The Berlin Summit on African Youth Education & Development

"Establishing a Sustainable Educational System Infrastructure and Professional Development Programs in Africa"

(Berlin; January 13th - 16th, 2015)
The Summit is under the Patronage of H.E. the Hon. Rui Duarte de Barros, Former Prime minister of Guinea - Bissau (2012-14)

Summit Overview

For decades, it is already a consensus amongst the development community that the single most important ingredient to assure development success is education. Over the past decade, significant progress has been made in the field of education, and many African countries are making significant headway in the struggle to realize the Millennium Development Goal of achieving universal primary education. Since the turn of the Millennium, enrollment in secondary education has more than doubled and the net enrollment rate in primary education now stands at just other three-quarters of the child population.

It is therefore vital that access to high quality educational opportunities be increased and improved across the African continent at the level of primary, secondary and higher education. The more opportunities that exist to access primary, secondary and higher education as well as the better the quality of the education, the more success the country will have on all fronts, and in particular the economic front.


Summit Agenda

The Berlin Summit on African Youth Education & Development will take place in Abuja over a period of three days and will be designed as a professional expo to enable all of the key stakeholders from the field of education to come together to analyze, assess and discuss the development of education and professional development opportunities in Africa. The Summit will bring together high level politicians, senior diplomats and academics together with experts in the field and will include high level stakeholders from the field of education and the African private sector to discuss central issues and potential solutions regarding social development, educational systems and developing career opportunities in Africa.

The Summit will include a mixture of keynote addresses, lectures, presentations, and interactive workshops. The format of the conference will enable participants to present their initiatives and programs, in order to further promote their own initiatives and programs and to foster greater cooperation in the field. At its conclusion, the Summit will publish a report based on the lectures, proposals and suggestions from all speakers and participants, which will be published and delivered to the international community. This report will include the key information presented and document educational and professional opportunities presented in the framework of the Summit.



Conference Locations

Based in Berlin, the conference will be hosted at a number of important political, historic, and cultural locations across the city.


Summit Speakers & Delegates

Speakers and delegates during the conferences will include, among others, heads of state and leading politicians, chief diplomats, leading governmental officials, senior academics, renowned authors, journalists, and celebrated artists. These speakers will include a large number of individuals from the ICD Advisory Board. To learn more about the ICD Advisory Board, please click here.


Summit Participants

Participation in the conference is open to governmental & diplomatic officials, academics, artists, journalists, civil society practitioners, private sector representatives, young professionals and students as well as other interested individuals from across the world.

If you would like to reserve a position and participate in the conference, please click on the link below and fill out the online application form:

Certificate of Attendance

All conference participants will be awarded an official certificate of attendance upon completion of the program, which will provide details of the speakers who took part and the topics discussed. Each certificate will be signed by members of the Conference Committee.


Participant Papers »

The Conference Committee encourages academic research and analysis of issues related to the goals of the Conference. The Conference Committee would therefore like to welcome the participants of the conference to submit a paper they would like to be considered for presentation at the conference as well as being included in the proposal document that will be issued following the conference and will be sent to all governments and leaders of the international community worldwide.


Sustainable Network »

During the program participants will have a number of opportunities to network with one another, with the speakers, and with ICD Board Members and partners. Conference participants will become part of the ICD Alumni, a growing international network of people of diverse interests and backgrounds from around the world who share a commitment to intercultural exchange. Members of the ICD Alumni Group will benefit from the following opportunities: Alumni online forum, Advisory Board Networking, ICD support for individual Leadership Initiatives, free access to all ICD research, videos and photos as well as other event documentation. Participants will be able to remain in touch with each other through the ICD Networks. (more)