Africa At The Crossroads: Claiming the 21st century through equitable education, transdisciplinary skills development and integrated strategies for transformation.

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Africa SIG Bantaba

Proposal

Background: The Bantaba has become a signature event of Africa SIG’s deliberations during CIES conferences. Agreed upon at the 10th anniversary of the Africa SIG and 60th anniversary of CIES in Vancouver in 2016, the first Bantaba was held at CIES 2017 in Atlanta and each subsequent year a new theme was chosen to align with the conference theme.

Introduction: As a whole, the Africa continent is at a new crossroad. The continent is facing optimism as a result of a youthful population that holds a lot of promise (Noah et al., 2021), recovery from the COVID pandemic that is draining resources (Gern et al., 2021), and a repositioning of global significance due to foreign powers seeking influence and access to raw materials (Rüma, 2021). The African Union boldly acknowledges the challenges facing the continent as countries navigate the various educational and skills development paths for the African child to be able to navigate the 4th Industrial Revolution. Experts, observers and critics all admit that the new era being ushered in will determine the “destiny” of the continent.

Recently, the French president went to the continent (July 25-28), visiting Cameroon, Benin and Equatorial Guinea. During the same period (July 24-28), the Russian foreign minister visited Egypt, the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), Uganda and Ethiopia. Immediately after, the United States Representative to the United Nations hopped on the plane for a four-day visit to Uganda, Ghana and Cape Verde. The United States Secretary of State arrived on the continent on August 7 for a six-day visit to South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. And then, there is China’s engagement. For some observers, all this looks like 1885 all over again. Are we witnessing a new scramble for Africa?

African nations have to come to grips with the colonial legacies in the education and industrial sectors that have kept them in the vicious loops of World Bank and IMF dictated austerity measures that saw focus on critical skills for self determination evaporate. They need to dynamically usher in new political, economic and social mechanisms that are contextually relevant to enable them to compete equitably in a rapidly changing world that has historically controlled their destiny.


Objectives:

The main objective of the Bantaba is to interrogate these issues with invited speakers and members of the SIG and other CIES participants. We also aim to identify concrete action steps, including implementation strategies, to share with relevant stakeholders and entities in Africa.

What does equitable education look like for a liberated Africa?

How are African nations and regions addressing the challenges posed in order to reap the “youth dividend” through targeted education and transdisciplinary skills development?

What core competencies do the youth need to be the ideal “African citizen” to strategically navigate a rapidly changing world?

How is the success of all the efforts of national governments, regional bodies, funders and other stakeholders being tracked and measured for alignment? Which countries are the benchmarks of the success in coordinating these efforts?

How can internal resources be harnessed before calling upon external collaborators to support our action plans?

How can education systems in Africa embrace digital technology in teaching and learning without exacerbating existing inequalities?

Approach and Structure:

1. Pre-CIES conference Engagement: The invited contributors will provide short pieces of 3-5 pages in response to the theme by the end of January 2023 (List of contributors will be shared later). An example of addressing the questions may be something like “What does the Africa of the future look like?” (Think Wakanda), what core skills do our students need at every level of the education system to make the continent competitive in a rapidly changing world? Their contributions will be focused on the theme of the Bantaba.

2. Synthesis: When all the contributions are received, a team of ASIG members will be charged with the task of amalgamating the ideas and synthesizing them to tease out relevant themes and sub-themes to fuel the discussion. The synthesis will be made available to the contributors in advance to prepare them for reflective engagement with participants.

3. As in the first three years, the Bantaba will consist of an in-person meeting in Washington D.C. (site of the conference) and interactive session where participants will be able to ask questions and contribute to the discussion. The session will be divided in four parts: a) introductory remarks by the chair and presentation of the synthesis; b) roundtable discussion moderated by the chair ; c) breakout rooms with guiding questions; and d) a reporting back and plenary session where questions from the audience will be recorded and discussed after commentaries by invited discussants.

Chair and Moderator: Lillian Butungi Niwagaba, New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM).

List of potential contributors:

1. Ambassador Fatima Kyari Mohammed
2. Professor N’Dri Assié-Lumumba
3. Professor Ali A. Abdi
4. Professor Crain Soudien
5. Professor Joel Samoff
6. Dr. Joan Osa Oviawe
7. Dr. Chizoba Imoka
8. Professor José Cossa
9. Someone from the African Union (someone responsible for CESA 2016-2025, a rep. of the Institute for Education for Development, the commissioner of https://au.int/en/esti, a rep. of a relevant https://au.int/en/stc, etc.)
10. Someone from ADEA

Discussants: Rhonesha Blaché (Teachers College, Columbia University), Tutaleni I. Asino (Oklahoma State University)

Rapporteurs: Benjamin Zele (Lewis University), Donna Swapp (University of Regina)

References:

Continental education strategy for Africa 2016- 2025 : CESA 16-25. https://nyit.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1129150598

Gern, K. J., Lück, O., & Meuchelböck, S. (2021). Covid-19 in Africa and its impact on the economy (No. 158). Kiel Policy Brief.

Noah, S., Charles, E., & Yiga, A. P. (2021). Youth Bulge and Income Generating Activities [IGAs]: A Case of Youth Livelihood Programme [YLP] in Wakiso District, Central Uganda. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 9(5), 470-487.

Rüma, İ. (2021). Russia in the ‘New Scramble for Africa’: A new search for leadership?. In Routledge Handbook of Conflict Response and Leadership in Africa (pp. 172-185). Routledge.

Rwanda 2021/22 ForwardLooking Joint Review of the Education Sector. Narrative Report, July 2021. https://planipolis.iiep.unesco.org/sites/default/files/ressources/rwanda_2021_22_forwar_llooking_jres_narrative_report.pdf

Authors

• Lillian Butungi Niwagaba, NYIT, Center for Global Health

• Martial Dembele, University of Montreal

• Moses Ngware, African Population And Health Research Center

• Hamidou Dodo Boukary, International Development Research Center