Africa’s Agenda 2063 documents the rights-based sustainable development vision shared by all Member States of the African Union: to unlock the full potential of the continent’s greatest wealth – its people – through the realisation of their rights, so that they may establish and sustain peaceful, inclusive and prosperous families, communities and countries. Realising this vision depends on ensuring that every person, especially the most vulnerable and excluded, have agency, that is, the knowledge, power, capacity and opportunity to fulfil their responsibilities as actively engaged citizens.

Member States have committed to achieving sustainable development of the continent by investing in measures that will develop the agency of all – especially the most marginalised – to participate in social, economic and political processes, which is key to lasting personal and national development.

Moving forward, children are the custodians of this long-term vision. Therefore, achieving and sustaining development depends on the meaningful engagement of children now as responsible, active citizens, and in the future as responsible parents, workers and taxpayers, employers, political leaders and administrators of capable, developmental states. It is their civic responsibility to drive and sustain inclusive development, economic prosperity, social justice, peace and good governance, and sustainable environments. If they do not, any gains made will be short-lived and the vision of Agenda 2063 will not be realised.

Sustainable development therefore requires that all children have the agency – the knowledge, skills, capacities and opportunities, as well as the associated rights – necessary to fulfil their civic responsibilities. All relevant sustainable development instruments recognise children as the custodians of the continent’s vision, and that children can only be agents of change if empowered to do so.

They therefore call on Member States to strengthen their education systems to provide universal, quality, inclusive education to all children – especially the most marginalised and vulnerable – to build the required knowledge, competencies and capacities to fulfil their civic responsibilities; in other words, to provide education for developing agency. It is therefore a rights-based, sustainable development imperative that all education systems be strengthened to provide inclusive, quality education to develop the agency of all children.