Africa Forum: Centering an African Vision for a New Multilateral Future

Africa is at a critical crossroads after enduring centuries of colonial domination and resource extraction. Although African countries began regaining independence in the mid-20th century, the current international order was already established, meaning African nations had no say in setting the status quo. Further, political instability through military coups and authoritarian regimes often hindered democratic development. 

Youth movements, civil society, and other forms of citizen action are increasingly holding power to account, yet governments often fall short of delivering political and economic outcomes their citizens demand. 

This tension reflects a broader reckoning with Africa’s identity, agency, and development trajectory amid both internal contradictions and the persistent marginalization within multilateral systems that historically treated Africa “as a project, not a partner.” 

Calls for multilateralism “with Africa at the center” emphasize self-determined initiatives such as creating an African debt sustainability institution and a continent-wide credit rating agency. Africa’s demographic and ecological capital present immense opportunities for global leadership – if its leadership can be reimagined to prioritize the richness of Africa and all it holds in its people, its land, and its resources.

What’s needed:

• Accelerate AU-led reforms that expand Africa’s influence in global governance bodies (e.g., G20), with clearly defined mandates and resource commitments
• Build stronger, fairer democratic systems with transparent elections and independent courts, and robust anti-corruption measures. Accountability mechanisms are essential to prevent elite capture and ensure leadership truly serves the public
• Support youth and civil society to hold governments accountable and institutionalize  mechanisms for youth and civil society participation in policymaking

Africa’s young population is actively shaping its future – 60% of the continent is under 25 years old.

Young Africans are rejecting outdated norms and regimes, and are mobilizing innovative solutions to claim their place in the 21st century. Youth movements have been at the forefront of demands for democratic reform, social justice, and accountability, demonstrated by significant campaigns like South Africa’s #FeesMustFall, Nigeria’s #EndSARS, and Kenya’s #RejectFinanceBill.

These movements use social media, art, and music to organize and raise awareness, often facing state repression but persisting nonetheless. There is tension between generational demands for new leadership and older institutional frameworks reluctant to yield power, underscoring the need for inclusive intergenerational collaboration and genuine empowerment of youth voices. The Africa Forum recognized that empowering youth is critical to building the Africa that the continent, and the world, need.

What’s needed:

• Establish youth councils and leadership development programs linked directly to governmental decision-making bodies, especially to encourage collaboration between a wider cross-section of youth and older leaders to share power and ideas, across multilateral, national, and regional decision-making bodies
• Expand digital infrastructure and access to ensure that youth in rural and marginalized communities can participate fully in civic discourse, and integrate youth leadership into future-oriented sectors such as ethical AI governance, digital innovation, and ecological stewardship
• Create spaces – both physical and virtual – which ensure that youth organizers are safe and free from intimidation or repression

Despite their historical role as community pillars, African women face systemic exclusion exacerbated by patriarchal structures, climate crises, and economic inequities. Over 60% of Africa’s 450 million unbanked people are women, illustrating economic disempowerment and lost opportunities for inclusive growth.

Systemic issues, often rooted in patriarchal status quos and inequality cycles, mean that girls’ education is compromised by climate-related burdens and domestic responsibilities, increasing gender-based violence risks, and reinforcing cycles of inequality.

But an inspiring vision is rising: women across the continent and diaspora are leading governance, peacebuilding, and innovation. Feminist leadership models that are collaborative and decolonial offer pathways to transformation.

Young African women, particularly, are reclaiming their voice and influence through activism, education, and grassroots organizing. Centering women is vital to unlocking Africa’s full potential. Ultimately, African futures must reimagine power to prioritize care, community, and sustainability.

What’s needed:

• Integrate gender-responsive budgeting across national and local governments to ensure equitable resource allocation, and increase women’s access to banking, education, and economic opportunities.
• Promote community education campaigns that challenge harmful gender norms and enforce laws that protect women from violence and promote gender equity.
• Promote women as leaders in politics, climate action, and innovation.

Africa needs partnerships that respect African agency while recognizing the complex realities of global power dynamics. Moving beyond legacies of extraction and dependency requires a shift toward cooperation grounded in mutual interest, where African-led priorities are taken seriously, and contributions from all sides are valued. Genuine partnership may not always mean perfect equality, but it does require transparency, shared goals, and a commitment to avoiding exploitative or neo-colonial practices. Partnerships must embed African ownership, decision-making authority, and equitable resource sharing.

Allies should engage not merely to amplify African voices, but to co-create solutions under African leadership that serve both African aspirations and broader global interests. Examples of this include the Lobito Corridor project, a partnership connecting the port of Lobito in Angola to Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) via railway, supported by the U.S., the EU, and other partners, and South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), an $8.5 billion climate finance deal between South Africa and a group of developed nations (including the U.S., UK, and EU) which aims to support the coal-dependent country’s transition from coal to renewable energy.

Allyship requires honest reflection on both external influences and internal governance models. African governance must prioritize effectiveness, cultural relevance, and human dignity rather than mimic foreign institutional templates. Current systems often suffer from “accidental leadership” and elite capture, which erode trust and perpetuate inequality. Leadership should be redefined as accountable stewardship.

Multilateral institutions like the African Union and regional bodies must evolve from symbolic platforms to transformative agents with real influence in policy making, conflict mediation, and democracy defense.

Economic sovereignty is essential, and a shift from commodity dependence to value-creating, resilient economies driven by domestic savings and diaspora investment is crucial. Protecting Africa’s rich natural resources, biodiversity, and ecosystems must be central to sustainable development

What’s needed:

• Build strong African institutions to control their own economies and protect natural resources, and give Africans a voice to negotiate and reset multilateral systems
• Allies should form partnership agreements that embed African ownership, decision-making authority, and equitable resource sharing. These partnerships should be based on respect and equal decision-making with African leaders, and African actors should act strategically in relation to the management and protection of natural resources. Advance pan-African financial architecture to channel extractive wealth and diaspora capital into regenerative development and infrastructure
• Reform African institutions to increase transparency, meritocracy, and local stakeholder participation to combat elite capture. Reforms should emphasize accountability

Transforming Africa’s future requires confronting colonial legacies and systemic inequities by reclaiming narratives, power, and self-determined governance. Reframing Africa’s global position begins with honest conversations on the continent, building spaces for African-led dialogue and design.

The Africa Forum emphasized moving from the adaptation of imported models to trusting African capacity to lead transformation. This includes cartographic justice through accurate map representations, recognizing Africa's true size and importance, and promoting map literacy in schools and public institutions.

African institutions must embed pan-African financial architectures, synchronize policies across regional bodies, and implement Agenda 2063 with clear metrics to measure progress. Governments need to invest in youth and women as strategic assets and decentralize governance, while civil society and youth must continue mobilizing.

What’s needed:

• Facilitate continent-wide dialogue platforms and think tanks to foster African-led policy research, narrative-building, and advocacy. These should create African-led spaces for honest dialogue and policymaking.
• African institutions to develop solutions based on local knowledge
• Align policies across countries and invest in youth and civil society leadership

Africa’s biggest challenge is bridging the gap between vision and implementation. The future must be African-shaped – youth-led, gender-inclusive, and aligned with the planet’s needs. Salzburg Global’s Africa Forum concluded with a shared commitment to ongoing dialogue, empowerment, and accountable leadership, aiming to build a continent where Africans determine their own destiny, revive the multilateral order, and no longer ask what can be extracted – but what can be created.

Download the report as a PDF 

View the publication on ISSUU:

Skip Issuu-Reader

This program is part of our Annual Spotlight: “Centering Africa." Across our sessions and events in 2025, Salzburg Global is highlighting the central role that the African continent will play in global development now and in the next decades. As demographic trends across much of the world project a future of older and less productive economies, the African continent stands out for its growing youth population, dynamism and innovation. In reimagining an international system that better responds to the needs of the 21st century, it is our hope that Salzburg Global can play a small but meaningful role in centering African ideas, innovations, and perspectives in global forums like ours.