High-Level Dialogue: Re-imagining Democracy in Africa

AGENDA

DAY 1 - 19 June 2025

Opening Session

• Dr Kevin Casas-Zamora, Secretary-General, International IDEA
• Mr Marino Cuenat, Deputy Head of Mission at Switzerland’s Embassy to South Africa
• Dr Chukuemeka Eze, Director, Democratic Futures in Africa, Open Society Foundations
• Ms Thandi Moraka, Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Repbulic of South Africa

Keynote address: HE Dr Abdalla Hamdok, former Prime Minister of Sudan; and former Deputy Executive Secretary of United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

Session 2: Democracy retrenchment and new forms of democracy in the Global South

Lead Speaker: Professor Retselisitsoe Phooko, Faculty of Law, University of Fort Hare

• Professor Bruno P.W. Reis, Federal University of Minas Gerais and President of the Brazilian Political Science
  Association
• Dr Norshahril Saat, Senior Fellow, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute (Singapore)
• Ikram Ben Said, Tunisian feminist, Co-Founder and Co-President of New Visions
• Professor Nkata Murungi, Director, The Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria

Moderator: Dr Roba D Sharamo, Regional Director, Africa and West Asia, International IDEA

Session 3: Democracy and Development: Lessons from the Global South

• Dr McBride Nkhalamba, Director for Governance and Specialised Reporting, African Peer Review Mechanism
• Dr Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian, Director, Department of Social Inclusion, Organization of American States (OAS)
• Amb Diar Nurbintoro, Director, Non-Aligned Movement Centre for South-South Technical Cooperation (SSTC)
• Dr Sithembile Mbete, Executive Director, Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI), Senior Lecturer at the Department of Political Sciences, University of Pretoria
• Mr Fadel Barro, Civic activist, Afrikki Mwinda, Senegal

Moderator: Professor Kula Ishmael Theletsane, Director of the Organ on Politics, Defense and Security Affairs, SADC

Session 4: Comparative Experiences on the Quality of Institutional Representation (Supra-national, national and locally)

• Honourable Thoko Didiza, Speaker of the National Assembly, South Africa
• Ms Indira Rana, Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Federal Parliament of Nepal
• Chief Fortune Charumbira, President, Pan-African Parliament (PAP)
• Dr Rasheed Draman, Executive Director, African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA)

Moderator: Honorable Dithapelo Lefoko Keorapetse, Speaker of the National Assembly, Botswana

DAY 2 - 20 June 2025

Session 5: Reclaiming the Social Contract: Civic Participation, Development Justice, and Democratic Renewal

• Kholood Khair, Women Rights Activist Sudan, Founder of Confluence Advisory
• Marisol García Apagüeño, President, President, Federation of Kichwa Indigenous Peoples of Chazuta Amazonas (Fepikecha), Member of the Board of Directors of the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Jungle (AIDESEP), Peru
• Gift Ostallos Siziba, Alumni and co-facilitator for the Obama Foundations for Africa 20204-25 cohort; Alumnus of the Mandela Washington Fellowship; and former Member of Parliament in Zimbabwe
• Sandun Thudugala, Head of Programs, Law and Society Trust, Sri Lanka

Moderator: Dr Hesphina Rukato, Africa Director, Crisis Action; former Deputy CEO for NEPAD; former Deputy Chief of Staff of the AUC; Author of Future Africa: Prospects for Democracy and Development

Session 6: Comparative Experiences on Strengthening Electoral Democracy

• Mr Mosotho Moepya, Chairperson, Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa
• Hon Justice Robert Limo, Judiciary Elections Committee (Kenya)
• Norma Irene De La Cruz Magaña, Councillor, El Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE) Mexico
• Mbali Ntuli, former politician and Executive Director of Mbali, Cape Town, South Africa
• Robert Gerenge, Regional Advisor, Elections, UNDP Bureau for Africa

Moderator: Olufunto Akinduro, Senior Adviser, Electoral Processes, Africa and West Asia, International IDEA

Session 7: Comparative Experiences on Democratic Transitions in the Global South

• Professor Flávia Biroli, Institute of Political Science, University of Brasília
• Professor Ursula van Beek, Director of the Centre for Research on Democracy at Stellenbosch University
• Ikhtisad Ahmed, Managing Director, Netra News, Bangladesh
• Dr Thomas Ouedraogo, Executive Director, Centre pour la Gourvernance Démocratique, Burkina Faso

Moderator: Cynthia Chigwenya, former Africa Youth Ambassador for Peace (AYAP)

Session 8: Democracy in the Future: Shaping Influences

• Dr Marit Kitaw, former Interim Director of the African Minerals Development Centre (AMDC), currently in charge of
  the minerals’ portfolio at UN-ECA
• Ann Makena Kobia, Climate Change Expert, Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA)
• Mr Ousmane Maiga, Spécialiste Renforcement Capacités & Innovations, Association des jeunes pour la citoyenneté active et la démocratie (AJCAD) Mali
• Samson Itodo, Executive Director, Yiaga Africa, Member of IDEA Board of Advisors and Member of the AU Advisory
  Group on AI

Moderator: Gram Matenga, Regional Head of Programmes, Africa and West Asia, International IDEA

Session 9: Pretoria Consensus: Reading of the of the communique

Ms Mpule Kgets, African Union Youth Ambassador for Peace (AYAP), Southern Africa Region

Session 10: Closing ceremony

Moderator: Ms. Nthabiseng Malefane, Acting Chief Director, Human Rights & Humanitarian Affairs

The Pretoria Consensus

As one of the results of this event, the participants agreed to share The Pretoria Consensus, with key elements discussed in each session.