Princeton in Africa board to name new director

“I think it’s a great organization and I will still remain very involved in it, absolutely,” said Blackwell, who has returned to a post at her former employer, the International Crisis Group. She called her departure from PiAf “bittersweet.”

Blackwell made it “clear to the board that her previous employer made her an offer that she could not refuse,” said Jim Floyd ’69, vice president of PiAf’s board of directors. He added that Blackwell “has promised continuing involvement with PiAf.”

PiAf is getting ready to announce its pick for a new director, said George Hritz ’69, president of the PiAf board of directors.

PiAf, an independent affiliate of the University, was founded in 1999 by a group of Princeton alumni and faculty and offers fellowships in several African countries to recent graduates. Blackwell was appointed in February 2007 after then-director Angela Coleman ’92 left the organization and sued the program for racial discrimination that January.

PiAf fellows work with established humanitarian organizations on projects ranging from bringing aid to Kenyan farmers to educating mothers on how to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS to their children, Blackwell said.

While PiAf has not experienced significant numerical growth in participants over the course of her year as executive director, Blackwell said, she did oversee growth in the organization’s infrastructure.

“We haven’t grown that much in size while I was there,” she noted, but “the depth of our partnerships and what we’re able to provide for the fellows that are out there, the organization is certainly maturing.” The problem of funding is a chronic issue for NGOs, Blackwell explained. Throughout her “transitional year,” she attended to broadening PiAf’s financial base and developing organizational and alumni networks.

“It has been a privilege and an honor to work ... with all of Princeton-in-Africa’s incredible Board of Directors,” Blackwell said in an e-mail, adding that the role of volunteers in the program is what makes it successful.

“They are the life and soul of the organization and with 25 fellows currently in 16 countries, I can tell you their stories are much much bigger than anything I might be able to say about my own personal career decisions,” she said.

Blackwell said she will especially miss hearing first-hand the impact PiAf has on its fellows on a daily basis.

“It’s not just something that you can just flip a switch and say, that’s it,” she explained. “It compels you to stay engaged, and that’s one of the most important things Princeton in Africa can do.” Fellows returning from their years abroad act as “bridges,” helping to correct misperceptions that pervade American culture, she said.

“Africa is not just the war and HIV/AIDS and all of the negative stories you hear on the news,” she said. “There’s so much potential and vibrancy and growth that’s going on as well.”

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Blackwell was originally considered for the job because she was the friend of one of the program’s previous directors, and she was hired while between jobs and living in New York City, Hritz said. “We really need[ed] somebody who has some connections and knows how to raise money in the city,” he said.

Hritz explained that this fundraising will help the program expand even further. “We’d like to be able to send scholarship students,” he said.