AMI seeks to address one of the largest hurdles facing life scientist researchers in Africa: equipment and instrument accessibility. Through the Program for Equipment Exchange and Reutilization (PEER), AMI aims to redistribute the enormous cadre of unused, high quality microscopes to various African institutions. PEER is also designed to help grow the microscopy capacity of under-resourced regions in Africa. Acting as microscopy hubs, these institutions will provide a network of microscopes across Africa, supporting local access to optical instruments.