In the midst of the prevailing global disorder and 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 to advance continental priorities and shape global norms.
In a shifting multipolar landscape, Africa’s greatest asset is the capacity of its people to organise, lead and define their own development. Yet, despite broad consensus on local ownership, dependence on external funding persists, limiting genuine agency. This consensus needs to be translated 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. Such actors 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, mobilise resources and implement locally grounded solutions.
Resourcing African agency starts with having real control over reliable, locally generated resources. For instance, initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Area and New Partnership for Africa’s Development—now implemented through African Union Development Agency—are presented as African-led. However, in practice they operate within a web of external funding, technical support and institutional influence. As organisations such as the Millennium Challenge Corporation, Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, and Deutsche Gesellschaft für International Zusammenarbeit that support such African-led initiatives often do so on terms and priorities.
This influence goes beyond funding. It shows up in how systems for decision-making are designed, how public policies are shaped and even who sits at the table. Over time, this creates a situation where African initiatives remain African in name but are partly shaped by external actors in how they 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 mobilisation. When African governments increase internally generated revenue through improved tax systems, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and development banks, they can finance regional programmes themselves This breeds better outcomes rather than relying primarily on external partners. Consequently, if continental initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Area are funded largely through African fiscal resources, governments and regional institutions gain greater freedom to prioritise 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 and the African Export-Import Bank can finance infrastructure and facilitate regional trade systems through industrial development projects. Such a mechanism can support the implementation of AfCFTA without 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 are encouraged to actively participate in trade corridors and manufacturing enclaves, it boosts domestic capacity and agency. This can be achieved through their participation in logistics systems and digital platforms linked to the AfCFTA,. Also, they can help drive policy demand from within the continent rather than relying on externally designed programmes.
Local knowledge production and policy research. African universities, think tanks and research institutions should be adequately financed and supported to generate the contextually relevant analytical frameworks that informs policy making. As it stands, heavy reliance on externally funded research by these institutions such as the African Leadership Centre (ALC) and Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) dispossesses African governments of intellectual leadership over development strategies. For instance, the African Union and the African Union Development Agency should fund the production of local research and data through these institutions and universities, to inform the design and implementation of continental programs.
Finally, cross-sector domestic partnerships are important. Ensuring stronger collaboration among African governments, civil society organisations, businesses and research institutions can build locally rooted policy coalitions that shape priorities collectively. These partnerships can strengthen accountability and ensure that development agendas reflect the needs of African communities rather than the influence of external funding cycles.
Essentially, embedding continental policy making and implementation within African societies and institutions, resources and sustains African agency at the minimum. 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 organisations provide the platforms through which policies are discussed, contested and legitimised, while also enabling citizens to hold power to account. 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 can help create the intellectual infrastructure that African societies need to shape their own development paths. This helps to resource and sustain agency out of the abundance of ideas. In this sense, institutions are not only administrative structures, but spaces where collective agency takes shape to help societies critically think and act about their own futures.
The third dimension of resourcing African agency lies in the leadership of the continents’ young people. Statistics from multiple sources suggest Africa is home to the youngest population. Indications from these data sources and research publications are that their ideas, ambitions and creativity is shaping the continent’s political, economic and technological trajectories. And the futures of communities of peoples for many decades yet to come.
Yet youth leadership is often discussed more than it is nurtured. While young Africans are frequently celebrated for their innovation and dynamism in arts, technology and innovation amongst others, many still face structural barriers that limit their ability to participate fully in the socioeconomic reproduction of goods and services, and decision-making processes.
Empowering the next generation requires more than symbolic inclusion. It demands investments in the kind of education systems that cultivate critical thinking, creativity, and progressive civic engagement. It requires mentorship opportunities that connect 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 the continent, from rapid urbanisation to climate change, will require bold ideas and long-term vision. Young leaders are therefore uniquely positioned to bring both. And for African policy actors, investing in youth leadership means recognising 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 for investing in the peoples, institutions, and ideas of the continent. This begins by African public intellectuals and policy actors realizing that exercising substantive agency within the international system comes alive when local communities have the autonomy and support needed 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 themselves define the priorities, design the solutions, and lead the transformations that will shape the continent 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.
Ambassador Cece Mazoka is the Zambian High Commissioner in the United Kingdom and co-hosted the African Public Square debate at the African Leadership Centre, King’s College London.
This influence goes beyond funding. It shows up in how systems for decision-making are designed, how public policies are shaped and even who sits at the table. Over time, this creates a situation where African initiatives remain African in name but are partly shaped by external actors in how they function
