Women's Africa Committee

In 1958 representatives of women's organizations and women active in the U.S. State Department's overseas outreach efforts formed the Africa Program Committee in order to coordinate existing efforts of women's projects in Africa and emphasize "working with women in new ways, making use of new patterns with full recognition of the indigenous ways of the people." While professionals in the U.S. State Department participated in the founding, early organizers endeavored to establish the Committee as a non-governmental entity. Upon affiliation with the African-American Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that sponsored educational opportunities for African students, the Africa Program Committee was renamed the Women's Africa Committee. The name change reflected the organization's interest in programs designed for African women in particular.

The early efforts of the Women's Africa Committee targeted the wives of diplomats of the newly independent nations. They provided assistance to ease the transition into everyday life in the United States. Their programming soon became more ambitious, and they sought to foster cultural and educational exchange between the U.S. and Africa. Advisors, board members, and officers of the group included such eminent professionals and clubwomen as Dorothy Height, Dorothy Ferebee, Jeanne Noble, and Lorraine Hansberry. Zelia Ruebhausen, active in the League of Women Voters and the United Nations and a visitor to Africa, worked closely with the organization as a volunteer and chairman of the board, and she shepherded some of the group's more enduring programs. With private funding as well as financial assistance from the State Department, the Summer Leadership Scholarship Program provided young African women studying in U.S. universities training and fieldwork for instituting community development programs toward the end of helping them establish programs to meet community needs in their homelands. The Community Service Program addressed the educational needs of established women community leaders. It aided women of different regions each year by sponsoring their travel to the U.S. and providing homestays for women to observe and participate in different American women's organizations. For example, a Ugandan teacher stayed in Dubuque, Iowa, and worked with the 4-H club. Institutions like the Girl Scouts, nursing homes, and churches throughout the country worked with program participants to introduce them to American community projects and volunteer efforts.

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