The Africities 2018 Summit in Morocco Will Specially Focus on Youth

TechInAfrica – The Africities 2018 Summit will be held on November 20-14, 2018 in Marrakesh, Marroco. It will be the 8^th edition of the event and under the theme: “The transition towards sustainable cities and territories: The role of Local and Sub-national governments of Africa.” The event is the top event of the pan-African Organization United Cities and Local Government of Africa (UCLG Africa) (www.UCLGa.org). The event is held every three years which takes place in one of the five regions of Africa.

The event to be organized by the Kingdom of Morocco, UCLG Africa, as well as the Moroccan Association of Presidents of Municipal Councils (AMPCC). The event will be attended by over 5,000 participants represented by all the African local life stakeholders and their partners from other regions: The Ministers of local governments, The Ministers of housing and urban development, public service, finance, leaders, and city officials and subnational government, the business sector representatives, civil society organizations and trade unions and many more. This year’s event will be focusing more on the youth.

BEES 55, a solidarity network will be joined the event as the focus is on the youth. It focuses on creating jobs and developing entrepreneurs, as well as organizing the Youth Forum-Creative ab. Not only BEES 55 will be joining and supporting the event, it is ensured that UN-Habitat—Safer Cities Program and UNESCO—Science, Technology, and Innovation also give their support.

A competition launches set to the event with its aims to gather ideas to accelerate the transition towards sustainable cities and territories in Africa continent. It also targets the main Global Agendas; United Nations’ 2030 agenda to implement Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), African Union’s 2063 agenda for the realization of “The Africa We Want,” as well as five priorities (High Five) of African Development Bank to accelerate its implementation. The main purposes are to find suitable strategies in order to improve Africans’ lives and unite the continent.

The young Africans who compete in the event aged from 15 to 3, either from African countries or Africans in the Diaspora. The competition targets to select 20 young Africans who also will be invited to the 2018 Africities Summit. The winners will also join a Creativity Lab that consists of a Cartoon Camp Challenge and a Virtual Reality Contest. The main topic will be: Imagine a sustainable future for Africa and its cities and territories, in 2030 and 2063. The selected winners who later will join the Creative Young Innovators Lab have to work during the first 4 days of the Africities event. Their duties will be:

The Cartoon Camp Challenge: assist the participants to have the future innovative mindset. As the main purpose of the event is to promote innovation project, these young Africans are encouraged to build their dreams. The Cartoon Camp persuades participants to think about smart cities and economies as the solution to improve a living standard of Africans without losing their African values.

The Virtual Reality Contest will host a hackathon competition where participants are encouraged to conceptualize, create, and plan prototypes of IT solution to accelerate the transition in sustainable cities and African territories. They set their priorities on energy solutions, food security, access to sanitary service and water, waste management and valorization, development and maintenance of infrastructure for transportation, mobility and communication, tourism, culture and heritage, education, health systems, and many other suitable solutions for African areas.

They will select qualified prototypes and submit it to the Africities 2018 delegates. The selection will choose three of the best projects from Creative Lab, Virtual Reality Category. They will process the submission during the Award Ceremony at the closing ceremony of Gala Dinner on November 24, 2018. They will select the top 3 for each category of the Africities Young Innovators where each of them will receive: 5,000 euros, 3,000 euros, and 3,000 euros. The first winner of each category will participate in a one-year mentoring program so that they can develop their project. They will provide them with assistance from senior professionals who will be chosen by organizers. It’s time for youth to take the lead to make solutions for the better African continent.

Submit your candidate registration form by sending a 4-page of storyboard contains your ideas with a support of illustrations, including plans, diagram, virtual images, drawings, IT tools, etc., based on what category you want to participate in; Cartoon Camp of Virtual Reality. Submit your storyboard and illustrations no later than September 30, 2018, at 17:00 GMT.

The selected Jury will announce the results of the competition on October 15, 2018