This archive report was first published on 15 December 2019.
On December 15, 2019, the Nation Media Group's Kusi Ideas Festival brought together over 500 influential leaders, scholars, entrepreneurs, and innovators from across Africa in Kigali, Rwanda, to discuss the challenges the continent is likely to face in the next 60 years and offer creative ideas on how to address them.
His Highness the Aga Khan, 49th hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims and founder of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), emphasized the importance of learning from Africa's experiences and successes. He noted that the world has much to learn from Africa, citing the AKDN's work over the past 100 years as a testament to the continent's potential.
The AKDN's network of institutions in healthcare, education, financial services, industry, infrastructure, media, tourism, habitat, property development, and environment and culture work in 35 countries to improve living conditions and opportunities for the world's most vulnerable people. With its presence in 14 African countries, AKDN employs around 35,000 Africans.
One of the key focus areas of discussions at the Kusi Ideas Festival was Africa's youthful population, which will produce a future workforce and a significant market for goods and services. Unless the youth are given opportunities, they risk marginalization, His Highness the Aga Khan warned.
AKDN has embarked on initiatives such as the Coastal Youth Initiative and the Youth Hub Network to target up to one million unemployed young people and help them articulate their own requirements. The network has also set internationally-benchmarked standards for excellence in education and healthcare, providing early childhood, primary, secondary, and tertiary education to approximately 800,000 students and benefiting millions more each year through public schools' improvement programs.
As Africa implements the Continental Free Trade Agreement, the festival theme envisioned an Africa without trade borders. AKDN has practical experience to offer in this regard, having invested in the Ruzizi III hydropower project, an exemplary model of borderless cooperation to share a natural resource between three countries – Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo – to benefit 30 million people.
The festival also recognized the importance of environmental sustainability. Within the network, there is an essential focus on sustainability and conservation, including the Kilaguni Serena Lodge, the first fully solar-powered hospitality facility in Kenya, and power generation projects in East and Central Africa that focus on renewable energy.
