Steering Africa’s Future: A Youth-led Research to Contribute Policy Perspectives from Young Africans during the Summit of the Future

Summary

The Summit of the Future provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reinvigorate multilateral collaboration and develop strategies tailored to current realities for addressing the pressing challenges of our time. Effective global cooperation is increasingly critical to our survival but difficult to achieve in an atmosphere of mistrust, using outdated structures that no longer reflect today’s political and economic realities. Africa is central to this transformation, claiming its rightful place at the global leadership table while working to achieve the 2023 Agenda and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

The alignment between the Summit of the Future and Agenda 2063 is profound and strategic. This agenda, guiding Africa's path to prosperity through initiatives prioritizing infrastructure development, human capital investment, and regional integration, envisions a future where the continent plays a pivotal role in global governance and economic stability. The Summit allows Africa to assert its priorities, influence global strategies, and foster partnerships that respect its autonomy. Africa's participation is crucial for shaping an agenda that supports Agenda 2063's aspirations, positioning the continent at the forefront of inclusive global governance and sustainable development.

Provisioning youth participation in their resolution for the Summit of the Future, the United Nations General Assembly recognizes that young people are the driving force behind innovation, progress, and calls to harness young people’s energy and passion to create a future that truly reflects their aspirations. The United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA) is working with partners, including Member States, Pan-African intergovernmental and civil society organizations, youth advocates and United Nations system entities, to bring Africa’s Youth Voices to the Summit through an action-oriented initiative that focuses on three engagements:

1. A youth-led knowledge production exercise pegged to the Summit’s priorities on 9, 16 and 23 September
2. A consultative platform mainstreaming young Africans’ participation in the Summit of the Future (Date to be determined)
3. Public engagements to amplify the Summit’s messages to young Africans at the SDG Media Zone during the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly from 23 to 27 September

On 9, 16, and 23 September, against this backdrop and as part of a three-pronged youth-focused engagement it organizes, OSAA is working with young African experts, advocates and leaders across the diaspora and on the continent to facilitate a youth-led knowledge production exercise anchored to the five priorities of one of the Summit’s key outputs: the Pact of the Future. This knowledge production exercise is organized across four areas pegged to the five chapters of the Pact, namely:

▪ Global governance and financing for development

▪ International peace and security

▪ Science, technology, innovation and digital cooperation

▪ Youth and future generations