Africa

MCC works with local partners in 20 countries in sub-Saharan Africa in relief, development and peacebuilding projects. In response to the concerns raised by MCC's African partners and friends, the Washington Office encourages more just and peaceful U.S. policies toward the nations of Africa.

For hundreds of years, Africa has been dominated and exploited by Europe and the United States. More recently, globalization has deeply undermined traditional African cultures. A flood of Western imports damages local trade networks and multinational corporations devastate time-tested agricultural practices. For example, seed companies have pressured small farmers to use genetically modified seeds, which farmers must buy every year from the company, rather than following the traditional practice of saving seeds from the plants best suited to the local climate and conditions.

Yet Africans are finding ways to resist this imposed form of globalization, which they perceive as primarily benefitting corporations and the wealthy. An example of this resistence occurred at the November 2003 World Trade Organization (WTO) held in Cancun, Mexico, where numerous African, Latin American and Asian governments - encouraged by their own citizens' groups, including MCC partner organizations - refused to be pressured by the United States and Europe into accepting an unjust expansion of the WTO trade regime.

Many Africans support a different vision of globalization: a "bottom-up" approach in which people around the world benefit from learning from each other. Many Africans believe that as they reclaim and assert their identity, they can resist an imposed globalization and make a profound contribution to the global community. The Washington Office advocates for U.S. policies that support rather than hinder authentic African economic development.

Africa also face the challenge of HIV/AIDS, which infects 28 million Africans. MCC's Generations at Risk program partners with local churches to support dozens of initiatives to address the AIDS pandemic, ranging from education and counseling to clinics and orphanages. At the same time, the Washington Office advocates for more U.S. funding for AIDS prevention and treatment efforts.

Although some countries have benefitted significantly from the debt cancellation program implemented by wealthy countries in response to the Jubilee 2000 Campaign, impoverished African countries need 100 percent debt cancellation from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The Washington Office collaborates with the Jubilee USA Network in calling for further debt cancellation for heavily indebted countries.

While some wars have ended, violent conflicts continue in the Congo and Sudan despite peace agreements, and elsewhere, devastating African countries and undermining development. African churches and civil society organizations are addressing these conflicts in a variety of ways. The United States and the international community have sometimes played a role in exacerbating conflict, but they can also take actions to nurture peace.