The Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), through its International Desk, is partnering with the African Centre for the Study of the United States (ACSUS) at the University of the Witwatersrand to organize the 2025 edition of the Amplifying African Voices for Strategic Action (AFSA) Conference in South Africa.
Scheduled for November 21-27, 2025, the AFSA Conference 2025 is being hosted by ACSUS at the University of Witwatersrand with support from multiple international partners.
The partnership stems from a memorandum of understanding signed between CDD-Ghana’s International Desk and the University of Witwatersrand earlier this year to advance African engagement in global governance. Under this agreement, the two institutions will spearhead research projects, co-host events, and drive advocacy on key themes such as Africa-global power dynamics, democratic governance, human rights, natural resources, and climate change.
Under the theme “Africa in the G20: Advancing Solidarity, Equality, and Sustainability,” this year’s event takes place on the margins of the G-20 Summit in South Africa.
To officially open the AFSA Conference 2025, the University of Witwatersrand, in partnership with the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, CDD-Ghana International Desk, and multiple international partners, will host a public lecture on November 21, 2025, themed “Africa in the G20: Multilateralism in a Shifting Global Order.” The Lecture will be delivered by world-renowned economist and global leader Prof. Jeffrey D. Sachs.
On November 25, CDD-Ghana will lead a high-level conversation on “Foreign Influence, Disinformation, and Democratic Resilience in West Africa: Rethinking African Agency in the Age of Global Contestation.” The distinguished panelists include Moussa Kondo (Executive Director, Sahel Institute, Mali), Ibrahima Kane (Governance Expert and Advisor to the Special Envoy of the President of Senegal), Paul Osei Kuffour (Coordinator, WADEMOS Network), Kessy Ekomo-Soignet (Director, Peace and Development Watch, Central African Republic), and Rabiu Alhassan (Executive Director, FactSpace West Africa), who will be moderating the discussion.
Through this event, CDD-Ghana aims to explore strategies to strengthen African agency by driving regional cooperation, civic resilience, and narrative power in the face of malign external influence and deep-seated public disillusionment with failed governance and regional response.
The AFSA Conference brings together scholars, policymakers, and practitioners to examine Africa’s evolving role in the G20 and within the broader global political landscape.
