Transforming knowledge for Africa’s future

At this inflection point in global development, the future of humanity faces an urgent choice between “breakdown or breakthrough”. The “choices we make, or fail to make, today could result in further breakdown and a future of perpetual crises, or a breakthrough to a better, more sustainable, peaceful future for our people and planet.”[1] It is an existential choice between continuing on an unsustainable path, or radically changing course.[2]  Knowledge is key to radically changing course toward a more just and sustainable future. Knowledge is what gives meaning to the world around us, shapes our understandings, and guides our actions. Yet, dominant models of knowledge generation, validation, distribution, and ultimately use, can no longer respond effectively to the intersecting multi-dimensional crises we face today.[3] Radically changing course to ensure more just and sustainable futures requires a transformation of the ways in which we generate and use knowledge. We must transform knowledge if we are to shape alternative futures of humanity.

The future of humanity is inextricably linked to Africa’s future. Yet, established narratives around the future of the continent continue to reflect the long-standing imbalances in knowledge production and in academic research on Africa. Research remains largely dominated by institutions in, or with close links to, the Global North. Reframing the narrative around Africa’s future requires the mobilization of diverse knowledge traditions. A new ‘planetary consciousness’, drawing upon all the ‘archives of the world’, is needed to pave the pathways of tomorrow in the context of todays’ ‘techno-ecological’ crises.[4] Acknowledging, valuing, and mobilizing diverse ways of knowing and understanding the world in the current juncture of global development has implications for the ways in which we design and conduct research, with whom, and for what purpose. 

The UNESCO Chairs and Partners Forum Transforming Knowledge for Africa’s Future the Forum aims to strengthen interdisciplinary and collaborative research capacity in Africa, including through more inclusive and effective South-South, South-South-North research partnerships. 

By mobilizing diverse regional and international research networks, the objectives of the UNESCO Chairs and Partners Forum are to:

• Critically examine diverse scenarios for the probable and possible futures of Africa.
• Examine the implications of these scenarios for research and development ecosystems in Africa.
• Strengthen collaborative research partnerships between the existing UNESCO Chairs network and other research partners.

Organized within the framework of the AU Year of Education, the Forum will critically engage with scenarios of projected probable futures and creatively explore alternative possible futures for Africa. In doing so, the Forum will address a range of issues such as: health and well-being; educational transformation; youth, employment and work; women’s rights and gender equality; the ecological and digital transitions; open science, technology and innovation; peace and security; development financing; and governance. The Forum will also explore the implications of these diverse scenarios on research approaches, priorities, and capacity and the way in which research partnerships can be diversified in order to strengthen African research and development ecosystems. 

The Forum draws inspiration from the African Union’s 2063 vision, as well as the upcoming UN Pact for the Future. It will further draw on the report of the International Commission on the Futures of Education, Reimagining our Futures Together: a new social contract for education (2021), the report of the independent expert group on universities and the 2030 Agenda, Knowledge-driven Actions: Transforming higher education for global sustainability (2022), as well as UNESCO's Higher Education Roadmap 2030, Beyond Limits: New ways of reinventing higher education. 

Organized jointly by UNESCO and the African Union Commission for Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation (AU/ESTI), the Forum will convene some 500 participants, primarily from the regional and global network of UNESCO chairs. They will be joined by participants from African and international research partners and networks such as the Pan African University (PAU), the Association of African Universities (AAU), the International Association of Universities (IAU), the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF), the Conseil Africain et Malgache pour l’Enseignement Supérieur (CAMES), and the African Academy of Sciences,  among others. African think tanks, civil society organizations, industry representatives, as well as other regional and international development partners, will also be represented.

_{[1]  UN (2021). Op cit. United Nations (2021). Our Common Agenda. Report of the Secretary-General.
[2]  UNESCO (2021). Reimagining Our Futures Together: A new social contract for education. Report of the International Commission for the Futures of Education. Paris. 
[3]  UNESCO (2022). Transforming knowledge for just and sustainable futures. 
[4]  Achille Mbembe. (2023). Pathways of tomorrow: contribution to thinking commensurate with the planet, Education Research and Foresight Working Paper 32. Paris, UNESCO.}