Africa Day: Assuring Sustainable Water Availability and Safe Sanitation Systems

Excellencies, distinguished participants.
It is my pleasure to take the floor and hereby bring today's high level United Nations event commemorating Africa Day 2026 to order.
Could you do the gavel for me again, please? Is it to speak up? Can you hear me? Okay.
Can you hear me now? All right.
I'll speak up and if it gets too low, just do this.
I will repeat, Excellency's distinguished participants.
It is my pleasure to take the floor and hereby bring today's high level United Nations event commemorating Africa Day 2026 to order and you heard the gavel.
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, all protocols observed.
It is my distinct honor to serve as moderator for this very special celebratory and educational event.
I would like to ask permission of our elders to continue.
Do we have anyone in the room that might be over the age of 85 that could give me permission 80 75.
All right.
May I have your permission to continue.
Thank you so much, Hasani Sana.
What a blessing.
I am doctor Vicki Casanova Willis, Deputy Director and Senior Fellow for the Office of HBCU Development and International Cooperation.
OHBCUD works in partnership with our esteemed colleagues at the African Renaissance and Diaspora Network, which many of you all know as ARDN conveners of today's very important and necessary observance.
Africa Day, proclaimed African libération Day on May 25th, 1963, in Adis Ababa, Ethiopia and commemorated annually, marks the founding of the Organization of African Unity, OAU Now the AU, the African Union.
It's celebrated on the continent as most of us know, and throughout the global diaspora, Africa Day provides an opportunity to reflect on African unity and progress while mobilizing action around Africa's priorities and Agenda 2063.
A quick note of gratitude to my late husband, Attorney Standish Kwame Willis, who became an ancestor just last year, and also to his friend, family friend, ancestor as well, educator doctor Conrad Worrall for this history of celebration of African Liberation Day and Africa Day in the United States.
Here, it began in 1972, May, in Washington, DC.
That first year even more than 60,000 people gathered as we are doing today.
To participate in that historic event.
In 1973, it was decentralized and Chicago sponsored its first African Liberation Day, now Africa Day celebration in May of that year.
It's a longstanding tradition that we are honoring and commemorating today.
Chicago Africa Day Comorations, for example, our community traditions to this day.
I can attest to that.
It's again, such an honor to be here today.
The 2026 Africa Day Commemoration at the United Nations is convened by the African Renaissance and Diaspora Network, ARDN and co sponsored by the permanent Mission of Sierra Leone to the United Nations the African Union Office of the African Union to the United Nations in New York and the United Nations Population Fund or UNFPA.
Today.
The 2026 United Nations commemoration date of today, Tuesday 26 May, facilitates broad participation and enables you all, thank you so very much, once again, to be here.
Broad participation from member states, United Nations entities, civil society organizations, youth leaders, and development partners both here in person and streaming globally.
This year's commemoration aligns with the African Union's 2026 theme of assuring sustainable water availability and safe sanitation systems to achieve the goals of Agenda 2063.
You will hear this next point repeatedly in the next hour or two, and that's a good thing because deep dialogue inspires critical thinking, which inspires action.
So that point that we're going to repeat is that water, sanitation, and hygiene remain central to Africa's development agenda and frankly are essential to life and thriving wherever people of African ancestry are.
They shape public health, education, food security, gender equity, economic opportunity, and resilience.
Despite progress across the continent and her diaspora, millions upon millions of people, particularly in underserved communities continue to lack access to safe water and basic sanitation services, just as our elders are essential foundations of wisdom and experience, and thank you again for granting us traditionally for granting me permission to continue.
Young people are likewise central to advancing solutions.
Youth are not only beneficiaries of development, but also leaders, innovators, and drivers of practical action.
We uplift intergenerational collaboration this Africa Day.
Africa Day 2026 also takes place in the lead up to the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games.
As many of you will know, it's the first Olympic event ever hosted on African soil.
Another thing that we're going to continue to reinforce because we need your support.
Our youth need our support.
This historic milestone creates an opportunity to position youth leadership, sport, and international partnership at the center of Africa's renaissance.
That's part of what we are accomplishing together today.
Finally, for my remarks, today's commemoration will also highlight the red card campaign, which calls for giving a card to all forms of violence against and discrimination.
Forgive me.
The red card campaign calls for giving a red card to all forms of violence and discrimination against women and girls, anchored in the values of teamwork, sport, and aligned with the sustainable development goals.
The red card campaign promotes positive masculinity, youth engagement, and social transformation in the lead up to Dakara 2026.
You will hear more about all of these in just a few minutes.
From the esteemed speakers that we have here today to share with you.
Together, these elements help position Africa Day 2026 as an important platform connecting youth leadership, gender equity, sustainable development, and practical solutions in water and sanitation.
That's what you are helping us accomplish today.
Would you give yourselves a hand for being here? Thank you so much.
I'm equally delighted now to introduce our host and convener for today's high level event, doctor Jabril Diallo, a former spokesperson for the President of the United Nations General Assembly, currently president and CEO of the African Renaissance and Diaspora Network, ARDN.
Doctor Jabril, you have the floor.
Thank you very much.
Excellencies, distinguished representatives of the United Nations system, members of the African group and the African Union family, colleagues from civil society, academia, youth organizations, private sector leaders, members of the African diaspora, friends of Africa.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the commemoration at the United Nations headquarters of Africa Day, 2026 edition.
At the outset, I would like to express our sincere appreciation to our valued co sponsors whose partnership and commitment have made today's commemoration possible.
We have the deputy permanent representative of Sierra Leone to the United Nations representing Sierra Leone here as co sponsor, We have the advisor at the Office of the African Union Commission here in New York, Fomb representing the African Union here present, and we have the leadership of the Under Secretary-General of the United Nations, Executive Director of the United Nations Fund for Population, UNFPA, who is also co sponsor.
All of you are as co sponsors.
Thanked for your leadership, for your collaboration, and for your commitment to advancing Africa's priorities and sustainable development goals.
I want also to take a moment.
I've been going around as convener.
I've seen so many representatives of the diplomatic corps here present.
I want to make sure that we thank you for taking time out of your very busy schedules to come and be present here at the commemoration of Africa Day at the United Nations headquarters.
Let us say thank you very much to all the diplomatic corps here present.
Africa Day reminds us not only of the founding of the Organ of African Unity, but also an enduring spirit of solidarity, resilience, partnership, and collective ambition that continues to shape Africa's future.
We're meeting today around an issue that as our esteemed moderator mentioned, which is sits at the heart of human dignity and sustainable human development.
What is that issue? That's water, that's sanitation, that's human development.
This year's theme, as declared by the African Union, says that we want to make sure that we assure sustainable water and safe sanitation systems to achieve the United Nations sustainable development goals, but also the African Union's Agenda 2063 and water and sanitation influence health, influence education, influence food security, influence gender equality, economic opportunity, and dignity itself.
Millions of people across Africa continue to face daily challenges in accessing safe water, in accessing sanitation services.
Yet, Africa offers innovation, entrepreneurship, resilience, and community leadership, all of those capable of delivering scalable solutions.
The youth must remain central to this effort.
Young people are not merely beneficiaries of development.
The youth are also innovators, the youth are also entrepreneurs, they are leaders, they are builders of solutions, and this conversation takes place, as was mentioned before, for the first time in the history of the African continent.
We have the Olympics taking place on African soil, Dhaka 2026, which will take place from 31st of October to 13th of November.
But the car 2026 is not just a sport.
It is a platform to mobilize the youth at global level.
It's a platform to strengthen international partnerships.
It's a platform to promote sustainable human development, a platform to demonstrate that the young people of Africa can help shape global solutions.
Even though the youth Olympics are taking place in Senegal, it's a global exercise that will have young people aged 15-18 coming from 193 countries globally.
So for the African Renaissance and Dias Pra Network, supporting the United Nations sustainable development goals and engaging the 250 million people of African descent globally, the CAR 2026 represents a defining opportunity to connect youth leaders Innovation, gender equality, Jasper engagement, sport, and sustainable development.
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to travel to China as part of ARDN's continuing efforts to strengthen global partnerships in support of sustainable development.
During the mission to China, we engaged leaders from business, from innovation, from city cooperation, and international development around a shared convention or conviction.
That is sustainable when we talk about sustainable human development, it requires partnerships across the regions, sectors, and generations.
We need investment, we need technology, we need innovation, we need youth leadership, and we need international solidarity.
During the engagement in China, I also had the honor of serving in my capacity as chair of Global City Africa City hubs, helping strengthen dialogue around partnerships connecting cities, investment ecosystems, diaspora engagement, and practicing development solutions.
As Africa prepares for Dhaka 2026 and beyond, cities will increasingly play a vital role in youth opportunities, innovation, infrastructure development.
Africa's future will be shaped not only what our continent does, but also what partnerships it develops around the world.
We're very, very honored, again, to have the partnership not only include Africa and the diaspora, but also have global representatives, permanent representatives of the United Nations here present.
That's the only way we can move forward with the sustainable development of the continent.
You will hear later a statement on video with L Nan, who's the Secretary-General of the China Brand Innovation Development Project in Beijing, China, I also wish to recognize Martin Wang, who is the founder and president of Global City Connect.
Their participation reflect today a broader message that is the road to Dhaka 2026 not only provides an opportunity for Africa, but also for the world.
In our tradition, I would also like to express my appreciation.
When you look at the agenda, the agenda is being shared with you.
Those who will be closing this Major important commemoration are young leaders.
I want to salute those young leaders who will conclude today's program and with their reflection and responses to today's call for leadership and action.
The voices of the youth matter, the voices of the youth are leadership and Africa's future.
Indeed, our shared global future will increasingly be shaped by your courage, your innovation, and your commitment to building a more just inclusive and sustainable development.
In our tradition of the African Renaissance and Jasper Network, we have a way of connecting ourselves individually and collectively to using the convening powers of sports and cultures in order to say no to all forms of violence and discrimination against women and girls.
With that, you have red cards around you on your table, If you could just kindly pick up each one of you your red cards and with the permission of the ambassadors and the permanent representatives here, I would like each and every one of you to stand up, please.
I would like politely to ask you to raise your cards.
Raise your cards and repeat after me, please.
Let's give.
I didn't hear you.
Let's add to all forms of violence and discrimination against women and girls.
Help us God.
You may be seated.
Thank you very much.
Thank you so much, please join me now as well.
Okay.
Yeah.
That's who's speaking on behalf of the.
Please join me, everyone in welcoming Ambassador Adela Mikaela Swallow.
Who is the distinguished representative for Sierra Leone and is smiling at me for my stumbling over there.
Thank you.
Okay.
Excellencies, distinguished representatives, ladies and gentlemen.
It is an honor for me on behalf of the permanent Mission of Say Leon to the United Nations to join fellow member states, partners and friends in commemorating Africa Day 2026 here at the United Nations headquarters.
As we celebrate this important occasion, we pay tribute to vision and sacrifices of our founding leaders of the Organization of African Unity, now the African Union, whose commitment to solidarity, libération, and African unity continues to inspire our collective journey towards the Africa we want, as articulated in Agenda 2063.
I wish to commend the African Renaissance and Diaspora Network, the African Union, UNFPA, and all partners and co sponsors for convening this timely high level dialogue under the theme assuring sustainable water availability and safe sanitation systems to achieve the goals of Agenda 2063.
This theme could not be more urgent or more relevant.
Water and sanitation are not simply development priorities.
They are fundamental to life, dignity, health, peace, and economic transformation.
Access to clean water determines whether children can attend school, whether communities can thrive, whether women and girls can live safely and with dignity, and whether societies can build resilience against poverty, disease, and climate shocks.
Yet, despite progress, the reality remains sobering.
Hundreds of millions across Africa still lack us access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.
Climate change, environmental degradation, population growth, rapid urbanization, and financing gaps continue to place immense pressure on water systems across our continent.
Women and girls continue to bear a disproportionate burden, particularly in rural communities, where the absence of safe water and sanitation undermines education, health outcomes, economic empowerment, and gender equality.
At the same time, Africa is demonstrating extraordinary resilience, innovation, and determination.
Across the continent, governments, local communities, entrepreneurs, scientists, youth groups, and development partners are advancing practical and scalable solutions from climate resilience infrastructure and renewable energy sanitation systems to digital technologies for water management and community led hygiene initiatives.
The challenge before us, therefore, is not simply one of resources.
It is equally a question of political will, strategic partnerships, technology transfer, capacity building, and sustained investments.
Excellences, the African Union's Agenda 2063, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals provide us with a common roadmap for action.
In particular, SDG six, ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all is intrinsically linked to nearly every aspect of sustainable development, including poverty eradication, food security, public health, energy access, education, industrialization, and climate resilience.
For Ce Lion, water and sanitation remain national priorities.
Through our national development agenda and our commitments under the SDGs and Agenda 2063, we're pursuing policies and partnerships aimed at expanding access to safe water, improving sanitation services, strengthening climate adaptation, and promoting sustainable resource management.
Our National wash sector Development Program 2025 to 2035 sets out a vision of achieving a water secure and sanitation safe ceon by 2035.
Supported by strong institutions and sustainable financing, this is the vision.
The program is built around four key priorities, strengthening water resource management and ensuring universal access to safe water, eliminating open defecation, while expanding access to sanitation, hygiene and sanitation management services, enhancing the capacity and effectiveness of water sector institutions, and improving sustainable financing for the water sanitation, and hygiene sectors.
However, we recognize that governments cannot achieve these goals alone.
Success will require stronger cooperation among member states, the United Nations system, international financial institutions, the private sector, academia, civil society, faith leaders, women's organizations, youth networks, and the African diaspora.
In that regard, today's dialogue provides an important platform to deepen collaboration, mobilize investment, exchange ideas, and forge innovative partnerships capable of delivering tangible results for our people.
Ladies and gentlemen, this year's Africa Day, commemoration also comes as Africa prepares for Dhaka 2026 youth Olympic Games in Senegal, which we all know, will be the first Olympic event ever to be held on African soil.
This historic milestone represents far more than sport.
It symbolizes Africa's growing confidence, creativity, and potential, while placing youth inclusion, culture, and innovation at the center of global attention.
Dhaka 2026 offers an important opportunity to inspire young people across our continent and to strengthen partnerships that promote education, empowerment, decent work, and sustainable development.
Africa's greatest asset is indeed its people, particularly its young population.
We must therefore continue investing in education, innovation, entrepreneurship, digital transformation, sports, and skills development so that Africa's youth can become drivers of sustainable growth, peace and prosperity.
We also commend the continued leadership of the African Renaissance and Diaspora Network, particularly through the Red card campaign, which uses sports and culture to challenge violence, discrimination, and exclusion affecting women and girls.
This initiative reminds us that sustainable development cannot flourish where inequality and injustice persists.
Excellence.
As we commemorate Africa Day today, let us reaffirm our collective commitment to an Africa where every child has access to clean water, every community benefits from safe sanitation, every woman and girl can live free from violence and discrimination, and every young person has the opportunity to realize their full potential.
Let us transform today's dialogue into concrete and united action.
Together, through solidarity, partnership, and determination, we can build an integrated, peaceful, prosperous, and resilient Africa for present and future generations.
Happy Africa Day.
I thank you.
Thank Thank you so much, Ambassador, for sharing with us that compelling vision for the Africa of today in Sierra Leone, as well as what is to come.
Thank you.
Next, we will have a video statement by Mr.
Lee Nan, Secretary-General, China Brand Innovation Development Project of Beijing, China.
And immediately thereafter, we'll be hearing from Ambassador La Lares Santos, the Assistant Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs, Philippines.
Thank you so much.
Distinguished guests and friends, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.
I am L Nan.
Secretary-General of China Brand Innovation and Development Project, on the occasion of Africa Day on behalf of the China Brand Innovation and Development Project, I extend sincere holiday congratulations and best wishes to the permanent representatives of African countries to the United Nations in attendance to all African friends and to individuals from all sectors who have long been committed to promoting friendly cooperation between China and Africa at the same time.
I extend a warm welcome and sincere greetings to friends from various countries attending today as event, the China Brand Innovation and Development Project is dedicated to serving as a high and the platform for Chinese enterprise brand building and international cooperation domestically.
We rely on authoritative media and high end think tank resources to create multiple special programs, focusing on enterprise development to promote a series of publications that document the growth journey of Chinese enterprises and to regularly hold high.
And the summits and forums with over 1,000 participants.
At the international level, we have established long term cooperative relationships with dozens of international organizations as well as hundreds of mainstream media outlets, worldwide regularly organized Chinese enterprises to conduct exchange activities in various countries.
So far, we have provided professional services to over 20,000 Chinese enterprises.
On May 9th this year, we successfully held the 2026 forum on China brand globalization and international outreach.
In Beijing, we were also honored to invite the president of the African Renaissance and Diaaspora Network, doctor Gib Diallo, jointly exploring new opportunities for China Africa enterprise cooperation at the forum.
We observed both China and Africa have not only vast potential for economic and trade exchanges, but also deep resonance in values and concepts, Africa, as young labor force rapidly developing digital economy and the ongoing green transition provide new opportunities for the development of global enterprises.
Chinese enterprises have mature experience in various aspects such as manufacturing, technology application, and supply chain systems, which also injects strong momentum into practical cooperation between China and Africa on the 28th of September this year.
We will actively participate in the Africa Open for Business Summit hosted by the African Renaissance and Diaspora Network at the United Nations and co host the 2026 forum on corporate Globalization and sustainable development at that time.
We will invite relevant representatives from the United Nations Heads of International Organizations global celebrities and others to participate together, the event will be fully recorded by a professional domestic production team produced into a feature documentary and promoted globally through Chinese and international communication channels.
We look forward to helping the international community, including the Chinese people through these two high profile events, gain a more comprehensive and in depth understanding of Africa while also establishing a dialogue platform for Chinese enterprises and African entrepreneur representatives to promote bilateral cooperation in sustainable development, industrial innovation, social responsibility, and other fields to carry out more specific, pragmatic, and long.
Term collaboration, ladies and gentlemen.
Africa Day is not only an important festival for the African continent, but also a crucial moment for the international community to jointly understand Africa, respect Africa, and join hands with Africa.
It embodies the African spirit of unity, self reliance development, and the rejuvenation and also presents to the world and Africa full of vitality.
Brimming with potential and embracing hope this year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Africa.
Since 1956, China and Africa have always respected each other, maintained equality and mutual benefit and worked hand in hand from infrastructure, construction to economic and trade cooperation, from cultural exchanges to green development, from industrial synergy to joint brand building.
China Africa cooperation has continuously expanded into new fields, jointly composing a new chapter in South South cooperation.
Finally, I sincerely wish this Africa Day celebration event a complete success may the China Africa friendship endure and grow ever stronger, may the cooperation between the two sides continue to reach new heights.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Message on understanding, respecting and cooperating with Africa.
Now I'm delighted to introduce to you and give the floor to Ambassador La Lara Santos, Assistant Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs for the Philippines.
Ambassador, you have the floor.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr.
Chair.
Excellencies and colleagues, allow me to begin by extending the Philippines warmest congratulations to the peoples and nations of the African continent on the occasion of the 2026 Africa Day.
It is truly an honor to be here with you this afternoon.
Notably, 2026 marks the 63rd anniversary of the founding of the African Union.
We laud ongoing efforts by the African Union to promote peace and stability and enhance sustainable economic development in accordance with African priorities.
The Philippines reaffirms its support for Africa Union's Agenda 2063.
Ting Her Excellency, Maria Teresa P Lazaro, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, the Philippines and Africa share a common history as peoples who navigated the difficult path from colonial rule to independence and who have since worked to secure their place in a rules based international order that upholds the sovereign equality of all nations.
As fellow nations of the global South, we have a shared interest in ensuring international institutions are responsive to the needs and priorities of developing countries, close quote.
To strengthen partnership with the African nations presence is important.
The opening of the Philippine embassy in Accra in 2026 adds to the growing number of Philippine foreign service posts in the continent, a concrete symbol of the Philippines commitment and sincerity to further build bridges and strengthen cooperation with African countries.
Currently, we have six resident embassies in Cairo, Rabat, Tripoli, Abuja, and Pretoria, to be followed by Accra, Luanda and Adis Ababa are in the pipeline.
Here at the UN, the Philippines works closely with African partners through the Bug of G 77, the non aligned movement, and cross regional coalitions.
In the 60 years of Philippine participation in UN peacekeeping operations, we have contributed to missions in Congo, Sudan, Burundi, South Sudan, Abi, Liberia, and Covar.
The Philippines supports the Isolwini consensus for a more representative and accountable Security Council, including stronger African representation in decisions that directly affect the continent.
Mr.
Chair, Excellencies and colleagues.
Access to clean water is directly related to peace and sustainable development.
Allow me to provide examples of the work of the Philippines with African nations in this regard.
The Philippines as co chair, works closely with Egypt, Mauritania, and Dibouti as members of the group of friends in support of water, sanitation, and hygiene in healthcare facilities or wash, calling for the universal access to wash services, ensuring safe maternal and newborn care, and a cornerstone of climate resilient disaster prepared health services in line with the General Assembly Resolution 78130.
Together with Senegal and Mozambique, the Philippines is an active member of the Global Alliance to spare water from armed conflict, which emphasizes the obligations of parties to implement Security Council Resolution 25 73 to protect civilians and civilian objects, including water during armed conflict and to fully comply with international humanitarian law.
As a champion of climate action and climate justice, the Philippines stands with African nations to ensure that countries are held accountable for their commitments.
Within the framework of Asean, the Philippines, as chair of Asean stands ready to engage and promote interregional cooperation with African regional groups.
In the past few months, the Philippines has spearheaded discussions with different African regional groups, including the Echa, Sad S, and AIA and plans to steer Africa Asean cooperation to the fore during its Asean chairship.
Mr.
Chair, Excellencies and colleagues.
On this occasion of the African Day, the Philippines reaffirms its friendship with African nations and its commitment to a relationship built on mutual respect, shared values, and common purpose.
We look forward to continuing this work together for peace and development.
Happy Africa Day to all our African brothers and sisters.
Thank you.
Thank you, Ambassador.
The point that we think of and we hear always about water and of course, the connection to quenching our thirst, it's necessary for life and to cultivate and plant for food sovereignty, but that direct link to peace, we thank you for putting that on the agenda today.
We will now have a video statement by Mr.
Martin Wang.
Or Wong, founder and president of Global City Connect in Beijing, China.
This intervention, as you will hear, informs us about GCC Africa and the City Hubs framework, and I will not make any more comments.
We'll hear it from him.
After which we'll be happy to have an introduction that you're going to be excited to hear.
Your Excellency's distinguished guests, ambassadors, dear friends, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.
My name is Martin Wang, founder and executive President of Global City Connect or TCC, an international platform promoting global cooperation and sustainable development.
I also served as Vice President of the UN Correspondents Association.
On behalf of TCC, I extend my sincere greetings to all friends attending today's Africa Day commemoration.
I also pay tribute to all those who have long contributed to China, Africa friendship, and international cooperation.
Today, Africa is demonstrating unprecedented vitality and potential.
Its young population, rapidly growing digital economy, advancing industrialization, and enormous demand for green energy and infrastructure making Africa one of the most promising greetings in the world.
At the same time, more and more Chinese enterprises are paying close attention to Africa, believing in Africa's future and hoping to participate more deeply in Africa's development.
It is for this reason, among others that we launched GCC.
Since GCC was officially announced last year, we have established city hubs in the United States, Vietnam, Canada, Japan, and Pakistan.
This year, the number of GCCs fiscal city hubs worldwide is expected to reach 20.
We also established the GCC Africa Continental Hub and own it to invite doctor Gibro Diallo to serve as its chairman.
Not long ago, we had the great honor of inviting doctor Dielo to visit China.
I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to doctor Dielo for his strong support and openness in helping Chinese enterprises explore opportunities in Africa.
During his visit, many Chinese entrepreneurs were deeply encouraged and inspired by doctor Diallo's willingness to help build bridges between China and Africa and promote mutually beneficial cooperation with African partners.
During this visit, doctor Diallo participated in forums and visited several leading Chinese enterprises.
We found that Chinese enterprises are focusing on how to establish long term stable and sustainable operations in Africa.
For example, Qindon Top Coan Communication Group is promoting smart power and communication in cooperation in Africa.
Beijing Pan rail Transit technology is advancing rail transit projects in some African countries.
Qiang Fngsng is interested in Africa's agricultural modernization and food security.
Beijing a Tian curtain or Engineering is exploring infrastructure cooperation.
Inspur Industrial Internet Corporation Limited is focusing on digital trade and industrial collaboration.
Ilia International Medical Technology is interested in localized healthcare services.
LVTS is supporting Chinese SMES entering Africa through industrial parks, and Solar is already working with doctor Diallo on renewable energy projects.
I have always believed that successful international cooperation is not about short term business, it is about long term trust.
Ladies and gentlemen, over the past 70 years, China and Africa have always respected each other and pursued mutual benefit and win win cooperation.
Finally, I sincerely wish the Africa Day celebration great success and continued prosperity for Africa and its people.
I thank you.
I was taken by that point of this is the time that we move beyond short term business to long term trust building, and that is an Africa day unity message for all of us.
We will now have a video message by Her Excellency Ambassador Liberta Mlamula, the special envoy of the African Union Commission on Women Peace and Security, and former Foreign Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania.
However, this will be introduced by miss Fatu Soambier, advisor of the African Union Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations.
She serves as senior project coordinator for the African Women's Leadership Leaders Network, AWLN.
Miss Soamber, you have the floor.
Thank you, Madam O director.
Can you hear me? Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, doctor Gabriel, for inviting the African Union as a co sponsor of this timely event.
Excellency, distinguished representative, ladies and gentlemen, happy Africa Day.
It is an honor and privilege to introduce on behalf of His Excellency, Ambassador Idris Mohammed, the permanent representative of the African Union to the United Nations.
Her Excellency Ambassador Liberta Mulla Mullah, the EU Special Envoy on women peace and security at the 2026 Africa Day commemoration convened by the African Renaissance and Diaspora Network and its partners.
Ambassador Mullah Mullah is a distinguished African diplomat who recently served as the Foreign Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania.
As a statewoman whose remarkable career has been defined by an unwavering commitment to peace, diplomacy, regional cooperation, and advancement of peace stability across the continent, Ambassador Mullah Mullah is a leading figure in advancing continental effort towards strengthening women's meaningful participation in peace building, conflict prevention, and mediation across Africa.
Through her service at national, regional and international levels, she has consistently championed the meaningful inclusion of women in peace processes, governance, and decision making spaces.
As a respected voice and champion of women peace and security agenda, Her Excellency Mul Mulla continues to inspire African women and young women leaders across the continent.
Today, We are deeply honored to receive her video message as part of Africa Day celebration today.
Excellency, distinguished participant, please join me in welcoming Her Excellency Ambassador Libera Mllmla.
This is distinguished representatives of the member States, representative of the United Nations system, members of the Diplomatic Corps, leaders of the private sector and civil society, members of the African Das Forum, young leaders, ladies and gentlemen.
It is a great honor and pleasure to join you today at the United Nations Headquarters in New York for this important commemoration of Africa Day.
I bring you warm greetings from the African Union Commission chairperson, His Excellcy Ambassador Mahmudu A Yusuf, who extends his stations in organizing this important celebration Excellencies.
Africa Day remains a powerful symbol of unity, solid resilience, and hope for the people of our continent and for the people of the African descent around the world.
Today, we pay tribute to the vision and courage of the founding fathers of the organization of the Afghan Union, of the Afghan Unit, now the African Union, who believed in an African that is united, that is peaceful, that is prosperous and driven by Sumi people.
Excellencies, allow me to express my sincere appreciation to the permanent mission of Sierra Leone to the United Nations, the African Union Observer Mission, to the United Nations, the African Group, the African Renaissance, and Diaspora Network.
And then the leadership of doctor Digibility Allen and all partners who contributed in organizing this important commemoration.
Excellenc's distinguished representatives, this year's theme of the day is about assuring sustainable water availability and sanitation system to achieve the goals of Agenda 2063, the Africa we want.
This reminds us that water is not simply a development issue.
Water is life, water is dignity, water is health, water is peace, and water is development.
Excellence is across Africa, millions of people, especially women and girls, continuing to face daily challenges accessing safe water and sanitation, In many communities, girls still walk long distances to collect water, often at the expense of their education, of their safety, and future opportunities.
This reality must change.
Access to water and sanitation is directly linked to public health, to food security, to climate resilience, education, economic growth, and social stability.
It is also closely connected.
To the women peace and security agenda.
As the African Union special envoy on women peace and security, I am very convinced that sustainable peace and sustainable development cannot be achieved without the full and meaningful participation of women and girls, women are leaders, women are peace builders, women are innovators, and women are drivers of transformation across our continent.
Excellencies, I also warmly welcome a strong focus being placed today on youth leadership and positive social transformation.
Africa is the youngest continent in the world.
And our youth represent one of our greatest strengths and assets.
Across Africa, young people are already leading remarkable initiatives in innovation, entrepreneurship, technology, climate action, sports, and community development.
In this regard, I commend the organizers for linking this year's commemoration to the Dhakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, the first Olympic event ever hosted on an African tour.
Dhakar 2026 is more than a sporting event.
It is a continental milestone and the opportunity to showcase Africa's talent, energy, and the potential.
Sports has the power to unite, inspire, and promote values of inclusion, unity, discipline, and respect.
This is why I also welcome the red card campaign, which uses sports and culture to give the red card to all forms of violence and discrimination against women and girls.
An important dimension of the campaign is the promotion of positive masculinity.
We must engage boys and men as partners of building society based on equality, dignity, and mutual respect, through education, direct role models and community engagement.
We can help shape a generation committed to nonviolence and shared responsibility.
This vision aligns closely with the Peace Run Initiative, a flagship project my office plans launched this November during the 16 days of activism against gender based violence in Addis Aba.
Athletees from across the continent will come together to send a strong connective message against violence toward women and girls while celebrating the resilience and leadership of women in peace building and development.
And this initiative is aligned to the African Union Convention on ending violence against women and girls, one of the historic convention.
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, Africa future will also depend on stronger collaboration with the private sector civil society, the United Nations, the Academia, and the African diaspora, the private sector has a critical role in supporting innovation, in supporting youth entrepreneurship, in supporting sustainable infrastructure and gender equality.
Excellency, then diaspora also remains a powerful force for Africa's development through investment, advocacy, innovation, and global engagement.
As we strengthen these partnerships, I look forward to continue collaboration in the leader to the Africa Open for business summit during the United Nations General Assembly, high level Weekly September year in New York.
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, today's commemoration sends an important message, namely, Africa is not defined by its challenges alone.
Africa is defined by its resilience, by its creativity, by solutions, and above all, by its people.
The Africa we want is within reach, but achieving it will require unity, visionary leadership, partnership, and sustained commitment.
As we commemorate Africa Day 2026, let us renew our collective determination to build an Africa that is peaceful, inclusive, prosperous, and fully empowered.
Lastly, I wish to thank you long live African unity, long live the African Union, and long live the partnership between Africa, the Daspora, the private sector, and the United Nations.
I thank you very much, Asantinsana.
Tremendous food for thought on this Africa day and so encouraging, you know, the reminder to not just fall into the trap of taking the deficit view that so often is a narrative, but to look at the partnerships and the potential as well as what's happening today.
Excellencies, distinguished participants.
In our next presentation, you will hear from one of those youth that is leading.
Miss Dakota Gant is participating via video today.
She's the Diaspora Youth focal point speaking to us about on the road to Dhakar Africa stands at the edge of a historic moment.
For the first time in history, the Olympic movement will arrive on African soil through the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games.
But Dakar is not simply preparing to host an event.
Africa is preparing to introduce itself to the world through the boss imagination, movement, and creativity of its youth.
Thank you.
Today, on Africa Day at the United Nations, Arden officially launches the road to De Tho not a simple project, not simply a campaign, a continental movement, a movement connecting storytelling, sport, technology, diplomacy, AI, culture, and youth leadership across Africa.
Because when the world arrives in Dakar, the world should not witness only synagogue.
The world should witness an entire continent arriving together.
ARDN's efforts addressing social issues, including gender based violence awareness, youth leadership, and community empowerment have always been guided by one belief.
Stories matter because stories shape identity, stories shape perception.
Story often shapes the future long before policy does.
The road to Dakar grows directly from that vision.
Through this movement, youth across Africa will document a continent in motion, athletes preparing for Dakar, cities transforming music, innovation, culture, landscapes, technology, and the aspirations of a new generation.
Four regions represented through Morocco, South Africa, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Nigeria.
With neighboring nations participating alongside of them, we'll create cinematic journeys moving toward Dakar.
These journeys will eventually merge into a collaborative, AI powered cinematic experience presented during ARDN's activities surrounding Dakar.
To understand where this movement truly began, we return to Marrakesh.
The first light of this journey.
This April during creativity Week and the AI Film Festival in Marrakesh, Arden witnessed something extraordinary, not simply a festival.
Not simply a gathering, but the beginning of a continental creative alignment.
Artists, technologists, universities, filmmakers, youth leaders, visionaries all asked the same question.
How does Africa tell its own story in the age of artificial intelligence? And from that moment emerged the road to Dakar.
A movement aligning deeply with Arden's mission to uplift youth, cultural expression and build advocacy through creativity from Morocco to Senegal, from storytellers to athletes, from culture to technology, the road to Dakar became a bridge built on African creativity.
To share the spirit of that beginning, please welcome a message from one whose voice helped ignite it.
Co founder of Creativity Week in the AI Film Festival, Huda Lazar.
Hello.
This Apriel in Marrakesh, during the Creativity Week and the AI Film Festival, Africa AI Creativity Week of the world, the name of the event, we experienced something special.
People came together from different countries, different disciplines, different perspectives, filmmakers, artists, technologists, students, entrepreneurs, storytellers.
What became clear was that something larger was happening.
We were not simply discussing artificial intelligence, we were discussing possibility, how creativity can connect people, how technology can be more human, how Africa's yo can help shape the future rather than wait for it.
There was a feeling Marrakesh that Africa was ready for a new chapter, not one writing for us, one won by us.
That spirit became the beginning of the route to the car.
Because the car is not only about sports, it's about a movement, culture, identity, storytelling, and the voices of a generation preparing to introduce Africa to the world.
From Morocco to the Senegal and across this continent, young creators now have no opportunity to participate in something just.
To create together, to imagine together, and through open source tools and collaboration, more young people than ever can help tell Africa's story.
This is only the beginning.
I look forward to seeing Africa arrive in Dhaka together.
The road to the car now moves forward across universities, creative communities, technology halls, youth networks, and cultural institutions throughout Africa.
One of the most powerful aspects of this initiative is access.
Through open source AI technology, young creators across the continent will gain access to a new generation of storytelling and filmmaking tools.
This matters.
Creativity should not depend on geography or resources or privilege, open source technology levels the playing field.
A day celebrates this Today, we begin movement, movement of ideas, movement of youth, movement of creativity, movement towards a future where Africa does not simply host the world.
Africa helps imagine it.
The journey begins Africa in motion.
The Road to the car begins.
Excellent.
Now, we will have brief remarks by Mr.
Abbas Mubarak Akedyo, who's the African Renaissance and Diaspora Network's goodwill ambassador for Music and cultures.
You have the floor, Mr.
Aked.
Thank you.
First, I would like to say a big thank you to doctor Jabril for your leadership.
Thank you so much for your commitment and the true leadership.
This year, we have aligned the ARD and Red card campaign to two major events.
The first one is Voices of Power in partnership with Somerstage Central Park, taking place August 23rd.
This event will feature African women transforming media, diplomacy in the Daspora.
We have Grammy Award winning artist Angela Kijo performing on the main stage.
On the panel, we have Charlotte Bonner, VP of Marketing, Odio Mack, Chin Wee, award winning lawyer and CEO, Habiba Sinari, a filmmaker, and also a public health specialist, sorry.
Tara Rene, founder and president of African American women in Cinema, and our keynote speaker is doctor Jabril Diallo, President and CEO ARDN.
Our second event is Loud in Africa festival taking place at Sonny Hall, Times Square on August 25th, featuring Flavor from Nigeria, Olivia from the Git camp.
We're now taking Kyu from South Africa.
Naomi Acho from Cameroon, Samii from Ghana.
We're expecting about 1,000 attendees.
At this event, we will discuss the ARDN red car campaign and also have all attendees pledged to our initiative.
Next is the ARD and theme song, Stop Violence and Discrimination, featuring Grammy Award winning artists, South African artists, NkmbZkodi, Wendy S from Ghana, Poa from Angola, Spice Diana from Uganda, and Sara Ramos from Cape Verde.
Mr.
President, with your permission, I would like to introduce our official theme song, Stop Violence and Discrimination.
I think we don't have the song now.
It's not ready.
The song is now available on all online music platforms.
You can download it and we might play it later after towards the end of the event.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
We are quickly coming to the time when we'll be hearing from our young leaders who came here today to reflect on some of the things that have been shared with all of us today and also share some of their ideas.
So continue listening just a little bit longer, if you would, and then we look forward to hearing from you.
We do have video remarks, but also in person, a couple of things.
So, um, I'm wondering if we want to share the AI brief AI videos from Richard Gant, or if at this time we could Yesss.
Yeah.
Okay.
We'll do that.
After which time we will welcome doctor Gilbert Roschan, distinguished gentleman who is a delight to work with.
All.
And then.
Mr.
Richard Gant, Chair of the Arts Sports and Culture Committee, you can go ahead and start that, David.
Thank you.
Speaks on artificial intelligence and its role in filmmaking.
Good afternoon, everyone.
I'm Richard Gant.
Human beings are hard wired stories.
Long before governments, long before books, long before technology, people gathered around fires and told stories.
Stories created rituals, stories preserved history, stories old to survival.
Stories passed values from one generation to another.
So in many ways, civilization itself began with story, and even today, science and psychology show that human beings respond emotionally to narrative more deeply than facts alone.
Because story creates empathy.
It allows us to feel someone else's experience, and that's why storytelling is used in healing and trauma recovery programs around the world.
In focus groups for survivors of abuse or violence, people are encouraged to tell their stories, not to simply give information, but to be heard.
And when others truly listen, isolation begins to break, empathy begins to grow, healing begins to happen.
Now, imagine that same human power expanded through AI.
A young person in Africa, a student in Marrakesh or Lagos can now create a story, a film, a voice, an experience, and share it instantly across the world.
That changes diplomacy because diplomacy is no longer governments speaking to governments.
Now culture speaks, youth speaks, communities speak.
This is AI diplomacy.
No.
Becoming a bridge for human understanding.
And Africa's youth are positioned to become leaders in that future.
In just four years, nearly 42% of the world's youth population will be African African.
This is simply not a statistic.
It's one of the defining realities of the 21st century.
The future voice of the world will increasingly be African youth, which means African youth must not only consume AI, they must help lead it, shape it, teach it, and humanize it in their own languages, in their own cultures, not only for Africa, but for the world.
Because perhaps the greatest lesson humanity needs to still learn is how to listen.
Thank you.
I wanted to just mention some thoughts that I had because AI, we know the proliferation is central to so many conversations today, including its relationship to water, which is research it's complicated.
It's complex.
This is something that was shared in research.
I said to you that in my hate to keep us moving forward a little bit about the Office of HBC Development and International Cooperation, but hi.
Oh, speak up.
Is that what you're asking? I had a question.
Okay.
We'll have Q&A at the very end of this.
If you want to jot it down or can you keep it? Absolutely.
I just wanted to point you all sometimes to a few resources.
I'm an educator, so homework for all of us, for each of us, for myself even.
But despite this complex relationship and a lot of very real threats with regards to the theme of water sustainability, I really appreciate what Professor Gant just shared about how Africa and our youth can lead that and must lead and train AI.
But also I'll share with you just it's a complex paradox.
This last piece is about intergenerational sharing.
When you talk AI, I want you to know yet another amazing African diasporiin in the academic space and also the public and private sector, but doctor Joanne Rolle, who is a former president of the Business Deans Roundtable, You may know her from Medgar Evers College right here in New York City, but quickly, one of her keynotes this past year in her busy retirement that had done was from digital divide to demographic dividend.
Intergenerational AI.
As we speak about the youth today, just these couple of sentences, she says, imagine a 75-year-old grandmother in rural Kenya who's never owned a computer.
Now, picture her 16-year-old granddaughter who learned to code on a borrowed smartphone.
Conventional wisdom says one is being left behind by technology while the other races ahead.
But when these two work together, When the grandmother's decades of community knowledge meet her granddaughter's digital fluency, they create innovations that neither Silicon Valley nor Sinjin have imagined.
Happy Africa Day.
That's the future we can all help create.
At this time, I would like to welcome and invite you also to welcome doctor Gilbert Roshan, Interim distinguished professor and interim director, Mickey Leland Center on Hunger, Poverty and World Peace in Houston, Texas, my birthplace.
The co chair of African Renaissance and Diaspora Network's Higher Education Initiative.
Speaking to us today on the role of HBCUs in advancing the SDGs with a reference to the theme of Africa Day.
Doctor Oshan, you have the floor.
Thank you very much and greetings on Africa Day two oh 26.
As was indicated, I'm at Texas Southern University, which in 2027 will be celebrating its 100th anniversary.
I am pleased to serve as the interim Associate Dean of the Barbara Jordan Mickey Leon School of Public Affairs and Interim Director of the Mickey Lehland Center on Hunger Poverty, and World Peace.
My HBCU and other higher education experience includes the BA degree from Xavier University of Louisiana, former Conrad Hilton endowed professor at Dillard University, and former Associate Vice President for Collaborative Research at Purdue University.
And in that I contexts and well and formerly the sixth president of Tuskegee University.
My MPhs from Yale University and PhD from MIT, as a result of my HBCU earlier education.
We are committed to advancing HBCU faculty and student participation in advancing implementation of both the UN Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the African Union's Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Policy CDA, CAADPs objectives, and the AUs Agenda two oh 63.
Our prior engagement included research on remote sensing for drought related famine conditions in the Sudan.
A grant from NATO to establish real time remote sensing ground stations at two universities in Morocco, Abd Malik Say University and Akwain University for early warning of disasters.
Current collaborative MOUs with the National Association for Equal Opportunity and Higher Education, Nafio, which is one of the three collectivities of HBCUs, historically Black colleges and universities in this country and with the University of uzulu Natal in South Africa.
Our TSU delegation assembled here today for Africa Day includes doctor Jasmine Drake, if you would please stand momentarily.
She is Director of Texas Southern University's Forensic Laboratory and Associate Dean of the Barbara Jordan Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs.
Seated next to her is doctor Kaitlyn Mason.
Who is Director of master's and PhD graduate degree programs in the Department of the Administration of Justice.
We also have with us two TSU students, James Duplesne Garcia and Camilla Davis.
To quote from the African Union's CAD app, CAADPs 2026 through 2035 agenda, Sustainable water management is a critical driver of agricultural transformation in Africa, especially in regions facing water security and water scarcity.
Efficient water management practices such as the adoption of drip irrigation, rainwater harvesting, and water recycling are essential for maintaining agricultural productivity in the face of climate change and population growth and population migration.
Access to reliable and sufficient potable and Non polluted water resources is a key determinant of crop yields and food and nutrition security.
Furthermore, sustainable water management can help to prevent land degradation and ensure the long term viability of agricultural lands.
Policymakers and stakeholders must prioritize investment in water infrastructure, research, and capacity building to promote the adoption of sustainable practices.
By ensuring sustainable water resource use, Africa can enhance agricultural resilience and support growth, reliability, and sustainability of its agri food systems, end quote.
We are currently nationally recruiting for a digital archivist to complete the digitization of the Mickey Leeran Archives and Barbara Jordan Archives now based at Texas Southern University.
Mickey Leland was founder and first chair of the Congressional Committee on Hunger until his untimely tragic death in a plane crash en route to a humanitarian mission in Ethiopia.
Our future plans include further collaboration with the Famine Early Warning System network, fuse Net, the presidents United to Stop Hunger push.
That's not the current US president.
It's a collectivity of university presidents in 80 countries.
A collectivity of university presidents and greater engagement with the African Renaissance and Diaspora Network Arden, with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union's CAADP and AUs Agenda two oh 63.
Thank you for your kind presidencies.
Excellent.
Thank you so much, doctor Roshan and thank you to the delegation that we were so grateful to see and looking forward to hearing from several of you quite soon.
We've got your question in the parking lot.
Our next to the last presenter before we hear from our youth panel.
Is Mr.
Gordon Tapper.
Mr.
Gordon Tapper, among many, many other things is founder and president of them a Hand Foundation, and he's ARDN board member and treasurer and will speak to us today on a project supporting access to clean water and sanitation for an orphanage in rural Sierra Leone.
Mr.
Tapper, you have the floor.
Before he takes the floor, if we are in this room, it's largely thanks to this gentleman Gordon Tapper.
So let us give him a big round of applause, please.
He works tirelessly to make sure that all the logistics, all the arrangements are in place.
I can assure you that he has been doing this for decades and I call him the secret weapon of the African Renaissance and Dasper Network, Gordon Tupper.
Let us say thank you again to Gordon Tupper before we take.
Hello, everyone.
Hello.
How are you doing? Louder.
All right, wonderful.
I'm glad to hear that.
Well, I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak today on this important subject of sustainable water availability and safe sanitation systems.
Others before me have addressed this issue from a policy and institutional standpoint, but I would like to briefly share a view from the ground, from a rural community in Sierra Leone where these issues affect daily life.
But before I continue, I would like to pay tribute to one Sierra Leoner who passed away.
His name is Gary Souls.
Gary Schultz went to Sierra Leone as the American Peace Corps volunteer in 1961, and he developed a lifelong love for the country and its people.
Following the Civil War, he was moved by the number of children who were I'll keep that moved by the number of children who were, you know, homeless, parent less, et cetera change.
Side one.
Move S two.
Okay.
And And then there was the Ebola epidemic.
And then there were hundreds and thousands of children again.
Who were left parentless, homeless, in poverty.
Gary helped to establish and support the orphanage, an orphanage that now bears his name.
His commitment to Sierra Leone was so extraordinary that he was honored as honorable paramount chief, one of the highest distinctions that can be bestowed by in the chiefdom.
He was also given the order of the Rock Hi, which is the highest honor a foreigner can have in Sierra Leone.
Next slide.
Gary recently passed away, but his legacy lives on to the children whose lives he helped shape.
And as you can see in the video, all these children who are there they are happy.
The thing about children is if they are fed, if they have shelter, if they have clothing, they don't need to have anything else to be happy.
They are happy, they run, they play, they play soccer, they they skip rope, they do things like that.
But it does not mean that they're getting the best care, the best treatment that is available or that they really should have.
Those of us who know better know when somebody is deprived, even if they're happy in their state.
And we know that.
I see children running around laughing and everything, and I look and I say, wow, he doesn't have a pair of shoes on his feet.
He doesn't have that.
But he doesn't know anything else.
He's happy.
So you showed a picture of some of the children in the orphanage.
I also want to share the cooking area for the orphanage, the area, and you can see that the facilities are really very poor.
Even though there are many dedicated caregivers, this resources are very limited and we can't blame that we really can't blame that on the government or the Minister of social welfare.
Funds are limited.
They're trying their very best.
There we go.
Now, I spoke about the cooking area, and now I get to water.
As you can see, this is where the kids get their water from.
This is where the orphans get their water from.
It is really a very terrible state, and this is water for drinking and water for cooking.
And then there's water for washing and cleaning oneself, water for daily life.
And when we talk about water security, this is what it looks like in practice.
There's other kids who are walking miles with water, water barrels or whatever containers on their head.
But one thing I know about that, they're giggling, they're laughing, they're playing, they're racing each other.
But it is like a fantasyland.
They are deprived, no matter what you think.
And then we get to sanitation.
And you can see they were in a very what shall I say, their their sanitation facilities.
The toilets was so very poor.
I I don't even want to describe it.
But we were able to get together and provide some funding, and here we are.
There's the latern that they now have.
And it is a modern latern because it has a toilet bowl in it as opposed to the wooden structure that is normal in in toilets.
David? Uh huh.
What these images demonstrate is that water and sanitation are not isolated issues.
They affect health, they affect nutrition, they affect education, they affect dignity, and they affect opportunity.
And one of the opportunities that the orphanage has described to us is that they want to cultivate cassava.
They need to not just depend on myself and my colleagues who are providing the funding on a monthly basis, but they want to be able to earn.
So they want to purchase land or lease land and plant Cassava so they can earn some money, and we are trying to assist them in that direction.
But all of this is not unique to Sierra Leone.
Similar challenges exist in every community throughout Africa and around the world.
That is why today's discussion is so important.
Access to safe water and sanitation is not merely an infrastructure issue.
It is a human development issue.
It is a health issue.
It is an education issue, and ultimately, it is an issue of dignity.
If we are serious about creating opportunities for future generations, we must continue working together to ensure that all communities have access to this most basic necessity and to the dignity, health, and opportunity that flow from them.
And here we are with the children celebrating and laughing.
And in fact, there are so many slides.
We have pictures of them at Christmas time, having a feast and You think everything is wonderful.
In their world, everything is wonderful.
But in our world, we know it's not.
Thank you very much for listening to me.
Powerful work.
When we talk about unity.
It's not just the research and the reports, but lived experiences.
So thank you for your work and for sharing with us today.
We now have our final video remarks by Mayor Frank Jackson, coordinator of the ARDN Mayor's Initiatives.
He serves as Vice President for International Affairs for the World Council of Mayors and partnership between the World Conference of Mayors and ARDN is the spirit with which he comes to us today.
And we give thanks for Mayor Jackson and the World Conference of Mayors for the work that they do.
First, giving all praise and honor to God, I am Frank D.
Jackson, a past Mayor of Beautiful Prairieview, Texas.
And currently, I have the honor of serving as Vice President for International Affairs for the World Conference of Mayors.
For those of you that are present at the UN headquarters in New York City, for those that are dialed in via the Internet for various parts of the world House, our planet Earth, on behalf of the World Campus of Mayors and Historical Black Town and Settlements Alliance, on behalf of our founder, the Honorable Johnny Ford, Mary Meritus of Tuskegee, Alabama, and our president, the Honorable Alberto McCurry, Mayor of Hopson City, Alabama.
I bring you greetings and wish for each and every one of you a very glorious and positive A Day 2026 celebration.
To the Honorable Constance Neumann, chair of the African Renaissance and Diaspora Network, to the Honorable doctor Jabria Diallo, President of the African Renaissance and Diaspora Network, to your core management team and each member that comes from various parts of this planet Earth.
We both commend and salute each and every one of you for a job well done as you be about empowering humanity and uplifting those that are downtrod.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Each member of the World Couper of Mayors and Historical Black Town and Settlements Alliance have taken or encouraged to take the red card campaign pledge to stop all forms of violence against women and girls wherever we encounter.
We will be about our business in the cities, towns and settlements on this planet.
And we also to promote and practice positive masculinity as we be about this work.
So this is not just something we can do by ourselves or as individuals.
We got to work together in this collective to uplift humanity.
Regardless of the phenomenon that we encounter in this life, it would be a whole lot better if we just do it together.
Again, we commend each and every one of you for your work, for your efforts for dialing in today, and we wish for each and every one of you a glorious and very positive African Day 2026 celebration.
Thank you.
We ended with thank you and gratitude as well to each of you, both here in person and at UN headquarters in New York and streaming globally all around the world.
Folks are watching via UN webTV.
We appreciate your time, attention, and energy to come together in the spirit of Africa Day, which you have done.
Again, brings together people of African ancestry and allies across the continent and the diaspora to promote solidarity, economic empowerment and self determination and unity.
We've seen so many examples of this today, so much rich information shared.
Will you join me right now and just taking a deep breath? Just one deep breath.
Thank you.
At this time, we prepare to wind down a This year's United Nations Africa Day commemoration with a special panel discussion that we've been sharing with you.
We're planning on centering the voices of our young people reflecting on all that has been shared today.
The panel theme youth leadership, innovation, and social impact on the road to Dhakar 2026.
I am delighted to continue serving as moderator for this panel, exploring the role of young people as leaders, innovators, and advocates in advancing sustainable development, promoting gender equality and equity, strengthening community engagement and contributing practical solutions related to water, sanitation, and hygiene.
I know those were a lot of words, but these are also the things that will be prompts that I'll come back and you all will do most of the talking.
The second part is that the discussion will also examine how sport, education, and youth led partnerships can help advance the sustainable development goals, the SDGs and build momentum toward the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games.
I'll tell you after today, I'm on the road to Dakar, and I have to stop by the early on on the way and work with some young people, but definitely.
Our panelists are college students of diverse backgrounds, interests, and experiences, and we really look forward to this continued exchange of ideas for about 20 minutes.
Do we have four or five that are going to speak? I know you sit.
I even know your seat number.
That means that you actually will have easily four or 5 minutes each or five or and then I would like to first, however, as we met the Texas Southern University students, I'm trying to reserve myself from chatting.
So many HBCUs in my actual personal life and history long before I was privileged to serve in this role for the Office of HBCU Development and International Cooperation.
But I'm going to ask if you would, Director, P, leader, Eugene Adams, would you mind just briefly sharing and perhaps introducing and having your mentees stand as well? Because yes.
And then we're going to come back to you after we hear from them for a while.
But I just because we've met the delegation from Texas Southern and we have some other folks in the house.
If you just introduce them briefly or just ask them to stand.
Who are from the Boogie Don Boogie Doown Boyown Bronx.
And we're coming here today not only from the Boogieown Bronx, but we're coming here from various parts of West Africa.
I have Christian, Ibm, who is a Nigerian.
He is studying, I think, nursing at Bronx community.
He has a very dynamic story and a very passionate commitment to what he's trying to achieve.
I have my man Karama Sisi who's hailing from the Gambia, which is a part of the Sydney Gambia region.
The first thing that happened today when he met doctor Jabril ello is they started speaking Mdika? These guys have traveled over 3,000 plus miles to come to the United States, not just for education, but really to begin to open the pathway and open the doors for not only themselves, but for others at home and for being a part of this whole idea of changing the world.
So those are my guys.
Yeah.
Excellent.
Thank you so much.
What we're going to do is to ensure that there is a bit of order, but also a bit of time at the end for perhaps two or three questions.
We know that you all have met folks now, so you know how to follow up with them.
Everything doesn't have to happen on one day out of the year.
In fact, we're going to close out, but it's a beginning.
We're opening the door for continued collaboration, partnerships, and unity as we heard from literally everyone that spoke and shared today.
What I want to do is just really begin with each panelist.
Again, just introduce yourself really briefly and this is practice.
Just 1 minute.
How we do in the UN spaces.
But it also helps ensure that we can hear from each other and as many people as possible.
In just 1 minute, you're going to please share your name, again, what you do, for example, student campus that you're on, perhaps your major, where you currently live, and where you grew up, if that's a different place.
Then we will have a few prompts to guide the same brief statement.
If you don't think it can be done in 1 minute, it can.
I'll start by introducing myself again and you can time if you want.
That's the way we practice when we come to these UN spaces.
I'm suggesting this because there's lots of advocacy work and roles as well as being on the ground and in the community, and we hope that we'll continue to see some of you all perhaps in these roles.
Doctor Vicki Casanova Willis, I'm Deputy Director and Senior Fellow for OHBCUD, the Office of HBC Development and International Cooperation, member of the Directorate of IRM, International Association of American Minorities, and I'm a co founder of the ICSWGPFD, the International Civil Society Working Group for the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.
My background is business administration and global and comparative education, including steam that A for the arts.
I am human rights.
I'm an active member of the ARD and Partnership, serving as Africa Day moderator, as you know now, deeply rooted in Chicago, Illinois, where I traveled from to be here today, where I lead a teen apprenticeship program.
I was born in Houston, Texas, raised on HBCU campuses all across the South, Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana.
I am a diaspiran a queen mother in the Volta region of Ghana and proud daughter of Mother Africa.
Thank you.
That's my So would you give us 1 minute of your name, where you are, those things that I asked you before for our discussions, please.
It's just an introduction.
Thank you, Christian.
Hi everyone.
My name is Christian Ib William.
I'm from Nigeria.
I'm a nursing student at Bronx Community College.
I'm an SGC NATO, a college assistant, and a Secretary of African Suns Association.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, everyone.
My name is Caramba Sis, a son of an immigrant from Gambia.
I am honored to represent Africa on behalf of Bronx Community College, African Student, an active member of African Student Association, an active member of Spoken Word as a secretary.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, everyone.
My name is James Duplne Garcia.
I'm a student at Texas Southern University.
My major is history, I minor in African studies.
I am the first student in history at TSU to transcribe the Texas Slave Trade papers and to present at multiple conferences.
I will be presenting at the Texas Christian University on Thursday pertaining to the Texas Slave Trade papers.
Thank you.
Everyone.
My name is Camilla Davis and I am a senior art major Museum Studies minor in Texas Southern.
I currently work under the HCAC project, documenting the archives of doctor John Biggers, and now I am going to be cataloging the information about Mickey Leland.
I'm from McKinney, Texas, and I currently live in Houston, Texas.
It is here.
Promoting gender equity, for example, which as well, we'll hear from you.
In the spirit of promoting gender equity and gender equality, I'm wondering what your thoughts might be your reactions.
First of all, had you ever heard of the red card campaign and second of all, what are your thoughts about not just this work, but how do you see opportunities based on what you've heard today or something that you've learned before that will help advance this important work that must be done.
It must be accomplished.
I can either have a volunteer or we're going to ask you to just share in 1 minute if you would.
I can either have a volunteer and then we'll go and you can pass if you want, or I'll start volunteering people.
Gender equity, the work that must be done, we heard in partnership, and just wondering about the red card campaign.
Have you heard of this? What are your thoughts about how you might even potentially get folks engaged in an initiative like this.
Thank you, James.
When I saw the card, it also made me think about how African women in Africa are suffering psychological attacks when it comes to bleaching their skin.
I would like to raise awareness of how can we look in the mirror and start to love ourselves, our myelinated skin.
I believe in the educational system that we should learn about the melanin in our skin and the texture of our hair because I think not just for women, but men and little boys as well, that it would give us confidence if we learned that our melanin protects us from skin cancer and our hair is considered a crown.
So I think that women and girls are not only suffering physical violence, but also psychological attacks.
So how can we as a unity, stop those psychological attacks and learn how to love ourselves as an African people? Sometimes we give answers and sometimes we raise questions, right, which is as critical.
So thank you very much.
Does anyone else want to speak on the road to Dakar, the role of sport and or music, storytelling? I'm going to call on you.
What does it make you even think about to know that as we heard for the first time ever, the Olympic Games will be held on the continent of Africa? How does that make you feel? Is it pertinent to you? Again, we're talking with a group that's well as we heard.
They're not just in school, they're not just scholars.
They're practitioners, they're doing tremendous work in their communities.
They have personal lives as well.
But I'm curious about As we share the information and we heard, does anybody remember anybody actually remember the age range that doctor Jabril said at the very top of this Africa Day that these athletes are that are going to be competing? Does anyone remember? Was it teens? It was teens.
I work with 15 teams, so I wonder how I just imagine the work that goes into it, the partnerships, the collaborate.
I'm just wondering, again, we wanted to hear your reflections on this informative, celebratory, but educational Africa Day convening.
Then I'm going to give you two other prompts.
Sport.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Uh huh.
Hello.
Hello, everyone.
For the C 2026 youth Olympic Game, I think it's something that represents historic and symbol, a good symbol for Africa.
I think for the first time, like the Olympic event has been taking place in African soil.
I think it's a statement that shows the global presence of Africa, the rising influence, the importance of empowering young people, true leadership, true, discipline through inclusion, through opportunity.
I think sport has the power to unite communities, promote peace, challenge discrimination, and inspire social transformation.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
You all may know that because this is streamed via UN web TV, it's also archived.
So many times I go back and listen and look at snippets.
It's also translated into the we're working on it, getting Portuguese and some of those others, but it's translated into a number of other languages as well.
So I Mr.
Gordon Tapper, you all ready? And we want to hear from someone perhaps that hasn't spoken yet and then we'll come back to you.
In a few moments, we're going to hear again from Gene Adams with regards to his perhaps response or reflections or some other questions.
You will have a chance as well to just tell us anything else that you wanted to share.
Okay.
Okay.
Africa is rising.
Africa is rising in so many different ways.
In the production of oil, airline fuel, et cetera, Nigeria is becoming more important South Africa.
But doctor Vicky just asked a question about sports.
No one answered.
Now I want to ask you, how do you feel when you see Botswana, for instance, and South Africa, winning world championship of track and field in the four by 400 relay as they did last week and Africa showing themselves as very strong in the area of sports.
In previous years, You may see one person from Ghana or one person from Nigeria and now Africa is rising in the area of track and field, and I'm sure you're going to see it on the road to the car.
I want to ask you because I'm pretty sure that many of you have witnessed these races on television and know what is happening.
What do you feel about Africa rising? You want to respond to that one.
You can go first.
No, no, no, no.
I was going to say and I also want to well, yeah, if you want to answer that question, then we'll ask one more thing.
Can you say the question one more time, please? He just wanted to know how you feel when you see the, you know, Africa leading, really.
I will not just rising but I chucking field and recently beat the United States close to a world record in the four by 400 related.
What do you feel? Feels good to watch Africa rise as a whole.
I feel like a lot of talented foreign people from different countries are normally in a lot of our big sports.
As you all know, America sports is a really big topic here.
Even though that the Olympics is going to be in Dakar, I also want to see more recognition, learning about the red card today.
I want to see more recognition in African countries about that.
I feel like the power of sports could bring more topics to the red card as a whole, so Thank you so much.
Now what we promised to do at the very beginning and you have her Excellency from Sierra Leone as well to encourage that we invite you, we open the floor and just ask you to share briefly if you would, what's on your mind, what's on your heart today again with regards to the Spirit of Africa Day, you know, the theme that we spoke about, but also just generally unity.
Okay.
Yes, I would like to ask, how is collaborating with China going to help starvation in the polluted water in Africa? How is AI going to stop racism, sexism, and exploitation of the Pan African diaspora? When I'm at school, a lot of students, they rely on AI to write their papers.
Some students can't even read.
How can we I produce generational intelligence.
Because if students cannot read or write, then AI will come to a standstill because AR relies on human intelligence.
I read a book by Walter Rodney.
It's called How Europe Udevelop Africa.
How can we stop other countries from draining Africa of her resources and leaving the people starving and having no water? Because Africa is not poor.
She has many minerals and resources.
There's no reason for Africa to be starving and having no water.
Because globally, Because globally, globally, Europe and other foreign countries, they rely on Africa for her coffee, for her cocoa, for her bananas.
So how can we keep these resources in Africa so Africa can prosper financially and economically? So let me just add this.
Thank you.
What we were discussing here is that each one of you, when you looked at the theme, when you were coming here, even in the aircraft or on the train or on the way here, you must have thought about something for one or 2 minutes.
We have questions that we're asking you, but at the same time, we want to give you 1 minute each to see what do you have on your mind as it relates to the theme Here and as it relates to Dhaka 2026.
We can go around so that we don't leave here without giving you the opportunity really to have your own input.
We put this panel there purposely so that you can listen and then come also with your own perspective.
We can start with Camilla Davis.
I'm sorry.
They're not going to invite me back.
I'm sorry.
But I have an answer.
Okay.
My answer is that we won't have the answer to that or any of those today.
But again, the questions are so important.
But what I will commit to is and I heard it earlier, if you will work together with us and I'm saying you, this student CADRE, or perhaps it's someone that you recommend, and if Arden won't mind me volunteering something for us as a task, as a takeaway, OHBUD Arden can absolutely follow up to answer some of these questions because the answers I heard them today and it is, how is that going to first of all, knowing what needs to happen? What are the priorities? What do youth care about? Daspirins and African born cousins and brothers and sisters? Then second of all, how it's going to happen, which was your question, is that Africa and folks of African ancestry all over the world in partnership with allies must lead it.
That's how that's going to happen.
That's the word.
But now, how does that roll out? That's you all's generation, but we will work with you.
But I want you to say, Madam moderator is that that is one contribution.
Let's take that as one contribution in for follow up, yes.
Let's listen to others now to see what perspective they have and we put them all together in one pot.
We start with Camilla and then go on to Karama, go on to Christian, please.
And really fast.
As a young student attending the HBCU, what are your visions on young Black students on spreading unity and information about the starvation, water sanitization and the protection of women and young girls in other countries besides the United States? Piggybacking off of what James said.
I remember as being a young girl seeing commercials on TV about Africa starving and Africa not having resources.
As a 21-year-old in 2026, that's still a problem.
How could we as a whole spread that information back on our campus and then beyond that? Listen, I'm probably going to speak really loud.
What I'm suggesting, thank you, is that you've given us an assignment, and what I'd like to do is bring it right back to you between the OHBCD website and Fast Community with HBCUs and others and we can pose these questions that came out of today from the youth panelists and share the answers that are coming out, right.
And we want you when you're asking those questions, I'm sure that at the back of your mind you have answers too.
So we want to also, as we share with the others on the website, we want to have your perspective as the answers to those questions because we have a panel here, but we don't have all the answers to the question that you're having.
So that that is the two we may not have the time to have the answers right now, but you're asking, as the moderator said, very pointed questions which will go on the website.
And let us add to it your own perspective as to how which way you think this question should be resolved.
Okay.
Thank you, doctor.
My question is, our students graduating at Bronx Community College with an associate degree, what plans, opportunities do you guys have for us after graduation? Because we want to be part of projects were going to go back to our countries, contribute to the development of our countries.
I love it.
Again, when we reach out, there will be people that respond to share things that are already ongoing or to ask you, what should we create together.
That's also the same answer or question that I hear when I visit some of the OHBCD partners under our historic MOU with UNDP Africa, we've been doing for some time, international distance learning, where students don't have to leave the continent and they're getting tuition free courses.
But I just say this to say, But the skills without the place to utilize them, some of the workforce development, entrepreneurship, et cetera, there's tons of answers for these.
Thank you for raising these questions.
Christian, and then we're going to go to, do you have a question or something you would share your mentor? I'm just looking at him.
He was going to be able to Christian, he's like, I brought them here? Yeah.
Christian, thank you so much.
Okay.
My question would be in what ways can sports become a tool for education, leadership development, and peace building across African countries, both here and back home? Thank you.
The youth leaders? Yes, we do.
We have a question from the floor.
Honorable Sasha? Hear me? Yes.
Okay.
Excellent.
So greetings, everyone.
I appreciate being a part of Arden and this great red card campaign initiative and the How about this? There we go.
I appreciate being in this space as an honorable and member of the World Conference of Mayors, and I chair the Save Our Children Committee.
Chairing the Save our Children Committee is a part of the young, the baby babies to the young teenagers, to the young adults, to the children and us as elders.
We are responsible to each other.
And so these questions are strong.
They are being answered because we are present.
We are taking the time to listen.
We are taking the time to adjust, engage, and represent not only lifting this red card, but being a part of an answer that can be contributed through the World Conference of Mayors, through Arden, and through the different relationships that we have here.
One of the things that one of you and I'm going to compress it is the issues of AI.
Our responsibility when it concerns to AI is to prevent the biases that can occur by learning algorithms, being responsible, being the Melned people that we are, having the words, the response and the understanding of coding, and being able to be a strength in that area.
We then can address the prevention of AI's biases that can occur when those don't understand our stories.
Those don't understand our heritage and those don't understand how and where and what we need to have our human rights articulated the way we see it, right? That also represents our millination, how we look, how we feel, how we are engaged in our culture, right? We do that by being an example.
You see me, you see you, right? And in everybody in the faces here, you should see yourself too.
And so we have to be the walking example the example in thought, and the example in speech.
And so we know we're starting in a great strong space with Aren.
We're standing in a great strong space with the World Conference of Mayors.
We are standing in the strong space of being Earth being our home, and we are being responsible for it.
So we welcome you in this space, but I also welcome you to be a member of the World Conference of Mayor Save Our Children Committee.
So all your answers can be answered by your hands and coming together with other children from other areas of the world to engage in that.
In Fiji, in Ghana, in Courte de Voirre.
There was a young man Dagb I'm probably pronouncing his name wrong.
He led in soccer in Courte devoir.
There was a civil war there, and he decided to lift the soccer and came between machine guns on the field.
And this one young man said, Let's play for the country.
They put down the machine guns, and they played the game, and they won.
And that stopped that moment of war.
That stopped the prevention of being able to just enjoy each other's company, enjoy a win and have women and children and families together enjoying a game and celebrating their country.
Sports did that.
Engaging with each other does that, and these spaces like this allows us to do that.
So we start the conversation and continue the conversation, and we will bring it forward in action together.
So thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
In the interest of time with your permission, I asked to we see some hands from the floor who want to share that haven't spoken yet, is that okay? So one here, one here.
And what about this side of the room? Do you have any Okay.
One here and one here at five.
Okay.
So we'll try to do that and one back here.
Thank you so much.
Okay.
I? He is.
I want to answer his questions about sports.
Sports is not only just being an athlete.
It is number one, you learn responsibility.
One, you learn how to work as a group and also as an individual.
You take that and you can also bring that back to work when you're in school.
You can also do that on the job.
It also helps you become united.
You move as a united front, not only just in sports, but also in school, also at home.
So it also teaches you responsibility, leadership, Uh huh.
Accountability as a person, but also as a group.
So when you're moving as a group, when you're playing sports, it teaches you four things.
One, responsibility, two, commitment, three, united, four, learning to work as a unit.
So you can do that as a family.
You can also work as a group, and also work in responsibility as a home.
Great.
Okay.
It's okay.
Hi everyone.
My name is Tiffany Salas.
I represent the State of New Jersey.
I am an Olympic Arts delegate and I'm excited to be here today celebrating Africa Day.
Thank you all for your work, ARDN.
I thought to speak today because I've been here a multitude of times.
I've seen doctor Diallo a multitude of times and I've been in rooms with so many of you.
I see doctor Kud in the audience.
I would like to say that Our reason for what we do as a people is for the global narrative.
Even though I am Afro Latina, I represent the Dominican and Haitian folks as well, but my mother and my grandmother are also from North Carolina.
I have a multitude of perspectives and my work at the Olympics is to always highlight cultural exchange and expound on what we do internationally and together.
I think that for Dakar 2026 and all of the things that will happen for African youth, I think that we also need to combine our ecosystems to make that stronger and to make this narrative even better because we know that Africa is now.
It's not next, it's not rising, it's now and it's been now.
But now everyone's eyes are on the continent and so that us as a people and us as a diaspora can take advantage of that narrative firstly, we need to be there and we need to be sound and we need to all be on one accord.
And so that's what I wanted to say.
And I will also say that my work at the Olympics was in 2024 Paris Olympics at Station Afrique.
It was the first time we had ever had an Afro global club zone for the diaspora in which we had 56 delegations come together from all over the world.
So thank you all for your time today.
And thank you again, ARD.
Okay.
Can everybody hear me? Hello, everyone.
Thank you so much for having me today.
Doctor Diallo, thank you for the invitation.
Special shout out to doctor Letitia Malcolm for inviting me.
My name is Tatina Jimbo.
I am Zimbabwean, and I am the founder of African Women's League Global, a nonprofit organization that seeks to empower young African women who are interested in policy, politics, leadership, and also building their confidence and building community.
One of the things that really stood out to me from what my brother said here and just the general conversations was that The African youth is the future.
We're not waiting for opportunities to be created for us anymore.
We are the problem solvers.
To answer his questions of where are the jobs, my question to you is, why aren't you creating the jobs? You have the knowledge, you have the degrees, you have the skill sets that we have also attained from being here.
Why aren't we going back home and integrating the things that we've learned here? Why aren't we starting businesses even from the diaspora and channeling resources back home to the people who need it there? Really, even the access that we have to AI, right now, Africa, there's so much opportunity for AI to be used.
There's a digital literacy gap between the diaspora and the African continent.
It's as simple as teaching your friend how to use ChGPT.
Yes, people here abuse it, but somebody doesn't even know what ChadGPT is.
My challenge to the African youth is we need to stop waiting for people to solve problems for us.
We need to become disruptive and become the problem solvers.
The Darker 2026 is a perfect way for that.
I show Speed.
He did a tour around the continent and he showed everybody the power of social media.
He showed everybody what technology can do.
We are very innovative, we are fresh ideas, we are the future and we are the generation.
60% of Africa's population are young people.
That means 40% is older, the older generation, the challenge for me to you is, what are you doing to mentor the younger generation to take over when you're gone? Not that we want you to die, but it's just the law of life.
It's really what is the older generation doing to mentor and prepare younger people to be in the spaces of influence and decision making to take over when the time comes.
With that, I rest my case.
Thank you.
Great.
Thank you.
We got to go first here.
Okay.
Here.
Great.
My name is Ronald Jones.
I'm a doctor and specialize in Caroline.
Of medicine.
I qualified for a while at University, but I'm I can basically define research projects and solicit interest in I'm very honored to have been invited to this panel today, and I'd like to address what the students are concerned about, well, how do we do this and how do we do that? I've been looking at the clinical epidemiology of pathological and anti social thinking among individuals and groups.
I look at racism as a communicable disease.
And I encourage anyone who is interested in those kinds of things.
I am administratively connected with the World Conference of Mayors through the Friends of the African Union and the permanent forum here at the United Nations.
Thank you so much.
Begin in Baltimore.
I live here in New York.
Awesome.
You reach me very carefully, thank you.
I'm sorry.
Now I know how it feels to have to ask people to wrap up like they asked me to wrap up.
So you have.
But only because I wanted to say yes, some of us were in the same circles and if it's okay with you, again, that portal that we're going to open up, I won't even call it a portal, whatever you all decide it needs to look like.
It could just be a simple blog, anyway.
If we could communicate in that way as a follow up, I think that would be ideal.
We skipped over the person that I was reaching toward.
If you could share in 1 minute and then here and here.
Then doctor Jabrils is the next voice that you'll find.
I get told in Geneva and here and other places that when the time is up, we just have to go.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Een Amer, I'm the founder of Ever Connect and the Vice President of Digital Africa.
Today, I first want to say happy African Day.
This is very important what brings us all together, but also to make a comment regarding all the great elements that have been mentioned today.
It's us as a union all together, both African within Africa, but also Jasper and extend it to what we have seen from other members states of the UN to all collaborate together to bring value from within.
To answer to a few of the questions that have been raised about artificial intelligence and how we can make this better, technology could serve and how this could happen is through education.
There is a call to action is by raising awareness and education throughout, mentioning what we have and what we could do together, that is how we can make it.
As a matter of fact, at ECnect We made an offer to free education on AI and digital tools, and that is open to all African to create more value from within.
This is the beginning of all collaborating together.
Thank you so much.
Happy Africa day, everyone.
My name is doctor Efe Akshay Damon.
I'm a global educator and founder of the community based Education Movement.
I just wanted to speak to the young people.
First of all, you all are amazing and inspiring.
My focus is on education, obviously, and more specifically about how to bring community and classroom curriculum together.
What I want to say to your concerns and to the concerns of everyone is that we need to really think about how do we help to empower young people to use their academic skills, their 21st century skills, and what I'm also advocating for is third millennium skills to not only learn about their communities, but to also take action to improve their communities as students.
If anyone is interested in learning more about community based education and how you can possibly incorporate that into whatever you do, then I would love to speak with you all.
Thank you.
Can you hear me? All right.
Good evening, everybody.
Happy Africa day.
My name is Troy Kostner.
I'm a programmer and developer.
I have two apps in the app stores right now.
Currently, my first app was published in 2018, and they're designed around circulating money and resources within our communities around a diaspora.
And basically, you know, One of the biggest problems we face here in America is food deserts, agriculture, things of that nature.
So I designed a supply chain to help funnel food, fresh resources and things of that nature back into our urban communities or whatnot.
And also within one of my mobile apps called the Field, free to download in both app stores.
I have a fully encrypted database where we can exchange messages and things like that amongst each other without anybody having to tap in.
And I studied under the great Leonard and Rosalind Jeffries and those are my mentors.
Yeah, thank you, everybody.
Thank you, everybody.
Again, sincere thanks to our guest panelists, you speak.
Okay.
And I will thank you for also allowing me to just quickly say that I'm here because doctor Farid Mohammed has done a ton of work, just such heavy lifting, celebrating our tenth anniversary this year.
I'm very pleased to be able to just share his greetings and his appreciation to doctor Jabril, to Gilbert Rashon and everyone else here.
Um, please, please, please, thank you for everyone's contributions as we made this an Africa Day to remember.
Thank you so much.
And I'm going to ask you to welcome for closing remarks, the gentleman who's been the driving force behind the 2026 United Nations Africa Day commemoration, doctor Jabril Diallo.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Before going any further, I think that we owe a warm thank you to our moderator.
Please.
She did a wonderful job just trying to get us together and get this going very quickly.
Then before I go on to just short closing statement, I want to recognize those colleagues and friends who have worked so tirelessly to make the difference.
Some of them are here in the room, others are following online.
I've mentioned Gordon Tapper here, who is our executive producer.
I have David Katsiv here, who has been our advisor in anything communications since 2004 is here.
We have our Director of external relations, Aren Katsiv.
An stand up so that we can just say thank you to you.
We have also doctor Letisha Malcolm, who has been really mobilizer in terms of our youth leadership panels and so on.
And in his other capacity, we have doctor Gilbert Rashon, who's the co chair of our higher education initiative here present.
And following us online is the Chancellor Emeritus, doctor Elizabeth Beth Strale, who has worked with the team to put this draft agenda together.
And none of this would have happened.
We have Richard Gant, we have Dakota Gant, who is the focal point for diaspora engagement and so on.
But none of this would have happened without the support really of the co sponsors.
And I want to single out here the co sponsors again.
Look at the deputy permanent representative of Sierra Leone coming here at 2:30 this afternoon and still being here in spite of that very, very busy agenda that the permanent mission of Sierra Leone has.
Thank you so much, Sierra Leone.
And also Patri Smy whom I have known for so long, very serious person, senior advisor at the Office of the African Union Commission and being here introducing but not only supporting us throughout the preparatory phase.
Thank you very much again.
And we have a Robert Stevens, who was here earlier, he's from UNFPA.
He has been the focal point in UNFPA to make all of this happen for all of us.
I think that it behooves on us really to appreciate those among us and say thank you to those among us who helped to make these gatherings happen.
Not only are we meeting here, but also we're meeting globally because this is being transmitted at the global level, so that makes a tremendous difference.
By way of closing very quickly, I'd like to specifically come back to one initiative that has become central to the work that we at the African Renaissance and Jasper Network are doing, which is we work to advance dignity, equality, and the sustainable development goals, and that is the Red card campaign.
The red card campaign.
This campaign was launched in 2019 during the FIFA Women's World Cup in Paris, with the support of governments, the United Nations system, civil society organizations, academia, sports organizations, and so on.
And the Red card campaign has emerged as a simple conviction that violence and discrimination against women and girls can and must be prevented.
Globally, one in three women in today's world, one in three women experience physical or sexual violence during their lifetime.
That's a big figure and close to 50,000 women and girls lose their lives, die every year from physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner or family member.
Of course, I have to say very quickly that violence affects society as a whole.
There are men, there are boys who experience violence and hardships.
Yet, women and girls continue to face particular form of violence and discrimination requiring forward attention.
That's why we're saying the Red card campaign is about partnerships, partnerships between women and men because not all men are violent towards women.
But when we do the sum total of violence towards women, men come number one.
So that we have to have men as partners, but also have boys to grow up, respecting girls, and when they are adults, they become citizens who respect adults, so that's what we call positive masculinity.
And in that sense, we want to make sure that we mobilize government, media, business leaders, sports organizations, culture, and all of that should be part of positive masculinity so that ARDN deliberately chose sport and cultures because when we have sport and cultures, those are the two universal languages that are there.
Imagine when a team wins.
No matter what your economic background, no matter what your status, everybody unites behind that team.
We want to make sure that the same thing happens when we say that we have zero tolerance.
Towards all forms of violence and discrimination against women and girls so that in that sense, throughout today's Africa Day, you have heard perspectives from leaders helping to advance these efforts.
I have mentioned some of my colleagues in this connection.
This brings us directly to Dhaka 2026.
The Youth Olympics open on Saturday 31st of October.
We have Sunday and then on Monday, 2nd of November and Tuesday, 3rd of November, we're convening a global youth leadership summit in Dakar Synagg.
With special focus on youth of Africa and the Dabo.
So we are calling on each one of you to come and join in partnership because we need to make it happen so that the creativity, the Deputy Permanent representative Sierra Leone was telling me how much creativity is coming out of this room.
We need to take that to Dhakar Senegal so that the youth Olympics in Dhakar show that the African youth are inviting the globe.
Tomorrow morning, I'll be flying to Panama, where on the 28th and 29th, I'll be addressing 1,000 youth leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean and carrying this message to the youth there so that at the end of the day, when we have the global Youth Leadership Summit in Dhakb, each and every one of you becomes a goodwill ambassador to make sure that we use the red card campaign as entry point towards really accelerating two points.
One, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and two, the African Union's Agenda 2063.
So, as I said here, we don't have all the answers, but each one of us should think about what can I do to make sure that I contribute towards making sure that we have zero tolerance towards violence and discrimination against men and girls.
With that, I'd like to end where we started.
Please take your red cards, And let us stand up again, please, and lift your red cards.
Let's repeat together, please.
Are we ready? Let's add to all forms of violence and discrimination against women and girls.
So help us God.
Thank you very much, and the session is closed.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
If you would meet us outside this door, we do need to exit as quickly as we can.
Meet us out here for a group picture as many of you who would like to do that.
Thank you so much.
You get to listen to Akju's music as you do so you can