Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy Africana Conference 2026

The Africana Conference 2026 seeks to build on the conversations from past editions by shifting the narrative from redefining Africa’s agency to exercising Africa’s strategic influence in global affairs. Our aim this year is to engage in honest, bold and necessary conversations that challenge long-standing assumptions and promote new thinking about Africa’s place in a rapidly evolving global system. Rather than viewing Africa as a passive participant, the conference interrogates what it means for the continent to act as a decisive shaper of global norms, institutions, and directions. The Fletcher School invites students, scholars, practitioners, diplomats, and the broader community to join us for this year’s conference, “From Margins to Movers: Africa’s Role in a New Global Order.”

Pan-Africanism in a Shifting World: Power, People, Possibility

Africa stands at a generational crossroads. Between 2025 and 2050, its working-age population will grow by over 620 million people, more than three-quarters of all growth in emerging markets. Youth now represent over 60% of the continent, increasingly educated, globally connected, and active in civic and political transformation. Simultaneously, global power structures are shifting: competition between major powers, a pivot toward multipolarity, supply chain realignment, and new domains, such as digital governance, create fresh opportunities and risks.

Across this landscape, African nations have been building new partnerships, asserting fairer global governance demands, and accelerating intra-continental reforms such as the AfCFTA, African CDC, AU norms on unconstitutional changes of government, and continental digital strategies. As a result, Pan-Africanism is evolving from a liberation ethos to a strategic, future-oriented doctrine that mobilises Africa’s demographic advantage, resource wealth, political leverage, and intellectual creativity. The global system’s transition from a unipolar to a multipolar order is already opening new spaces for African leadership. This year’s theme, therefore considers how Africa can move from the margins to the center of global decision-making across key strategic domains, including:

• Security and Peacebuilding: African-led mediation, conflict prevention, and regional security architectures.
• Diplomacy and Geopolitics: Africa’s role in global governance reform, multilateral negotiations, and strategic alliances.
• Technology and Digital Futures: AI ethics, fintech, data governance, and digital sovereignty.
• Arts, Culture and Soft Power: Reimagining African narratives and cultural production as tools of global influence.

• Urban Development and Infrastructure: African cities as engines of growth, innovation, and regional integration.
• Climate and Sustainability: Climate justice, green transitions, and Africa’s voice in global climate negotiations.
• Health and Education: Resilient health systems, demographic transition, and Africa’s knowledge economy.
• Business, Finance & Entrepreneurship: Investment ecosystems, capital flows, and African-led economic transformation.

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Host or Publisher Fletcher Africana Club