Opportunities Industrialization Centers International, Inc.

The Opportunities Industrialization Centers International is an international network of employment and training centers which serve the hard core poor and unemployed in local communities of Africa, South America, Europe and the Caribbean. The organization was founded in 1964 by Reverend Leon Howard Sullivan in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. OICI is a direct outgrowth of the Opportunties Industrialization Centers movement in the United States.

In January 1969,Dr. Folorunsho Salawu, a Nigerian physician, contacted Reverend Sullivan to disscuss the possibility of expanding OICI programs to Africa. In February and March of 1969, Reverend Sullivan and a delegation of religious and community leaders were sent to examine the employment situation in Africa. The delegation found a wealth of employment opportunites, but a shortage of skilled labor to handle an array of technically sophisticated job positions. A funding proposal was formulated and submitted to the United States Agency for International Development (AID). In October 1969, U.S. AID funding was approved and an OICI Central Office was opened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to manage overseas operations.

Between 1970-1979 OIC training centers were established in several African countries including, Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, Zambia, Sierra Leone and Kenya. Trainees were provided instruction in basic computational and communications skills, followed by vocational training in a variety of fields including agricultural science, building trades, auto mechanics,and secretarial science, to name a few. By the 1980s OICI had expanded its influence beyond African borders to open programs in the United Kingdom, Haiti and British Honduras.

From the description of Records, 1969-1985. (Temple University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 727944312