In the run up to All Africans Movement Assembly,(AAMA) to be held in Accra, Ghana in August, Africans Rising is hosting virtual regional consultations with its members to shape the program of the convening. To start off, on April 26th the movement hosted its members in the West Africa region to give them the opportunity to network and share ideas on how to solve issues affecting their region and also to build a united movement.
The main objective of the Regional Consultation as underlined by the West African representative of the Africans Rising Coordinating Collective Board, Ndubuisi Promise, is to “create an avenue to discuss the work, strategic development and processes of Africans Rising as well as have a conversation with grassroots members at the regional level to deduce how they expect the movement to look like in the next five years, by suggesting possible issues for discussions during AAMA, which is coming up in August this year”, he said.
Briefing participants about the assembly, the Movement Coordinator, Hardi Yakubu, said AAMA is one of the largest gatherings of Africans Rising and it brings together activists, movements and members both from Africa and the Diaspora to discuss issues affecting Africa.
“The first edition of AAMA was held in Arusha, Tanzania in 2022 and one of the major outcomes was the revision of Africans Rising working document, the Kilimanjaro Declaration 2.0 and also the birth of the Borderless Africa Campaign”, he added.
The second edition of AAMA will be held in Ghana from 29-30 August 2024. The overarching objective of this year’s AAMA is to create a think-tank on how to make Africa better. This is because protests have been organised to fight for what Africans want and also to fight against what Africans do not want. Thus, AAMA will be the avenue where everything that Africans don’t like will be discussed. Quoting a statement by Kwame Nkrumah, Hardi pointed out that “we do not move East or West, we move forward”.
Discussions during the virtual event, moderated by Africans Rising Engagement and Collaboration Lead, Ancel Langwa, raised several issues to be addressed during AAMA including:
- Freedom of movement
- Internet connectivity issues
- The LGBT community
- The rise of the dollar in Africa
- Statism instead of Pan-African Solidarity
- A review of Africa’s regional systems
- Youths to be given a listening ear
- Gender issues (femicide)
- Encourage funding by Africans
During the question and answer session facilitated by Ansumana Camara, members were asked the following questions:
- What are the different focus areas of member movements?
- What is the current state of civic spaces in different regions and countries?
- What are the burning issues happening in regions and countries?
- What are the major setbacks of movements and how can Africans Rising intervene?
- What is working well in each region and country?
- What are the existing opportunities for collaboration with Africans Rising?
In response to the questions, it was discovered that the focus of member movements and organisations are similar to the pillars of Africans Rising including, human rights, climate justice, gender issues, development of youths, etc.
The civic spaces of most regions and countries are shrinking, under the impact of the economic crisis.
The burning issues in different regions are rigging of elections.
One of the major setbacks of member movements is lack of partnership, political manipulation and lack of funding for project implementation. Africans Rising can intervene by organising exchange training programmes for members contributing more to the growth of the movement.
Local partnership is one of the things that is working in some regions. In the Gambia, CSO collaboration is working especially as they agree on pushing for the repealing of the LPM law for it not to be successful.
The best way to collaborate with Africans Rising is to integrate the movement’s various WhatsApp groups and participate in the discussions. As an action point, members were asked to share their phone numbers and email addresses to receive a WhatsApp link.
Some three member movements, Hope for Street Children and Vulnerable Foundation from Nigeria, Youth in Action for Development from Liberia, Development Dynamic from Nigeria and Youths Ambassadors for Democracy, expressed their willingness to organise peaceful protests in their countries on 25 May to push for a Borderless Africa.
Closing the discussion, Ndubuisi Promise, thanked all participants and said that Africans Rising would develop strategies to implement the proposals made.
