
     When it is clear what we want to do and in what order of priority we want to initiate, develop, and implement solutions......... then effective resources can be allocated to resolve problems.
 

Concerns, problems, and solutions were addressed at the
AFRICA FOCUS Series, February and March, 1992 .
 

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This Conference Series:

 • Addressed a host of problems and opportunities from many international sources. From these same sources, you can assist in developing a list of priorities for initiating achievable solutions for short, intermediate, and long range goals.

• Identified available resources which assist in Africa's development and bridge relations between Africans and African Americans. No one wants to "reinvent the wheel" and minimize the effectiveness available to address issues.

• Defined where many Africans and African Americans are in relation to many dynamics of international forces in a rapidly changing world.

• Identified international financial sources interested in efforts to enhance African countries.

• Identified multinational corporations and organizations operating in Africa.

• Initiated a databank of international resources interested in African development.

     Each workshop evaluated implementation processes in relation to immediate, midrange, and long-range effects of changes occurring throughout the world. Each country, whether in Africa, Europe, past Soviet Bloc, the Americas, Asia, Mideast, etc. is seeking "its share" of world resources.... finances, raw materials, human brainpower.
     The goals of this series of conferences was 'organic' --- ever growing with inputs from participants and attendees.  However, the essence of the conferences revolves around:

• Science and Technology

• Business and Finance

• Healthcare

• Human Resources Development

• Constituency Development

     Contemporary conditions throughout the world dictate that individuals can no longer isolate themselves and solve localized problems while simultaneously assisting people in need internationally.
     If an organization is to be effective in helping to solve problems which affects an entire people, then such an organization must work closely with many individuals and organizations which are also attempting to help that people.
     The African Scientific Institute was committed to the success of these series of conferences.
     This conference represented an extension of the African Scientific Institute's belief that a technical organization should do more than just promote the development of only its membership.  In pre-industrial times, a technical association functioned mainly as a guild or a union.  Its sole purpose was to protect the social and economic positions, as well as the technical secrets, of its members.  A technical association should provide a framework where new ideas can be explored, and where members and non-members can interface and make contributions to society.

     The AFRICA FOCUS Series of conferences represented one such framework that the African Scientific Institute provides for the public. Then the Institute joined in collaboration with the International Foundation for Education and Self-Help (IFESH) and Africare.  Also, organizations such as the African American International Economic and Trade Council joined in this collaborative.  Then student organizations such as the Black Engineering and Science Students Association (BESSA) at the University of California, Berkeley, along with the Society of Black Student Engineers (SBSE) at Stanford University joined this vital partnership.  They formulated the idea of conferences that was broad in subject matter, international and interdisciplinary in scope, and whose format would allow for both formal and informal contacts among the participants and audience.