The Africa Social Impact Summit (ASIS) stands as a beacon of hope and collaborative action in addressing the pressing challenges facing the African continent, particularly the escalating climate crisis. Co-convened by the United Nations in Nigeria and the Sterling One Foundation, the summit has rapidly evolved into a powerful platform for fostering regional development and driving impactful solutions. With a focus on harnessing local expertise and ingenuity, ASIS empowers African institutions to lead the charge in tackling climate change and other critical development issues while simultaneously engaging global partners to support these efforts through investment, policy reform, and unwavering commitment.
The urgency of ASIS’s mission is underscored by the devastating consequences of climate change already being felt across Africa. Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and environmental degradation are jeopardizing decades of development progress, displacing communities, disrupting essential services like education and healthcare, and undermining economic stability. However, the summit’s organizers firmly believe that enduring solutions must originate from the communities most directly affected by these challenges. By providing a space for African voices to be heard and for locally-driven solutions to be showcased, ASIS aims to shift the paradigm of development assistance from a top-down approach to one that prioritizes African agency and ownership.
Since its inception in 2022, ASIS has experienced remarkable growth, reflecting the increasing recognition of its value and potential. Beginning with eight founding partners, the summit now boasts a coalition of over 40 institutions spanning diverse sectors, including climate action, healthcare, education, finance, governance, and digital inclusion. This expansion underscores the growing momentum behind the summit’s collaborative approach, bringing together a diverse range of stakeholders to address complex challenges in a holistic and integrated manner. The summit’s ability to convene such a broad spectrum of actors signifies its growing influence and its capacity to drive meaningful change.
The core objective of ASIS extends beyond mere convening; it is about catalyzing tangible action and achieving measurable impact. The summit serves as a dynamic platform for mobilizing capital, influencing policy, and propelling African-led solutions to the forefront of the global development agenda. Through collaborative efforts and strategic partnerships forged at the summit, over $100 million in funding has already been unlocked, demonstrating the potential of ASIS to translate dialogue into concrete action. This impressive achievement underscores the summit’s commitment to systems thinking, partnership building, and prioritizing Africa’s development priorities in global conversations.
This year’s summit, themed “Scaling Action: Bold Solutions for Climate Resilience and Policy Innovation,” highlights the critical need for scalable and innovative approaches to address the climate crisis. Recognizing that the climate crisis poses an existential threat to Africa’s development trajectory, ASIS 2024 seeks to accelerate the implementation of bold solutions that enhance climate resilience and promote sustainable development. The summit’s focus on policy innovation underscores the importance of creating enabling environments that support climate action and facilitate the transition to a low-carbon future. By bringing together key stakeholders from government, civil society, the private sector, and academia, ASIS aims to foster dialogue and collaboration that will drive transformative change.
The private sector plays a crucial role in the ASIS journey, recognizing that sustainable development and economic growth are intrinsically linked. Sterling Bank, a strategic partner of ASIS since its inception, exemplifies this commitment. As global development funding becomes increasingly constrained, the private sector’s engagement in driving scalable solutions becomes even more critical. Sterling Bank’s involvement reflects a belief that impact investing is not merely a peripheral activity but a core component of building resilient economies and fostering inclusive growth. By partnering with ASIS, the private sector demonstrates its commitment to aligning its business objectives with the broader development agenda, recognizing that investing in sustainable development is not only a social responsibility but also a sound business strategy. This collaboration between the public and private sectors is essential for achieving the ambitious goals set forth by the summit and for creating a more sustainable and prosperous future for Africa.
