Sonoma Sister Cities applies for project in Africa

Simultaneous with President Obama’s visit to Ghana, Sonoma’s Sister Cities organization hopes to coordinate a pilot project in Africa through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Bill Boerum, president of Sonoma Sister Cities, who also serves as a board member of Sister Cities International, filed the application last week to participate in the first phase of the “Africa Poverty Alleviation Program.” The application content was developed by Sherri Ferris, chair of the Sonoma-Aswan committee.
The Gates Foundation awarded Sister Cities International, a Washington, D.C. based citizen-diplomacy organization, a three year, $7.5 million grant to conduct projects in 25 cities across the African continent. The projects will receive oversight from a just-established Sister Cities regional office in Ghana’s capital, Accra, which President Obama visited last week. Projects will be developed mutually in the areas of water, health and sanitation by the respective Sister Cities organizations.
Sister Cities International was selected by the Gates Foundation because of the deployment of its relationships in Africa and its demonstration over the years in fostering goodwill on a city-to-city basis.
Sonoma’s application is in concert with its Sister City in Aswan, the Arab Republic of Egypt where the population since ancient times has included a sizable proportion of Nubian peoples. The Sister Cities Committees in Aswan and Sonoma will work together to design and implement a project best meeting the needs in Aswan. The application, coordinated with the Egyptian Consulate General in San Francisco, was supported by letters from Mustafa A. El Sayed, the Governor of Aswan and Ken Brown, Mayor of Sonoma.
“To me it is significant that Governor El Sayed made a plea for medical equipment for the Aswan Cancer Institute,” said Bill Boerum, who is chairman of the Sonoma Valley Health Care District. “This need in oncology is exactly what Ambassador Abderahman Salaheldin alluded to during his first visit to Sonoma in April of last year.”
In his letter supporting the application, Mayor Brown said, “As a former President of Sister Cities I know how Sonoma has responded to meeting the needs of our other Sister Cities and the goodwill which has developed among people. I applaud the efforts of the Sonoma-Aswan Committee and you have my very best wishes for success in being selected as a pilot project.”
Boerum noted that the Sonoma application in effect supports two initiatives at Sister Cities International: the new Gates Africa poverty grant and the Muslim World Partnership Initiative which has been on-going.
“When I am at our annual conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland later this month, I hope to get a better fix on Sonoma’s chances to be selected as one of the Africa pilot projects,” said Boerum. “We are delighted that our strategy in Africa aligns with the focus being put on the continent by President Obama.”
The pilot projects selected by Sister Cities International will be announced by an independent review board this September 1.