About the Youth Forum

Creating a Vision for the Africa that we want to see

The architecture of all Africities Summits aims to address major questions based on the construction of the 2063 Vision of Africa with debate proposed by the African Union Commission.
From November 20 -24, 2018, the Africities 8 Summit will be hosted in Marrakesh, with over 5000 participants. The latter will represent all the stakeholders of African local life as well as their partners from other regions of the world: ministers in charge of local governments; ministers in charge of housing and urban development; ministers of public service; local authorities and local elected officials; officials of local and central administrations; civil society organizations, associations and trade unions; economic operators of the public and private sectors as well as of the social/ solidarity economy; traditional rulers; researchers and academics; and international cooperation agencies.

The Africities 8 Exhibition will host between 400 – 500 exhibitors.

The Africities Summit pursues two major objectives:

  • Defining appropriate shared strategies in order to improve the living conditions of people at the local level

  • Contribute to the integration, peace and unity of Africa starting from the grassroots.

Africities 8 Marrakesh Logo

The 2018 Africities Summit Youth Forum is a platform developed by UCLG Africa to explore the potential of the young population of Africa to better participate and contribute in the Africities debates, and be involved in, and support the transition towards sustainable cities and territories in Africa, as well as the realization of Agenda 2030 of the United Nations for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); Agenda 2063 of the African Union for the realization of “The Africa we Want”, and of the five priorities (High Five) proposed by the African Development Bank to accelerate its implementation, namely: Light up & Power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa, Integrate Africa, Improve the quality of life in Africa. The 2018 Africities Summit Youth Forum is also meant to facilitate and strengthen greater interaction between African youth and the leadership of Africa (ministers, leaders and officials of city and subnational governments) present at the 2018 Africities Summit.

In the framework of the 2018 Africities Summit Youth Forum, this competition will be opened to young Africans in order to harvest as many ideas as possible to accelerate the transition towards sustainable cities and territories in Africa, targeting the two horizons of 2030 and 2063.

The Youth Forum is open to young Africans aged between 15 and 35, from Africa and from the Diaspora. The competition aims at selecting 20 young Africans that will be invited free of charge at the 2018 Africities Summit where they will participate in a Creativity Lab consisting of a Cartoon Camp Challenge and a Virtual Reality Contest, around the topic of “IMAGINE A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FOR AFRICA AND ITS CITIES AND TERRITORIES, IN 2030 AND 2063”.

The 20 young Africans selected to participate in the Creative Young Innovators Lab will work during 4 days (from 20 to 23 November 2018) in:

  1. The Cartoon Camp Challenge, in view of helping the participants to project themselves into the future. The Cartoon Camp promotes a mindset conducive to innovation. Building dreams is at the root of any innovation project. The Cartoon Camp will create an innovation-friendly environment that facilitates the transformation of good ideas into useful products and services to support the transition towards sustainable cities and territories in Africa at the 2030 horizon and at the 2063 horizon.

The Cartoon Camp will help the youth to think about smart cities and smart economies based on African values and producing an adequate standard of living for Africans. The Cartoon Camp will allow young people to think about Africa with all its imperfections and all its qualities and to suggest solutions inspired by local know-how but also by new technologies. Projects may concern: § the organization of city systems in different countries or the continent as a whole; § spatial Planning or organization of a particular city in a certain country; § the proposal of types of construction, buildings, housing, equipment, street furniture or any other product, highlighting the inclusion in a dynamic of sustainable development taking into account the latest technological developments and the respect for the most fundamental African values.

  1. The Virtual Reality Contest that will consist of a hackathon competition. Participants will conceptualize, create and plan prototypes of IT solutions to speed up the transition towards sustainable cities and territories in Africa, with a priority given to the following areas:
    1. energy solutions
    2. food security
    3. access to water and sanitation services, waste management and waste valorisation
    4. development and maintenance of infrastructure for transport, mobility and telecommunication
    5. tourism, culture and heritage
    6. education
    7. health systems
    8. other solutions…

The qualified prototypes will then be submitted to the Africities 2018 delegates for the designation of the 3 best projects of the Creative Lab, Virtual Reality Category, during the AWARD Ceremony of the closing Gala Dinner on 24 November 2018.