UNESCO’s Sector for Priority Africa and External Relations will convene on the margins of the 42nd Session of the General Conference of UNESCO, this high-level side event aims to mobilize ambition and secure enhanced support for the implementation of UNESCO's Global Priority Africa and its Operational Strategy - 2022-2029, highlighting linkages with the African Union's Agenda 2063 and the United Nations' 2030 Agenda. The event will also feature the official launch of the partnership between UNESCO, Mo Abudu’s EbonyLife Creative Academy Ltd and Idris Elba’s Elba Hope Foundation, to build cinema schools across Africa.
UNESCO/C.Alix
Transforming Our World for the Africa We Want
Africa is a global priority for UNESCO. With an abundance of natural resources and a young population, it is, without a doubt, the continent of the future. To achieve sustainable development, however, Africa will need to address the major challenges it faces in innovative ways while seizing the opportunities it offers. In this context, the Operational Strategy for Priority Africa 2022-2029 was designed as an instrument to consolidate the results of UNESCO's action to implement Africa's priorities and the Organization's main objectives on the continent and as a guide to address Africa's issues and challenges as defined by Africans themselves.
Achieving the objectives of the five flagship programmes of the Operational Strategy for Priority Africa requires a strong mobilization of strategic and financial partners. As UNESCO holds the 42nd session of its General Conference (7-22 November 2023) to define its new projects for the next biennium 2024-2025, this side event is an opportunity to take stock of the progress made one year after the implementation of the Global Priority Africa programme and to discuss future plans to reinforce the engagement of UNESCO and its partners in Africa.
The event will present Africa as a continent of opportunities, focusing on the global vision of the continent, the needs of young Africans, who constitute the present and future of the continent, the existing gaps and the actions that UNESCO can undertake for the benefit of Africa.
The main objective is to present and give visibility to Global Priority Africa and its Operational Strategy. It is also a question of identifying strategic areas within and beyond the flagship programmes, as well as illustrating, for both traditional and new partners, the possible modalities of cooperation and the areas in which they may wish to provide support (financial, technical or in-kind).
On this occasion, UNESCO, National Commissions for UNESCO, the African Union Commission and the UN Secretariat will converge to deliberate on how, jointly, they can help Africa move the vision it outlines in Agenda 2063 forward.
It is aimed at a wide audience and will take place in a hybrid format, in order to allow those who are not physically present to participate.
