September 16, 2026 In Newsroom By WACSI
Welcome Address by Dr. Nana Asantewa Afadzinu Executive Director, West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) At the Africa at the Centre: Leading Change, Shifting Power Convening Accra, Ghana | 1-3 September 2026
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Your Excellencies, our key note speaker your Excellency Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Hon. Ribeiro – Addy, UK member of Parliament for Clapham Brixton Hill; Representative of Ghana’s Minister for Foreign Affairs; representative of the Deputy Chief of Staff from the Office of the President; your excellency Ambassador Carew, Head of the Secretariat of the AU ECOSOCC; esteemed Board members of WACSI (the West Africa Civil Society Institute); distinguished guests and fellow African civil society leaders and comrades from across the continent and the diaspora, development partners, the media, young people of Africa, ladies and gentlemen:
Good morning, and a very warm welcome to Africa at the Centre: Leading Change, Shifting Power.
It is a pleasure to welcome you to Accra for a conversation that is both timely and necessary. A conversation about who leads, who decides, who controls resources, and whose knowledge shapes Africa’s growth and future.
Let me begin with a simple statement:
Africa does not need to be invited to the centre of its own development. A bird cannot fly on borrowed wings. Africa belongs at the centre. Africa actually is the centre- long before Western civilisation, Africans were already developing impressive architecture, trading amongst itself and with Europeans, building empires, developing …maths, science, art and literature. It was not the West that taught Africa about God, God is the centre of our cosmos and being and the sacredness with which we held our environment and lived including our giving was all connected to our reverence for God and our belief in our interconnectedness and our interdependence. We lost that position at the Centre because it was taken from us and is still being taken from us. Sadly, in some cases we have allowed or enabled it. That must change.
Our Pan-Africanist leaders tried to re-awaken that consciousness, but we have ignored Bob Marley’s caution and stood aside for a long time looking on whilst our prophets were shot. Those prophets are us too- enslaved in our minds and we must emancipate them. Bob Marley urged us- none but ourselves can free our minds.
For too long, many of the decisions that shape Africa’s development priorities, funding, strategy and even the measures of success have been made outside the continent. Africans have too often been asked to implement priorities they did not define, within systems they did not design. The result has been dependency, constrained and sometimes absent local ownership and, too often, development that feels done to Africa rather than led by Africa.
But there is another story.
Across our continent and with the African diaspora, African communities are already creating solutions grounded in their own realities, knowledge and lived experiences.
We are not simply asking for change. We are already creating it.
The question is whether the systems around us are ready to recognise, resource and make space for that leadership. And the urgency of that question is growing. The development landscape around us is changing; donor resources are tightening, global crises are multiplying, and old models of dependency are becoming increasingly unsustainable. At the same time, Africa’s youthful population, digital innovation, community philanthropy and diaspora engagement are opening new possibilities for locally led change. Inspite of the challenges that this moment poses, it is also times like these that open up opportunities. The creation of the UN came out of World War 2. The panafricanist agenda came out of years of struggle against colonialism. Our context right now feels just like that- the labour pains before birth.
This moment gives us a choice: simply adjust to a changing development system, or use the moment to rethink who shapes it, who resources it and whose knowledge defines its future.
That is why shifting power matters.
Power is not only about who sits at the table. It is about who sets the agenda, who controls resources, whose knowledge counts, and who defines success or failure.
If we are serious about putting Africa at the centre, then we must be prepared to change those relationships. This is not a conversation about replacing one centre of power with another.
It is about agency, shared responsibility and a different way of working. It also includes reparatory justice.
It is about recognising the power that already exists within our communities, our civil society and our institutions and creating the conditions for that power to shape decisions and drive change. Bringing what matters but has still been kept at the periphery and marginalized, to the Centre.
At WACSI, this is not an abstract conversation. For two decades, we have worked alongside civil society across West Africa to strengthen organisations, connect actors, influence policy and advance a simple vision: a peaceful and prosperous West Africa where development is driven by its people. Through the continental ShiftingThe Power initiative that we are involved in together with Star Ghana Foundation, Tilitonse Foundation in Malawi and the Zambian Governance Foundation , we have seen again and again that communities and local organisations already possess knowledge, relationships, legitimacy and resources that are essential to lasting change. Yet too often, they are still required to fit themselves into priorities, funding arrangements and ways of working designed elsewhere. So, this convening is not simply about talking about shifting power. It is about asking what shifting power looks like in practice and like RINGO a more globalized program we work on together with other champions of this agenda of transformative systems change (many of who are here) asks us to do- we must challenge the current system that is no longer fit for purpose and ask the questions that matter for Africa and African descendants all over the world.
What changes when Africans and their organizations set the agenda?
What does partnership look like when it is built on trust, dignity, shared responsibility and mutual accountability?
And what are we prepared to do differently when we leave this room?
Over these three days, we will move deliberately through three connected movements.
We will remember and locate that is, building a shared picture of the histories, realities and tensions that shape the system today.
We will disrupt and reimagine that is, asking what African-led development, philanthropy and civil society could look like if we designed them around dignity, trust and self-determination.
We will build and steward that is, turning those ideas into practical commitments that can live beyond these three days in Ghana and beyond our individual organizations and silos.
I hope, therefore, that we will use this space courageously.
Let us have the difficult conversations.
Let us challenge inherited assumptions.
Let us listen to knowledge that is often overlooked.
And let us move beyond diagnosis to practical commitments, partnerships and action. If, after three days, we leave only with powerful conversations, we will not have done enough.
Because Africa at the Centre must be more than a conference theme.
It is a call to action.
If Africa is truly to be at the centre, our voices must not simply be present in the room.
We must shape the room, set the agenda, influence the decisions that follow, and take responsibility for carrying those decisions forward.
So, WACSI on behalf of the organisers (Epic Africa, Reos Partners, AFFORD and our partner who is boldly walking beside us, the Hewlett Foundation), I warmly welcome you to Accra.
Thank you for bringing your experiences, your ideas and your courage to this conversation.
May our discussions be honest, our partnerships genuine, and our ideas bold. Most importantly, may we leave Ghana not only inspired, but with a set of priorities (even if few) that we are prepared to champion, resource, and carry forward together in different formations.
Welcome to Africa at the Centre: Leading Change, Shifting Power. Akwaaba! I wish us all a meaningful and transformative convening. And may we leave here ready to act.
Thank you.
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