In late November, PARC’s Isabella Aboderin, Susan Jim and Eyob Balcha Gebremariam went to Accra, Ghana, to join together with other stakeholders of the Africa Charter and work towards a Theory of Change. The aim was to construct this using a hybrid Theory of Change and Futures Thinking approach.
The main organisations joining together for this were the University of South Africa Chief Albert Luthuli Research Chair and the Institute for Humanities in Africa at the University of Cape Town, the Association of African Universities (AAU), and AAU Europe Office, the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA), and the University of Namibia.
The Workshop
A Futures Thinking approach involves exploring and preparing for a range of future scenarios – looking at trends and drivers of change – and it led to some extremely fruitful discussions about the future of the Africa Charter.
One of the key points noted was the central and important role of the AAU. As the voice of 400+ universities in Africa, and as an organisation that works with governments and the Africa Union, the AAU has tremendous convening and lobbying power.
The full report from this event, as well as the Theory of Change itself, will be shared in due course.
