Welcome to the Ubuntu Action Group!
The African continent has the fastest-growing youth population globally, with 70% under 30.
The significance of this young generation is compounded by the daunting aspects of the present and future: climate change and its impacts, political and societal volatility, and increasing economic insecurity.
In this context, what will happen in Africa will largely influence what happens with humankind in the next century. This presents African youth with the significant opportunity to catalyse a global transformation.
Defining Ubuntu
“I am who I am because of the people around me” in isiXhosa - one of the 12 official languages of South Africa. This simple but profound word means that we are interconnected and intertwined with each other.
Purpose
This group creates a cross-generational community of changemakers across Africa, looking into how to reinvent our individual and collective futures – enveloped in the ethos of Ubuntu.
The Ubuntu Action Group is an intergenerational solidarity movement aimed at promoting the conditions to revolutionise education access, learning for sustainability, social innovation and developing 21st century competencies - led by the world’s youngest continent.
The Ubuntu Learning Circle, an initiative of the LearningPlanet Alliance and Club of Rome, unites passionate individuals committed to reshaping learning and sustainability with the ethos of Ubuntu at its core.
From 2021 to 2023, we discussed environmental sustainability, equitable education access, lifelong learning, and 21st-century competencies. The African Youth Reinventing the Future session in 2023 marked a shift from dialogue to tangible actions. As LearningPlanet expanded, we transitioned from Circles to focused Action Groups, solidifying our commitment to on-the-ground impact.
The Ubuntu Learning Circle and our vibrant 250+ member community continues to foster dialogue, collaboration, and community-building across the African continent. This is still showcased at key events, notably the annual LearningPlanet Festival.
About us
This group is a community of practice. Co-founded by The Club of Rome and the LearningPlanet Alliance, it brings together a small circle of committed actors who are already active in local learning and sustainability led initiatives across the African continent to:
Tackle African challenges
Address African challenges to accessing education from African contexts and cultures, reshaping solutions based in “modernization” and “development” models conceived within a colonial mindset;
Honour indigenous African wisdom
Learn from indigenous African wisdom (Ubuntu, Ukama, Omenala, Iwa, Suban, Bumuntu and other concepts and practices) to nurture modern knowledge and reconcile it with how life works;
Create learning opportunities
Create the conditions for the emergence of African processes of inquiry and learning, opening many pathways towards place-based equitable human well-being within a healthy biosphere.
Our actions in this group are to:
Break the digital divide
Improve education access, breaking the ‘digital divide‘.
Advocate for youth, by youth
Advocate and empower Ubuntu-centred ways of learning, prioritising indigenous learning practices and cross-generational knowledge transfers.
“Failure to be bold in our dreams & imagination is what has kept Africa where it is. Let’s be bold – the bolder the better!”
Dr. Mamphela Ramphele, Co-President of The Club of Rome, during the 2023 LearningPlanet Festival
Our projects
Ubuntu Learning Charter
Our Ubuntu Learning Charter, made at the genesis of this group, was presented during the LearningPlanet Festival 2022’s Learning for Sustainability event hosted by the LearningPlanet Alliance and The Club of Rome.
Read the CharterAfrik-Akili Declaration
This was followed by The Afrik-Akili Declaration, launched by The Club of Rome.Read the DeclarationWatch the VideoThe Fifth Element
Ubuntu is housed within the The Fifth Element .
Visit the Website
