Please join these important Africa Day webinars

Dear colleagues and students

Africa Day, commemorated each year on 25 May, is a very important day on the University of Cape Town (UCT) calendar – even more so this year, under the unusual conditions we face as a result of COVID-19. Now more than ever, Africans need to take up the challenges we share with each other and the world, and apply our creativity and experience to help develop solutions.

In this spirit, the African Union’s African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), in collaboration with UCT Convocation and the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance (NMSPG), will host a three-day Africa Month public symposium under the theme “Africa’s innovations in the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic”.

From Wednesday, 27 May to Friday, 29 May 2020, five webinars will discuss – among others – knowledge systems and knowledge production on the continent; best practice examples in Africa; the climate change and development nexus in Africa; Pan-African reflections on leadership and good governance during COVID-19; and COVID-19 philanthropy on the continent.

Each panel of Pan-African experts will focus on responses by African countries to the COVID-19 pandemic, in relation to governance and development. They will explore the actions required to fulfil African shared values and principles.

Panellists include Seyni Nafo of Mali, Africa’s spokesperson at the 2015 Paris climate talks; Bulelwa Ngewana, Executive Director of the Open Society Foundation for South Africa; Professor Eddy Maloka, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the APRM; Professor Carlos Lopes of the NMSPG; Dr Mosoka Fallah, Deputy Director-General of the National Public Health Institute of Liberia; Carl Manlan, Chief Operating Officer of the EcoBank Foundation; Bongiwe Mlangeni, CEO of the Social Justice Initiative; and Saliem Fakir, Executive Director of the African Climate Foundation.

These discussions are important for all of us. Your questions and observations will contribute to our perspectives on each topic. So I encourage you to engage with these panellists even if you can only do so in one or two sessions.

• Please RSVP to attend these webinars.

Sincerely

Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng
Vice-Chancellor

Read previous communications:

• From the UCT Executive
• Campus Announcements