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Opportunities Industrialization Centers International Records
Notifications
Held at: Temple University Libraries: Special Collections Research Center [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Temple University Libraries: Special Collections Research Center. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The Opportunities Industrialization Centers International (OICI) 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 Opportunities Industrialization Centers movement in the United States.
In January 1969, Dr. Folorunsho Salawu, a Nigerian physician, contacted Reverend Sullivan to discuss 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 opportunities, 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 and 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.
This collection contains material generated by Opportunities Industrialization Centers International (OICI) headquarters located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Records detail the administrative activities of the OICI Board of Directors, Industrial Advisory Council, Technical Advisory Council and the Executive Directors Office. The collection is in varying degrees of completeness, and focuses primarily on OICI job training and economic development activities on the African continent during the sixties, seventies and early eighties. Records include correspondence, reports, minutes, proposals and publications. In addition, the collection contains audio-visual materials, including photographs, negatives, slides, audio cassettes and films.
Series 2: Executive Directors' Office, 1965-1985
Series 3: Finance and Administration, 1969-1985
Series 4: Planning and Development, 1967-1989
Series 5: Evaluation Office, 1973-1986
Series 6: Audio-Visual Materials, 1967-1983
Additions to this collection are expected. Websites are captured using Archive-It periodically, and the latest additions may not yet be included in this finding aid. For information on material–physical and digital, including captured websites–that may have been added since the last finding aid update, please contact the Special Collections Research Center.
Donated by Gary Robinson, Executive Director of OICI in October 1988.
Original audiovisual materials, as well as preservation and duplicating masters, may not be played. Researchers must consult use copies, or if none exist must pay for a use copy. Certain digital files may also be inaccessible. Please contact the Special Collections Research Center for more information.
Finding aid revised according to contemporary archival descriptive standards by Gemma Goldstein, Student Assistant, and Courtney Smerz, Collection Management Archivist, in May 2019.
Subject
Place
- Belize, Central America
- Dominican Republic, Caribbean
- Haiti, Caribbean
- Jamaica, Caribbean
- Detroit, MI
- Philadelphia (Pa.)
- Philippines
- South America
- England
- United Kingdom
- Botswana, Africa
- Ethiopia, Africa
- Gambia, Africa
- Ghana, Africa
- Ivory Coast, Africa
- Kenya, Africa
- Lesotho, Africa
- Liberia, Africa
- Lome, Togo, Africa
- Mali, Africa
- Nigeria, Africa
- Republic of Guinea, Africa
- Sierra Leone, Africa
- South Africa, Africa
- Togo, Africa
- Zambia, Africa
- Uganda, Africa
- Zimbabwe, Africa
- Publisher
- Temple University Libraries: Special Collections Research Center
- Finding Aid Author
- Machine-readable finding aid created by: Rajkumar Natarajan, Sky Global Services India (P) Ltd.
- Finding Aid Date
- September 2023
- Access Restrictions
-
Collection is open for research, though restrictions apply. Restrictions are noted at the series and file levels.
- Use Restrictions
-
The Opportunities Industrialization Centers International Records are in custody of the Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries. The creator/donor has not assigned their rights to Temple University Libraries. Other creators' intellectual property rights, including copyright, belong to them or their legal heirs and assigns. Researchers are responsible for determining the identity of rights holders and obtaining their permission for publication and for other purposes where stated.
Collection Inventory
Series 1: Administration, 1974-1982. The policy-making body of OICI is the Board of Directors. These series contains the records of the Board and its advisory committees. Files are comprised of correspondence, meeting minutes, reports, and other records for the years 1971 to 1987.
Series 2: Executive Directors' Office, 1965-1985. Policy mandates of the Board of Directors are carried out by this office. The bulk of records in this series consist of correspondence, reports, proposals, and cables documenting OICI overseas activities in Africa, Dominican Republic and South America from 1964-1984. Files in this series also contain information regarding OICI headquarters contacts with various organizations including Community Science Inc., Opportunities Academy for Management Training, OIC Progress Council Progress Ventures International and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Finally this section contains material on OICI participation at national Convocations between 1968-1985, as well as correspondence and reports on U.S. AID activities in Africa from 1970-1985.
Part II
Series 3: Finance and Administration, 1969-1985. This section contains financial statements, audit reports, correspondence, memorandums, telexes and cables, and lease agreements for OICI headquarters. Files also contain information regarding financial activities in OICI program countries in Africa from 1975-1983.
Series 4: Planning and Operations, 1967-1989. Prior to 1980 the Planning and Operations Departments were two separate entities. The financial crunch of 1981 and subsequent reduction of staff that followed, prompted OICI to combine the two departments. The bulk of records in this series document OICI field activities in Africa, Belize, Haiti and the United Kingdom from 1972-1987. This section contains proposals, project papers, feasibility studies, program guidelines, reports, publications and news clippings. Also contained are the correspondence and memorandums of department's directors and key field Technical Cooperative Team personnel.
Series 5: Evaluation Office, 1973-1986. This section contains the correspondence and memorandums of the Evaluation Office Director Quy Nguyen for 1977-1984. This series also contains various evaluation reports from overseas program countries in Africa from 1977-1986.
Series 6: Audio-Visual Materials, 1967-1983. This section contains slides, negatives, photographs, audio-tapes and films from OICI Board Meeting, Convocations and paper presentations from 1968-1981.
(7 tapes)
(10 tapes)
(5 tapes)
(Negatives Only)
(Negatives Included)
(Negatives Included)