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| Download Concept Note and Call for Papers |
convened in October 2022. The symposium is part and parcel of the commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the African Union (AU). The AU was officially founded and launched on 9 July 2002 in Durban, South Africa. The Union took over the mantle for the pursuit of continental unity and integration from the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) which had existed since 1963. Both the OAU and AU are key institutional architectures and historical landmarks for the advancement of Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance, especially from the perspective of state-driven continental integration. Like the OAU, the AU is an intergovernmental organization whose primary mandate is continental unity and integration.
As the Union commemorates 20 years of its existence, it is important to make a critical assessment of the milestones that it has registered thus far, the challenges it is encountering, and where it may be headed in the foreseeable future. This exercise is timely and pertinent particularly in relation to Agenda 2063 – The Africa We Want. This is a continental development blueprint of the AU aimed at the sociocultural and politico-economic transformation for the betterment of the lives and livelihoods of African peoples. For the AU to make a meaningful impact on unity and integration in Africa, it must concretely change the lives of Africans in a positive way.
This document serves as both a concept note and a call for papers. It is organized along various sections. The second section below provides a contextual background to this project. The third section outlines the justification for the project. The fourth section highlights the overall goal of the symposium. The fifth section proposes the key themes and topics for the symposium. The sixth section sums up the expected deliverables from the project. The seventh section outlines modalities for the submission of abstracts and papers. The eighth section clarifies participation, format, and languages to be used during the symposium. Section nine sums up the planned management and coordination 3 | P a g e arrangements for the project. Sections ten and eleven introduce the IPATC, CODESRIA, and TrustAfrica respectively, as the key institutions in partnership on this project commemorating the two decades of the existence and official launch of the AU.