Africa in Focus Speaker Series

Following the announcement of a new US Strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa in August 2022, and a second US-Africa Leaders Summit in December 2022, the goal of this discussion series was to take stock of US-African relations to date, including unpacking key components of the US strategy, and understanding African perspectives on the current and future trajectory of US engagement on the continent.

Read the comprehensive annual report: Reflecting on the U.S. Strategy Towards Africa: Embracing Partnership & Pragmatism

Speaker Events:

• Security, Stability, and Economic Growth: A Holistic US Approach to Africa
• Shifting Landscape: Reflections on Africa's Youth Potential and Engagement with the U.S. and France
• Implementing a New U.S. Strategy for Africa: Assessing Progress, Challenges, and Priorities

This series centered on African voices discussing the causes, consequences, and policy solutions for global climate change. Coinciding with the run-up to COP27 in Egypt, this series provided African policymakers with a platform to set the world’s climate agenda and an opportunity to elevate the continent’s role in addressing the global climate change crisis.

Read the comprehensive annual report: African Agency in International Climate Policy and Energy Geopolitics

Speaker Events:

• Road to COP27: African Priorities and Goals in Global Climate Negotiations 
• Climate, Conflict, and Food Security in Africa
• African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and the Global Economy
• What Happened and What's Next: Reflections and Debrief on COP27
• Green Growth: Climate Finance for African States
• Africa’s Energy Transition: An Opportunity for a Renewed U.S-Africa Partnership

These sessions examined the factors driving recent political transitions and geostrategic relations in Africa. This year's discussion series focused on political processes and competition, civil society demands, civil-military relations, and the recent rise in coup d’états, particularly in West African countries, Sudan, and Ethiopia. We also considered the challenges facing African governments and the African Union in coordinating an African foreign policy, highlighting relationships with the US and China, among other actors.

Speaker Events:

• Civil Society and Populism in Sudan and Ethiopia
• Coups and Civil-Military Relations in West Africa
• The African Story at a Time of Global Crisis | Martin Kimani, Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the UN
• African Governments Navigating U.S. and China Relations