Thousands of African professionals received PhD and MA degrees at U.S. universities under scholarship programs administered by AAI.

For more than 60 years, AAI has been steadfastly committed to strengthening human capacity for Africa’s development through education, skills training, dialogue, convening activities and research. Our work has achieved a measurable impact throughout the African continent. Indeed, AAI alumni are among today’s leaders in the public, non-profit, and private sectors in Africa.

In 2003, the USAID Africa Bureau’s Sustainable Development Office commissioned a study to find out whether development impact occurred from the longest-running and largest long-term graduate training programs for Africa: African Graduate Fellowship Program (AFGRAD) and Advanced Training for Leadership and Skills Program (ATLAS).

Established during independence for many African nations, both programs were administered by AAI. The AFGRAD Program was administered from 1963-1990, and its successor ATLAS Program from 1991-2003.

The report, Generations of Quiet Progress: The Development Impact of U.S. Long-Term University Training in Africa from 1963-2003, concluded that “USAID’s multi-million dollar investment in long-term training programs managed by AAI for over 40 years produced significant and sustained changes that furthered African development in measurable ways.”

To read the full report, please click here.