How Africa can claim the respect it deserves globally

By Galiwango Henry

Between October 28 and 30, 2025, I participated in the International Conference and Training Workshop on “Food Systems Transformation for Climate Actions” (ICTW-FSTCA 2025) at Makerere University.

The event brought together scholars and professors from Asia, Africa and Europe-including participants from Pakistan, Egypt, Iran, Somalia, Nigeria and West Africa-to discuss the intersection of climate change, food systems and sustainable development.

Yet as presentation after presentation unfolded, I was struck by how frequently Africa was cited as the epicentre of global food insecurity.

Charts and reports painted the continent as synonymous with hunger, poor governance and environmental degradation. While the data was often accurate, it was also incomplete and seemed more skewed to criticism than constructivism.

I felt compelled to remind the audience that Africa is more than the sum of its statistics; it is  a continent of ingenuity, endurance and unexploited potential.

Numbers are not enough to describe us

According to the Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s 2024 Index of African Governance, nearly half of Africa’s population lives in countries where governance indicators have declined over the past decade.

The Daily Monitor (June 2024) reported that persistent data droughts continue to frustrate national planning, while an Afrobarometer survey (May 2024) estimated that more than 400 million Africans still lack access to safe water.

Similarly, the IMF Regional Economic Outlook (April 2025) projected that Sub-Saharan Africa’s per-capita income growth would remain the slowest in the world, at around 3.6 percent. These are sobering facts, but they are only half the truth.

What is often overlooked is that Africa also holds 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land, hosts one of the fastest-growing youth populations on earth and is witnessing rapid technological diffusion.

These are not statistics of despair but of possibility. The challenge is to move from seeing ourselves as victims of circumstance to actors of transformation.

Mindset, education and afro-centric leadership

Every major economic miracle began with a change in mindset. Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew once observed that national progress began “when we believed we could succeed.” Africa must rediscover such belief.

As Nelson Mandela reminded us, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” The question now is whether African education is being used to change Africa itself.

Students and scholars must think Afro-centrically i.e. rooting research in African realities and possibilities rather than external prescriptions. Our PhD work should not end in the library but in the field, the laboratory and the community.

Agricultural research must focus on local soil and climate systems; engineering on indigenous materials and renewable energy; and social sciences on African governance patterns rather than borrowed models.

A re-orientation of purpose among Africa’s intellectuals is critical. Research that uplifts Africa is as valuable as research that critiques it.

According to the African Development Bank (2025), the continent requires over $170 billion annually to close its infrastructure gap, yet progress is visible.

Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway, Rwanda’s green-urban projects and Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery demonstrate what political will can achieve. The FAO’s 2024 State of Food and Agriculture Report highlights encouraging trends in mechanization and youth agripreneurship.

In Uganda, climate-smart agriculture initiatives and digital advisory platforms are connecting farmers to weather data and input markets. Tanzania continues to expand irrigation and solar post-harvest technologies.

The WHO Africa Regional Outlook 2023 records gains in immunization and maternal health alongside a growing capacity for local vaccine production.

These examples reveal a continent moving even though not fast enough, perhaps, but undeniably forward. They should inspire confidence rather than defeatism.

Kofi Annan once said, “Good governance and right leadership will be decisive in charting Africa’s future.” Leadership here is not limited to presidents and ministers; it includes researchers, journalists, teachers and innovators who influence how Africans think about themselves.

Media, academia and the psychology of progress

The African media remains a crucial front line in this struggle for perception. Daily Nation (Kenya), The Citizen (Tanzania), the Daily Monitor and New Vision (Uganda), the Addis Fortune (Ethiopia) and The Vanguard (Nigeria) all have the power to shape how citizens understand their continent.

It is necessary to expose corruption, but it is equally vital to highlight progress.

A story about Ugandan engineers developing low-cost irrigation pumps, or Kenyan start-ups exporting fintech products to Asia, may not trend globally but it builds the quiet confidence that fuels transformation. Universities and think-tanks must complement this by generating African knowledge for African realities.

A farmer deep in Tharaka Nithi (Kenya), Bugesera (Rwanda) or Luwero (Uganda) may NOT crave for AI as their basic requirement for production but physical and economic access to good inputs, good roads linking to markets and a reliable market for their corn of sweet potato.

The contextual realities are what is missing in many of the African settings.

The collaboration I witnessed at Makerere where African and Asian researchers exchanged lessons on climate-resilient food systems showed how cross-regional learning can happen without Africa losing its voice. The continent must lead its own conversations.

The way forward

Africa’s greatest transformation will not begin with foreign aid but with faith in ourselves. Our students must see Africa as their opportunity, not their escape. Our PhD holders must publish work that informs policy, industry and community solutions.

Our governments must invest in science, technology, infrastructure and agriculture with discipline and foresight. And our media must continuously remind the world (and ourselves) that Africa is not merely surviving; it is striving, adapting and advancing.

The story of Africa is still being written and it will be written best by Africans who believe in its promise. As Mandela said, “It always seems impossible until it is done.” It is time to believe and to do.

Galiwango Henry is a PhD Fellow in Agricultural and Rural Innovations at Makerere University and an Assistant Lecturer at the School of Education, Makerere University. He is also a consultant with Kilimo Trust, a regional NGO across East Africa.  [email protected]