Vance Center’s Africa Initiatives Hosts Partners at UNGA81 Side Events

Vance Center Africa Initiatives Director Adaobi Egboka and other panelists at the Democracy Futures Dialogue at the New York City Bar Association, September 21, 2026. Photo credit: Vance Center

Democracy Futures Dialogue

UNGA81 Plenary Edition

On September 21, the Vance Center co-hosted “Democracy Futures Dialogue: UNGA81 Plenary Edition,” with client Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI) and Partnerships for Integrity.

The Dialogue is KDI’s flagship international policy platform for advancing conversations on democratic governance. This year’s edition brought together more than 100 policymakers, civil society representatives, technology experts, legal practitioners, and others for two hybrid panels.

The first panel, “Democracy at a Turning Point: Navigating Disruption and Its Implications,” assessed the state of global democratization and identified factors contributing to the recent trend of democratic backsliding.

Dr. Matthew Ayibakuro, Governance Advisor to the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office in Nigeria, moderated a discussion with Dr. Joseph Sany, Former USIP Africa Director at the United States Institute of Peace, and Caitlin Dearing Scott, Director of Global Initiatives & Countering Foreign Authoritarian Influence at the International Republican Institute.

The trio examined how geopolitical shifts, physical displacement, civic space constriction, technological disruption and other forces are actively reshaping—and, at times, eroding—democracy and democratic participation. Panelists identified the establishment and maintenance of trustworthy, transparent domestic democratic institutions as a critical element in the fight against both domestic and foreign authoritarian influence.

“It’s so easy for authoritarians to dismiss democracy because there only has to be one flaw in it,” noted Scott.

“Our challenge,” Dr. Sany added, “is to design institutions that are grounded, legitimate, and effective.”

Vance Center Africa Initiatives Director Adaobi Egboka moderates a panel at the Democracy Futures Dialogue at the New York City Bar Association, September 21, 2026. Photo credit: Vance Center

Vance Center Africa Initiatives Director Adaobi Egboka moderated the Dialogue’s second panel, entitled “From Disruption to Delivery: Restoring Trust and Building Resilient Democratic Institutions.” The conversation featured insights from Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh, Senior Associate for Africa and Senior Adviser to the President at National Democratic Institute (NDI); Bonolo Makgale, Democracy and Civic Engagement Unit Program Manager at the University of Pretoria’s Centre for Human Rights, and Witney Schneidman, Nonresident Senior Fellow at Brookings Global Economy and Development, Africa Growth Initiative.

This conversation explored how democratic institutions can respond to and fortify themselves against disruptive forces, protect human rights, and create opportunities for meaningful democratic participation.

“Democratic resilience is not simply about creating stronger institutions,” Egboka stated. “It’s also about ensuring that institutions themselves remain legitimate in the eyes of the people that they serve.”

Dr. Fomunyoh reminded attendees that “democracy is all about people.” He asserted that democratic space is better protected when citizens are directly engaged as active stakeholders and not just latent beneficiaries. From Moldova to Malawi, “people power” has enabled citizens to stand up and speak out against autocratic, oppressive, or otherwise unwanted governance structures.

Makgale extended the people-centered narrative, asserting that democratic institutions should focus not only on good governance, but on promoting an economic ethic that supports society’s substantive needs.

“A democracy that satisfies procedural checklists, but leaves citizens hungry, unequal, and unsafe, has not in any meaningful way fulfilled its promises,” she said. When conversations about safeguarding democracy approach it as both an economic and governance issue, then the intersectional rights of citizens are more likely to be considered and protected.

Schneidman focused on the value of horizontal coalition building between civil society organizations (CSOs) and the private sector. He noted that CSOs should not view companies only as a source of resources, but as a “source of policy, and as a source of partnership and economic development” from which resources can also flow. He emphasized that dialogue with civil society can help facilitate the existing efforts of some companies to be “good corporate citizens.”

Technical Policy Lab

Later in the week, the partner organizations convened a closed-door Technical Policy Lab with a small group of stakeholders representing civil society and tech, legal, digital content moderation, and policy sectors to build on the themes of the Democracy Futures Dialogue.

The technical session explored the legal, institutional, and policy implications of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies on democratic governance in the region.

The technical lab aimed to address how AI is shaping and informing the political and information environment in African countries, focusing on key issue areas including election integrity, civic space and human rights, and regulatory safeguards for deploying technologies. The discussion covered a wide range of topics, from the ethical considerations of developers creating these systems to the duties of governments and third parties in regulation and governance, to civil society’s role in monitoring abuse and misuse.

Discussants agreed that cross-sectoral collaboration is essential to a symbiotic future in which AI tools support democratization, rather than impede or erode it. Organizers and participants are drawing on the outcomes of the lab to develop a set of standards for safeguarding democracy and human rights in the face of ongoing AI innovation and development, and plan to share them with the public.

Data Governance and Economic Growth in Africa

The Africa Initiatives team also participated in a side event, “Rethinking Data Governance as a Driver of Digital Economic Growth in Africa and Other Emerging Markets,” co-hosted by the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA) and Eval, in partnership with Africa Policy Conversations (AfPC).

L-R: CSEA Executive Director Dr. Chukwuka Onyekwena, Vance Center Africa Initiatives Director Adaobi Egboka, and Eval co-founders Chinenye Uwanaka and Anna Mortara during “Rethinking Data Governance as a Driver of Digital Economic Growth in Africa and Other Emerging Markets,” held at the New York City Bar Association, September 24, 2026. Photo credit: Dwain Johnson

Vance Center Africa Initiatives Director Adaobi Egboka spoke on a panel examining data governance structures in Africa. She joined CSEA Executive Director Dr. Chukwuka Onyekwena and Research Director Dr. Adedeji Adeniran, as well as Bala Yusuf Yunusa, Senior Technical Advisor to the Office of the Senior Special Advisor to the President on SDGs; Rob Floyd, Director of the Transformation Design Hub at the African Center for Economic Transformation; and Dr. Lizzy Ulunma Asomugha, Head of Department for General Studies and Centre Leader of the Centre of Excellence for Gender, Technology and Sustainability Development at the African University of Science and Technology.

The panel explored current data governance practices in Africa, including important considerations around upholding digital rights, opportunities for economic transformation, and institutional preparedness to keep pace with technological advancement, particularly developments in AI.

Egboka’s remarks focused on the importance of integrating human rights protection and promotion into the fabric of data governance frameworks. Drawing from the Vance Center’s recent work on digital technology systems in multiple African countries, she highlighted gaps between existing laws and effective implementation, particularly around surveillance, procurement, transparency and accountability.

She pointed to the risks that poorly designed digital protection frameworks could undermine digital rights and other rights. If lawmakers fail to incorporate actionable accountability safeguards into data collection and usage laws, she warned, they will end up with legislation that looks effective on paper but is toothless in practice.

“Human rights should not be treated as an obstacle to innovation, or something that comes after technology has been deployed,” she said. “Accountability has to begin much earlier, in the law, in procurement, in the design of systems, and in the institutions responsible for overseeing them.”

The afternoon event covered discussions of other regional and international data governance topics, including Global South strategies for creating rights-responsive digital public infrastructure, and how a participatory, inclusive approach to developing AI tools can contribute to economic development.

Participants in “Rethinking Data Governance as a Driver of Digital Economic Growth in Africa and Other Emerging Markets,” at the New York City Bar Association, September 24, 2026. Photo credit: Dwain Johnson