This inaugural conference seeks to bring together key agents of sustainable change and provide them with an opportunity to envision and reflect on what a much better future of Africa could be if youth are given opportunities to play central roles as systems leaders. For the past three years, SAYDS has worked on designing and testing an innovative process that youth can use to facilitate such partnerships, which will be one of the features of the conference.

The youth in Africa constitute the majority of Africa’s population, which means that the current and future state of development in Africa depends on the ability of the large youth population to play a central role in tackling the complex social problems of the 21st century. As the successors of a wide range of leadership roles at different levels of society, Africa’s youth need to be equipped with the skills, knowledge, and experiences for systems leadership.

This conference will serve as a platform where partnerships that achieve that goal can be catalyzed and created. Therefore, one of the outcomes of the network will be a highly valuable network of knowledgeable agents that can collaborate with youth as they take on key leadership roles in their communities. 

Attendees will also have a tangible experience and vision of the innovative solutions that could come from youth facilitating the creation of systemic collaborations. Given that the youth population in Africa is expected to significantly increase in the years to come, lasting social change throughout the continent largely depends on creating, supporting, and sustaining these youth-led systemic collaborations for development.