THE AFRICAN PUBLIC SQUARE (APS)
Second Global Edition
at the Africa Week
Priorities, Innovation and Preparedness in a Multipolar World
Join us for the African Public Square (APS) Open Debate, 2026 Global Edition. This Year's APS asks the question - "How should the Resourcing of African Agency be negotiated?"
The event will open with a keynote address by Hon. Angela Thokozile Didiza, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of South Africa, followed by an open debate by a distinguished panel of academics, diplomats and policy practitioners to critically discuss the options for resourcing African agency.
The panel includes:
- H.E.Sabah Zita Benson- High Commissioner of the Republic of Ghana to the UK and Ireland.
- Prof Awino Okech- Director of Feminist Centre for Racial Justice, SOAS UK.
- Ms. Wadeisor Rukato - ALC Peace and Security Development Fellow.
- Mr. Max Boqwana - CEO, Thabo Mbeki Foundation.
- H.E. Ashraf Swalem - Ambassdor of Egypt to the UK.
- Prof 'Funmi Olonisakin - Vice President (International Engagement and Service), King's College London.
- What is the major structural challenge in resourcing African agency?
- What alliances must Africa build to resource and sustain its agency?
- Where are the emerging leaders of the strategic debate located?
This event is co-hosted by the African Leadership Centre and the High Commission of the Republic of Zambia to the UK, in collaboration with the Thabo Mbeki Foundation and the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
This is a hybrid event. Please register for in-person attendance, or join this event online.
APS Launch in Nairobi, Kenya|Debate: Sudan & South Sudan
Nairobi - June 2024
The African Public Square, under the auspices of the African Leadership Centre, Nairobi and in partnership with Nation TV, launched in June 2024 the maiden edition of the African Public Square Debate. This intergenerational and pan-African platform that seeks to roll back the eroded agency of Africa in an emerging new world order afflicted with crises. On this occasion, the opening Debate featured a cross-section of young activists, students, researchers/academics and policy makers in a live broadcast from the Trademark Hotel in Nairobi. The intergenerational debate focused on the lingering crises of Statehood in Sudan and South Sudan, asking: Can Africa escape the twin tragedy of militarification and externally imposed templates—and rebuild peaceful states that serve the many, not the few? Full Video here.
Read more about the June 2024 APS.
