Today, 9 September, we mark African Union Day, commemorating the 1999 Sirte Declaration that set in motion the process leading to the establishment of the African Union.
More than two decades later, the idea of African integration continues to evolve. Agenda 2063 imagines a prosperous, integrated and peaceful continent, driven by its own citizens and influential globally. Importantly for the cultural sector, it also envisages “an Africa with a strong cultural identity, common heritage, shared values and ethics.”
That ambition deserves attention.
Culture is sometimes treated as something that accompanies development rather than something that shapes it. Yet the languages we speak, stories we tell, music and films we produce, heritage we preserve and knowledge we pass between generations are fundamental to how Africans understand themselves and one another.
There is also an economic dimension. Africa’s cultural and creative sectors provide livelihoods, create enterprises and increasingly connect African products, stories and intellectual property to regional and international markets. For a continent with a predominantly young population, their development also raises important questions about employment, skills and opportunity.
The African Union has progressively recognised this through frameworks including the Charter for African Cultural Renaissance, the Plan of Action on Cultural and Creative Industries, Agenda 2063 and the growing place of creative industries within continental conversations on trade and development.
The challenge now is implementation.
Are cultural policies informed by reliable data? Are they adequately financed? Do the institutions responsible for culture have the capacity to implement them? Can creative businesses trade across African borders? Are creators able to protect and earn from their intellectual property? And are young Africans being given meaningful opportunities to participate in shaping the continent’s cultural future?
African Union Day is therefore an opportunity to think beyond institutions and treaties. African integration is also about people, culture, knowledge and exchange.
If we are serious about building the Africa we want, culture must have a meaningful place in how that Africa is imagined, financed and built.