3rd African Roundtable

Collaborative Practices for Sustainable Partnerships,
for networks of Christian schools in Africa.

An initiative of ACSI

Nearly 120 delegates from 29 countries on four continents, including 20 African nations from West, East, Central and Southern Africa were included in this event. One-third of the delegates being French-speaking, the African Round Table, like the two previous ones, was bilingual. The three Round Tables (2007, 2012 and 2018) were organized on the initiative of ACSI-Africa and with the operational support of the South African ACSI office. Gavin Brettenny, Director of Strategic Development, was the primary coordinator. Unlike a traditional conference, a Round Table is about sharing, deliberation and mutual agreement on objectives, procedures and projects.

The 6 plenary sessions and 11 roundtable discussions focused on this issue:

What are the partnership practices for sustainable development of Christian schools networks in Africa?

The resolutions of the presentations and the sharing are summarized in the "Declaration of the 3rd African Round Table", available on www.acsiafrica.org. Present at this event were many Christian NGOs and international partners engaged in the promotion, support and development of Christian school education on the continent, including: Compassion International (SEL) (USA-FR), EduDeo (Ca), Woord en Daad (NL), TeachBeyond (USA, D, F), SIM and SIL Missions (Int.), Pacific Hills (AUS), Classrooms for Africa, Gateway School Trust (ZIM).

The majority of African nations now have a network or national association of Christian schools, including the four ACSI offices: Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Uganda and South Africa. Given the strategic impact as advocates or spokespersons at national and international levels, these networks and associations of schools want to consolidate or undertake new partnerships according to the principles and values ​​defined during this Round Table. These guidelines are based on Christian ethics and practices and want to be of benefit to all parties. As Dr. Samson Makhado, Honorary Director of ACSI Africa, said:

"Africa and the global South need the North to deepen their roots, and the most advanced countries need Africa to revitalize their joy. "

This is a call for the establishment of win-win and committed partnerships for the quantitative and qualitative development of Christian schools in Africa.