The Breaking Down Borders Africa Youth Summit returns to Johannesburg for its second edition from the 14th – 18th May 2018. The Summit is a Pan African platform created for young Africans to network, collaborate and form partnerships across socio-economic and political spaces, under the theme “African Youth: Building Our Legacy”. This year, the Summit will be hosted over five days in Johannesburg & Pretoria with over 200 delegates from across the African continent and the diaspora expected.
The five-day program is packed with activities, outreach programmes, tourism, networking, and collaborations, with the main conference taking place at UNISA in Pretoria and later the Maslow Hotel in Sandton. Some of the program activities include a public lecture on Nelson Mandela and the African Renaissance, a visit to the Union Buildings hosted by the South African Ministry of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, as well as lectures, panel discussions and engagements with African young leaders and experts from various fields.
Some of the prolific speakers and panellists on the program include Kenyan political activist Boniface Mwangi, South African entrepreneur Lethabo Motsoaledi, Lesotho Computer Scientist and Researcher Dr Maletsabisa Molapo amongst a plethora of high profile academics, political influencers, disrupters, and change agents from across Africa. There will also be schools visit across the province, in which young leaders will engage with and inspire high school learners. Furthermore, the programme includes skills development workshops by Red Bull Amaphiko and Google Africa.
Organising committee member, Lorato Modongo, a young academic and gender activist from Botswana, spoke candidly about Africa’s need for self-sufficiency, youth participation and leadership. Modongo expanded that the 2018 theme, ‘African Youth, Building Our Legacy’, is inspired by the Nelson Mandela centenary’s call to action to “Be the Legacy” and thus urges young people to contribute to building a better Africa through some of the resources at our disposal. She highlighted that young people through their energy, thinking, and innovations were one of Africa’s biggest assets.
Breaking Down Borders Africa Youth Summit is supported by various partners, among which is Brand South Africa who wish to showcase the beauty and brand power of SA through this platform.
Toni Gumede, Brand SA’s Strategic Relationship Manager, said the company’s collaboration with the summit was “a natural marriage” that speaks to Brand SA’s ‘Play Your Part’ drive.
“The Breaking Down Borders Africa Youth Summit really resonates with what our organisation is about, specifically with the mandate that is articulated in the National Development Plan regarding strategic and critical intra-Africa relations. This seeks to do what we aspire people to do – to break down borders by building an active citizenship and inspiring new ways of doing things,” she said.
