Gambia-based Global Pan-African Conference launches in 2020 to tackle governance, women, arts, culture, youth and diaspora.
The Global Pan-African Conference (G-PAC): Towards the African Renaissance will take place in The Gambia on Monday 25 May to Tuesday 26 May 2020.
The inaugural 2020 conference commemorates the 120th anniversary of the first Pan African conference, organised by Henry Sylvester Williams in London. GPAC is organised by Mboka Festival of Arts Culture and Sport, a UK/Gambia consortium of organisations, Camp Africa, Sable Publications and Yaram Arts.
The conference’s aims and objectives are informed by the Africa Union Commission document, “Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want”, using UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as reference material and a partner in sustainable development.
G-PAC aims to contribute to the Pan-African driven agenda set in the “Africa We Want” document and focuses on how The Gambia can play its part locally, regionally, continentally and internationally. The conference also seeks to explore how The Gambian people can benefit from African integration.
Until Mon 23 December, the conference is inviting papers based on issues around governance, women, arts and culture, youth and diaspora:
• ASPIRATION 2: An integrated content, political united, based on the ideals of Pan- Africanism and the vision of Africa’s Renaissance.
•ASPIRATION 3: An Africa of good governance, democracy, respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law.
•ASPIRATION 5: An Africa with a strong cultural identity, common heritage, values and ethics
•ASPIRATION 6: An Africa whose development is people-driven, relying on the potential of African people, especially its women and youth, and caring for children
Kadija George, Co-Founder, Mboka Festival of Arts, Culture and Sport says: “The first G-PAC takes place at a sombre time for celebration and commemoration. 2020 marks the 120th anniversary of the first Pan-African Conference that took place in London. We have to ask and consider what we have achieved with regards to raising the prosperity of the continent since then. That includes all aspects of our lives including, living standards, security, health – but at the core is the secure lives of females. We won’t make significant progress unless the lives of girl children are respected and protected.
“We must also remember that we have just reached the 400 years that marks the beginning of slavery in America when 20 enslaved Africans were forcibly taken to a port in what is now called Virginia. We still have so much work to do, and we want to see what we can do in The Gambia, for Gambians, but that must also link to what is taking place in the continent and bringing the diaspora closer in an effective way.”
The G-PAC conference will take place on alternate years at the same time, each year.
Global Pan-African Conference: Towards the African Renaissance, Mon 25 May & Tues 26 May 2020, Metzy Residence Hotel, Senegambia. mbokafestival.org/global- pan-african-conference.html
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