Africa Day Indaba 2026

Africa Day Indaba 2026 Australasia and the Pacific | 23 May 2026

About the event

Africa Day is commemorated on 25 May each year. This annual celebration marks the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now the African Union (AU), and serves as an important occasion to raise awareness about Pan-African ideals, African history and help shape the continent’s journey towards socio-economic and political development.

The AU theme for 2026 is Assuring Sustainable Water Availability and Safe Sanitation Systems to Achieve the Goals of Agenda 2063. Despite progress, millions of people in Africa still lack access to water, this an important theme, however, we decided to focus on the theme of Parenting Between Cultures: Raising African Children in the Diaspora.

The inclusion of older people in the conversation allows younger generations to learn, appraise and critique African practices from an informed position, while at the same time allowing older people to learn from the young.

An indaba is one of Africa's group conversation techniques (it is also a method of research). Indaba is about sharing news, ideas and solutions, in large or small groups. The essence of an indaba is to have as many people share and contribute to the discussion. In an indaba, we look back, in the present and into the future, a reflective process called Sankofa, that is looking into the past to inform the present and to shape the future. An indaba values voices of elders and griots, and use of names of respect, African dress, cuisine and languages. During the indaba participants are encouraged to put on an African attire, use their name of respect, use their protocols and speak with or use words from your language.