In January 2009, a key partnership was launched for The Lyceum Group/Le Groupe Lyceum (TLG/LGL) when UCI founded the UCI Africa Initiative (UAI) as a strategic body to engage the University of California, Irvine Campus for synergistic projects and opportunities for collaboration in Africa. The UAI was founded by UCI Professor Dr. Hans Keirstead with the support of both former Vice Chancellor Dr. Manual Gomez, and Chancellor Dr. Michael Drake. A broader group in Orange County (California) to support the initiative were influential people such as Mr. Thomas Tierney of Vita-Tech International Inc, Dr. Schoendorfer of the FreeWheelchair Mission, Mrs. Denise Weiland, and Mrs. Mary Roosevelt.

Also on January 16 and 17, 2009 the UC Irvine Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies (CGPACS) and the UCLA James s. Coleman African Studies Center conducted a conference on Critical Investigations into Humanitarianism in Africa. The conference brought together scholars, technical experts, and humanitarian nongovernmental organizations to assess how humanitarianism is imagined and practiced in Africa. Kenneth E. Keirstead and Hans S. Keirstead both presented at the conference and introduced Le Groupe Lyceum to the receptive audience. Deep and lasting contacts were made that have since been nurtured.

LGL provides the UCI initiative with established and successfully proven on-ground infrastructure in Africa, a trained cadre of local trained staff and office facilities, and  a world-wide community of about 1,000 supporters. LGL is now recognized as an embedded “laboratory” for community development programs, social research, health care and wellness programs, and rural education.