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The YAAC network, in collaboration with the DAAD Alumni Network, organised the workshop “A Green and Resilient Africa” in Dakar, bringing together nearly 40 young people, experts and partners committed to agroecological and energy transition in Africa.
A working session, not a conference
The format was deliberate: small groups, concrete cases, and enough time to disagree. Participants worked through what a just transition actually requires when the starting point is a country where energy access is still uneven and agricultural livelihoods dominate.
Threads that ran through the day
- Transition cannot mean austerity. Any pathway that asks young Africans to consume less of what they never had will fail politically before it fails technically.
- Skills are the bottleneck. Technology transfer without training transfers dependency.
- Alumni networks matter. People who have studied abroad and returned are a bridge between funding ecosystems and field realities.
The workshop closed with participants mapping which of their own projects could be linked, and where YAAC could act as connector rather than implementer.