H. E. Ms Macenje “Che Che” Mazoka, the Zambian High Commissioner in the United Kingdom, Ambassador to Ireland and the Holy See co-hosted the African Public Square debate at the African Leadership Centre held at King’s College London. Photo: Supplied
In the midst of prevailing global disorder, great-power realignment, and uncertainties lies an opportunity to create a just and inclusive world for greater prosperity. Amid this cautious optimism, the question is not whether African agency matters, but how it is resourced. When supported, it strengthens resilience, deepens democratic participation, and sustains development. When undermined, it constrains Africa’s ability to shape its own future. The real challenge is to ensure material support that advances continental priorities and shapes global norms.
In a shifting multipolar landscape, Africa’s greatest asset is the capacity of its people to organize, lead, and define their own development. Yet, despite broad consensus on local ownership, dependence on external funding persists, limiting genuine agency. This consensus needs translation into meaningful support, as only Africans can build the societies they truly aspire to.
African agency must be deliberately built around three priorities. First, African-led initiatives need reliable resources and strong domestic partnerships to reduce dependence on external actors, who bring their own agendas. Second, it requires institutions that protect civic space, encourage innovation, and enable open public dialogue. Third, the next generation must be equipped to lead, as they will shape the continent’s future. At its core, African agency is the capacity to define priorities, mobilize resources, and implement locally grounded solutions.
Resourcing African agency starts with real control over reliable, locally generated resources. For instance, initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and AUDA-NEPAD are presented as African-led. However, in practice, they operate within a web of external funding, technical support, and institutional influence. Organizations such as the Millennium Challenge Corporation, Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) support these initiatives, often on their own terms and priorities.
This influence extends beyond funding. It appears in how decision-making systems are designed, public policies are shaped, and even who sits at the table. Over time, this creates initiatives that are African in name but partly shaped by external actors in function. Yet, when resources and partnerships are anchored locally, African actors gain the capacity to set agendas rather than simply respond to them. This can occur through several reinforcing mechanisms.
Strong domestic resource mobilization. When African governments increase internally generated revenue through improved tax systems, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and development banks, they can finance regional programs themselves. This breeds better outcomes than relying primarily on external partners. Consequently, if continental initiatives like the AfCFTA are funded largely through African fiscal resources, governments and regional institutions gain greater freedom to prioritize sectors, timelines, and regulatory approaches that reflect African economic realities.
A strong role for regional financial institutions and development banks. Strengthening African-owned financial institutions can shift the balance of influence. Institutions such as the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) can finance infrastructure and facilitate regional trade through industrial development projects. Such mechanisms support AfCFTA implementation without the policy conditionalities often attached to external funding. Locally controlled finance allows African policymakers to determine investment priorities.
African private sector participation. Domestic businesses and investors play a crucial role in shaping economic agendas. When African SMEs, large corporations, and investment institutions actively participate in trade corridors and manufacturing enclaves, it boosts domestic capacity and agency. This can be achieved through their involvement in logistics systems and digital platforms linked to the AfCFTA. They can also drive policy demand from within the continent rather than relying on externally designed programs.
Local knowledge production and policy research. African universities, think tanks, and research institutions should be adequately financed to generate contextually relevant analytical frameworks that inform policymaking. As it stands, heavy reliance on externally funded research dispossesses African governments of intellectual leadership over development strategies—even for institutions like the African Leadership Centre (ALC) and the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA). For instance, the African Union and AUDA-NEPAD should fund local research and data production through these institutions and universities to inform continental programs.
Finally, cross-sector domestic partnerships are important. Stronger collaboration among African governments, civil society organizations, businesses, and research institutions can build locally rooted policy coalitions that shape priorities collectively. These partnerships strengthen accountability and ensure development agendas reflect African communities’ needs rather than external funding cycles.
Essentially, embedding continental policymaking and implementation within African societies, institutions, and resources sustains agency at its core. This internally drives strategies that enable African actors to define pan-continental objectives, timelines, and development pathways according to their own priorities—for collective prosperity at home and the uplifting of dignity abroad.
Resources alone are not enough to sustain African agency. It also depends on strong institutions and an open public space where ideas can be debated and decisions shaped.
Government bodies, knowledge institutions, and civil society organizations provide platforms through which policies are discussed, contested, and legitimized—while enabling citizens to hold power accountable. Institutions such as the African Leadership Centre and Africans for the Horn of Africa Initiative show what is possible, but they operate under real constraints: limited funding, political pressure, and fragile regulatory environments.
Strengthening these institutions is therefore essential. They generate and circulate knowledge, support informed policymaking, and create space for meaningful public engagement. More importantly, they allow diverse voices—youth, women, and grassroots communities—to shape national priorities and hold leadership accountable. Empowering knowledge institutions, policy research, and civic engagement creates the intellectual infrastructure African societies need to shape their own development paths. In this sense, institutions are not only administrative structures but spaces where collective agency takes shape, helping societies think and act critically about their futures.
The third dimension of resourcing African agency lies in the leadership of the continent’s young people. Statistics from multiple sources confirm Africa has the world’s youngest population. Data and research indicate their ideas, ambitions, and creativity are shaping the continent’s political, economic, and technological trajectories—and the futures of its communities for decades to come.
Yet youth leadership is often discussed more than nurtured. While young Africans are celebrated for their innovation and dynamism in arts, technology, and more, many face structural barriers that limit their participation in socioeconomic reproduction and decision-making.
Empowering the next generation requires more than symbolic inclusion. It demands investments in education systems that cultivate critical thinking, creativity, and progressive civic engagement. It requires mentorship opportunities connecting emerging leaders with experienced practitioners in government, academia, and civil society. And it calls for institutional reforms that open space for young people to contribute meaningfully to policymaking. Supporting these efforts is not merely a matter of fairness; it is a strategic necessity for resourcing and sustaining the continent’s agency. The challenges facing Africa—from rapid urbanization to climate change—will require bold ideas and long-term vision. Young leaders are uniquely positioned to bring both. For African policy actors, investing in youth leadership means recognizing that Africa’s future is already being shaped by the generation coming of age today.
Ultimately, resourcing African agency means moving beyond symbolic acts and rhetoric toward deliberate policy actions that invest in the continent’s people, institutions, and ideas. This begins with African public intellectuals and policy actors realizing that exercising substantive agency in the international system comes alive when local communities have the autonomy and support to shape their own futures.
If policymakers, public intellectuals, and civil society leaders commit to this agenda, the result will be more than stronger institutions or more effective policies. Africa will become a continent where people define the priorities, design the solutions, and lead the transformations that shape its path in the twenty-first century and beyond. In the end, the promise of African agency is not simply about who participates in development, but who has the power to imagine and build the future.
H. E. Ms Macenje “Che Che” Mazoka is the Zambian High Commissioner in the United Kingdom, Ambassador to Ireland and the Holy See and co-hosted the African Public Square debate at the African Leadership Centre, King’s College London