HBCUs are increasing outreach to other countries of the African Diaspora. On March 26th, Howard University launched HU/COL Avanza with the country of Colombia. Five years in the making, this will be a reciprocal effort to form networks and boost both HBCU and Colombian students economically and culturally.
“In 2018, I traveled to Colombia to gain a better understanding of the education and community landscape, and was impressed by the students and peoples I met,” said Howard University president Wayne A.I. Frederick. “The HU/COL Avanza initiative will seek to create opportunities in an interdisciplinary way. Howard will be working with educational institutions, government agencies, private foundations and the corporate sector to facilitate various opportunities to support the advancement of African descendants throughout Colombia.”
Although African descendants make up 10% of Colombia’s people, they’re overshadowed by Brazil in terms of the Diaspora in South America. Starting in the 16th Century, Spain bought 1.1 million people from Africa to be enslaved in Colombia. As in America, many Africans emancipated themselves, setting up free towns called palenques. Here people preserved their African music, stories and spirituality which remain in practice today. Howard’s pending back-and-forth with that culture should foster profound personal experiences along with mutually beneficial economic opportunities.
“We will announce other initiatives with partners in Colombia as part of HU/COL Avanza that will strengthen entrepreneurship, microenterprise support and development, global competency skills, increase equity and access to education and support global learning in Colombia and at Howard University,” said Tonija Hope, director of the Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center. “Additionally, we will pursue future opportunities in the areas of community health care, environmental sustainability and innovation.”
For more information contact Tonija Hope, director of Howard University’s Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center, at Tonija.navas@howard.edu.
