Message from the Executive Director of CAFOR, Lawalley Cole, for October 2018 The 4th State of Education in Africa, Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire.

From 8 – 10 October 2018, I was in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire to attend the 4th annual State of Education in Africa (SOE) Conference organized by the New York-based Africa-America Institute. The theme of the conference was “Shifting paradigm: Building Future Capacities and New Narratives through African Education”. The occasion was splendid and graced with the presence of H.E. Mr. Alassane Ouattara, President of the Republic of Cote D’Ivoire, who, like me, is an Alumnus of the Africa-America Institute’s African Graduate Fellowship Program (AFGRAD). Click on this link https://youtu.be/l–lYIe4dRE to view the video coverage of the President.

It was also an occasion to meet and network with African Ministers of Education and like-minded experts, researchers, entrepreneurs, university professors from Africa and the diaspora as well as representatives of cooperating partners from bilateral and multilateral organizations and foundations.  There were exciting sessions that ranged from topics on educating African youths for the labor market, demand-driven skills development, higher education in Africa, examining the histories and futures of Africa through African Agency, the role of arts and culture in global dialogue, and the current media climate and narratives in Africa.  I moderated the session on Collective Impact: Transforming Higher Education in Africa. I was also a Speaker in the session on Global Connections: Media and Narratives.

As we always argue, human capital is the stepping-stone to a viable growth – and promoting the industrial system. Physical investment and institutions are essential complements; the former cannot be efficiently utilized or maintained without adequate technical and managerial skills, and the latter cannot be engineered or implemented when human capital is scarce and of questionable quality. Panelists in this session emphasized that human capital, when utilized effectively, can transform the economies in African countries to increase efficiency and maximize the returns from limited physical capital. We also talked about issues related to governance in Africa’s higher education sector. Besides, we also discussed matters on innovation and harmonization of policies across the continent geared toward lessons learned from processes in other parts of the world

Ms Amini Kajunju, Executive Director of the IUGB Foundation and former President and CEO of the Africa-America Institute, moderated the session on Media and Narratives where I was a key Speaker. The main issue in this session stems from the fact that the narratives of the African continent continues to reflect either a “Dark Continent” or an “Africa Rising”. The media had in the past popularized this myth of Africa being the Dark Continent through literature with stories of an African landscape and people that were non-conforming to ideals and values considered practical, civil and redemptive. Members of this panel challenged this narrative vigorously as they attempted to address the tensions between the global and African perspectives. The audience felt that a shift in the stories told was necessary with adequate investments within the continent that would allow for the promotion of an improved quality of data distribution and accurate information for public consumption.