Overview of Agenda 2063 Flagship Projects (Part 1 of 6) – Historical Documentations

Agenda 2063 has defined and kicked off some ambitious initiatives and projects and given Africa’s track record one can be forgiven if these projects are met with a little skepticism, however if Covid 19 can in less than a year change billions of people’s behaviour around the world, then 2020 has taught us that anything is possible. 

Taking into consideration that these flagship projects may not necessarily receive the same level of coverage across the various media outlets, the following publications will look to provide a high level overview of them. Our main objective is that after reading this and the next few publications, you should have some awareness of the projects and their aims thereof.

PanAfreeka Flagship Projects Groupings

We have taken the liberty to group these projects as follows and will be using these groupings to achieve the above. These are:

1. Agenda 2063 Flagship Projects – Historical Documentation
2. Agenda 2063 Flagship Projects – Trade and Finance
3. Agenda 2063 Flagship Projects – Lowering barriers to intra-African movement
4. Agenda 2063 Flagship Projects – Education and Dialogue Platforms
5. Agenda 2063 Flagship Projects – Other

Agenda 2063 Flagship Projects – Historical Documentation

We start off with two Flagship projects that is looking to make significant contributions to the documentation of our history as Africans i.e. The Great African Museum and Encyclopedia Africana.

Great Museum of Africa (GMA)

The Great Africa Museum aims to be a focal center for preserving and promoting the African cultural heritage. The project aims to create awareness about Africa’s vast dynamic and diverse artefacts and the influence Africa has had and continues to have on the various cultures of the World (Ref-17)

This Museum will be physically located in Algiers of the People’s Democratic of Algeria and is planned to be launched in the year 2023.

Visit here for more on the construction of the Museum

Encyclopedia Africana

The implementation strategy around the concept of documentation of authentic history of Africa and African life has largely been credited to late Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, the first Director of the Project. In the words of Du Bois, the ultimate goal of this project at the time (1962) is to prepare and publish an encyclopedia not on the vague subject of race, but on the people’s inhabiting the continent of Africa, as a scientific production and not matter of propaganda (Ref-30).

In more recent time, (2014), the Government of Ghana made an appeal to  the African Union for the adoption of an Encyclopedia Africana Project (EAP) as one of the Pan African Legacy Projects that merited revitalisation and this proposal was adopted by the Assembly.

 

The EAP is a project that seeks to document Africa’s history including issues, statistical data and challenges related to refugees, returnees and forced displacements that will enable the continent to provide solutions to them (Ref-31).

The immediate goal for the revitalised and new strategic direction of the EAP is to create a platform for the full-scale implementation of the EAP while serving as the authoritative source of information on indigenous Africa and African life, as envisaged at its inception by the founding fathers of the project.

Although the EAP is alive and ongoing, It is currently unclear if the EAP is still considered a flagship project, this is because some key sources of our research no longer refer to it despite the fact that it is still listed as one of the flagship projects on the AU website.

References (Ref)

1. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/trade/publication/the-african-continental-free-trade-area
2. AfCFTA a tralac guide 6th edition November 2019
3. https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-530107183/african-commodities-strategy-value-addition-for-global
4. The Single African Air Transport Market – PIDA
5. https://www.nepad.org/agenda-2063/flagship-project/continental-high-speed-train-network
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS9sPp0H5F8&feature=emb_logo
7. https://au.int/en/pressreleases/20181214/auc-convenes-pan-african-e-network-paen-assembly-parties
8. https://www.pambazuka.org/pan-africanism/africa-pan-african-e-network-model-“south-south-cooperation”
9. First Continental Report on the Implementation of Agenda 2063 February 2020 – African Union (AU) and African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD)
10. https://ccdcoe.org/organisations/au/
11. https://www.internetsociety.org/resources/doc/2018/personal-data-protection-guidelines-for-africa/
12. https://au.int/en/pressreleases/20191212/african-union-cybersecurity-expert-group-holds-its-first-inaugural-meeting
13. https://au.int/en/newsevents/20191220/official-launch-pan-african-virtual-and-e-university-paveu
14. African Space Policy – African Union (HRST/STC-EST/Exp./15 (II)
15. https://www.africaportal.org/features/creating-greater-inclusion-african-space-agency/
16. Statute of the African Space Agency (Article 2)
17. https://au.int/en/agenda2063/flagship-projects
18. Silencing the Gune, Owning the Future: Realising a conflict-free Africa – ACCORD (African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes)
19. https://gga.org/silencing-the-guns/
20. https://au.int/sites/default/files/newsevents/reports/37472-rp-pa25606_e_original_004_ff.pdf
21. https://au.int/sites/default/files/pressreleases/31182-pr-pr_20_-_african_union_passport_launched_during_opening_of_27th_au_summit_in_kigali.pdf
22. https://au.int/sites/default/files/newsevents/workingdocuments/35139-wd-guidelinesfinal_copy_2_1-edited_final_version.pdf
23. https://au.int/en/financial-institutions
24. https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/36414-treaty-0038_-_protocol_on_the_african_investment_bank_e.pdf
25. https://www.african-markets.com/en/news/africa/focus-on-the-african-exchanges-linkage-project-aelp
26. Agenda 2063 First Ten Year Implementation Plan 2014-2023 – The African Union Commission 
27. African Economic Platform Report (Mauritius, 20-22 March 2017)
28. https://www.au-pida.org/view-project/324/
29. Department of Energy Republic of South Africa – Grand Inga Treaty
30. ADOPTION OF THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA AFRICANA PROJECT (EAP) – African Union Assemble 22^nd Ordinary session (30-31 January 2014)
31. ENCYCLOPAEDIA AFRICANA PROJECT – DOCUMENTING AFRICAN HISTORY TOWARDS DURABLE SOLUTIONS TO AFRICAN CHALLENGES INCLUDING FORCED DISPLACEMENT – 34^th Ordinary session of the Executive Council (07-08 February 2019)

For more information relating to the free trade area click the useful Links (UL) below:

1. https://afcac.org/en/images/Documentation/yd_eng.pdf
2. https://www.nepad.org/agenda-2063/flagship-project/african-commodity-strategy
3. https://www.nepad.org/agenda-2063/flagship-project/african-continental-free-trade-area-afcfta
4. https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-530107183/african-commodities-strategy-value-addition-for-global
5. https://au.int/sites/default/files/newsevents/workingdocuments/33100-wd-6a-brochure_on_single_african_air_transport_market_english.pdf
6. https://afcac.org/en/images/Documentation/yd_eng.pdf
7. https://www.tralac.org/documents/resources/african-union/1506-the-single-african-air-transport-market-pida-brochure-2017/file.html
8. https://au.int/sites/default/files/newsevents/workingdocuments/38223-wd-progress_report_on_the_implemenation_of_agenda_2063_eng.pdf
9. https://au.int/en/treaties/african-union-convention-cyber-security-and-personal-data-protection
10. https://pau-au.africa
11. https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/36403-treaty-protocol_on_free_movement_of_persons_in_africa_e.pdf