ADS2021: Day Eleven

The High-level conversation on “Human Capital: culture and heritage unleashing the potential, organized as part of the 2021 Africa Dialogue Series, offers valuable insights into the role of culture in unleashing human potential.

Despite Africa’s wealth and diversity, the continent's human capital has neither been fully harnessed nor meaningfully incorporated into development strategies. In this conversation, experts discuss the historical roots of the current situation and prerequisites necessary for Africa to unleash the potential of this rich human capital. The conversations also highlights the importance of the UNESCO’s Cultural Conventions and African Union frameworks and strategies as drivers for sustainable development, the renewal of the curriculum and educational systems at different implementation levels, the link between cultural heritage and sustainable development, the use and teaching of languages as being of strategic importance for the development of societies; and the role of new actors like the diaspora, the youth, local communities and African civil society organizations (CSOs) in all aspects of Africa’s development. All of this shall be done through the scope of the various cultural conventions and working instruments that the continent and its partners have adopted over the years.