Africa’s Tel Aviv : how to build a cosmopolitan society?
Developing understanding and cooperation: welcome to the Africa of Agenda 2063. The message of several African platforms (Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Botswana, South Africa, Ghana, Cameroon) developed at the Dubai World Expo was already aimed at reaching out to the world to develop understanding and cooperation…
By Kevin Lognoné*
The name Tel Aviv originally comes from the Book of Ezekiel, where it refers to a Babylonian settlement in Mesopotamia. In Hebrew, the word « Tel » means an artificial hill formed by a heap of ruins, while the word « Aviv » means « spring ».
This name was later chosen by Nahum Sokolow as the Hebrew title of Theodor Herzl’s Altneuland.
In this story, Friedrich Löwenberg, a young Viennese Jewish intellectual tired of life in Europe, embarks on a journey to Asia with the intention of retiring to an island in the Pacific Ocean.
He sets off with a Prussian aristocrat, Kingscourt. On the way, they stopped in Jaffa and discovered Palestine in a state of desolation. They then retired to their island for twenty years. When they returned to Palestine, they found the region transformed into a thriving cosmopolitan society. Developing understanding and cooperation: welcome to the Africa of Agenda 2063. The message of several African platforms (Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Botswana, South Africa, Ghana, Cameroon) developed at the Dubai World Expo was already aimed at reaching out to the world to develop understanding and cooperation.
Agenda 2063 is Africa’s blueprint and master plan for transforming Africa into the global power of the future. It is the continent’s strategic framework for achieving its goal of inclusive and sustainable development. It is a concrete manifestation of the Pan-African desire for unity, self-determination, freedom, progress and collective prosperity, which is pursued within the framework of Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance.
The genesis of Agenda 2063 was the recognition by African leaders of the need to refocus and redefine the priorities of Africa’s agenda
The genesis of Agenda 2063 was the recognition by African leaders of the need to refocus and redefine the priorities of Africa’s agenda, starting with the fight against apartheid and the achievement of political independence for the continent, which had been at the heart of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the forerunner of the African Union; and instead of prioritizing inclusive social and economic development, continental and regional integration, democratic governance, and peace and security, among others, aimed at repositioning Africa as a dominant player on the world stage.
There are real opportunities for Afro-futurist entrepreneurs in agroforestry, pharmaceuticals, life sciences, nutrition and health technologies. Just look at the role of cross-border trade between Cameroon, Nigeria and their neighbors in the development of non-timber forest products. The cosmetic, food and medicinal aspects of these products are now being exploited by a number of Nigerian players in the ‘New Nature Economy’.
This is an incredible pole of plant sourcing based on the co-products of the flora and forests of the Congo Basin, which African intellectual property needs to develop, for example by creating new value chains around Protected Geographical Indications (PGIs).
The tools used in the European project EUAV Forests in Cameroon make this inventory work accessible.
Tel Aviv of Africa is a source of inspiration for doing locally and thinking globally
Associated with the theme « Design & Additive Manufacturing », it’s about new ways of designing and producing locally. Tel Aviv of Africa is a source of inspiration for doing locally and thinking globally. Tomorrow takes root today.
*Kevin Lognoné is an analyst in partnership, management and innovation skills.
