ASIS to address Africa’s financing gap at UNGA 2026

The Africa Social Impact Summit (ASIS) will take its discussion on Africa’s development financing gap to the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York this month, with a focus on mobilising capital and partnerships to support sustainable development across the continent.

The Africa Social Impact Summit Global Action Forum will bring together investors, policymakers, development institutions, philanthropists, businesses and social impact organisations to examine ways of unlocking resources for Africa’s development priorities.

The forum, themed “Financing Africa’s Future: Mobilising Capital, Strategic Partnerships and Collective Giving for Sustainable Development”, will focus on the financing gap and how different sources of capital can be deployed to support inclusive growth and long-term development. It will also include measures to unlock domestic and international capital, de-risk investments, strengthen social impact ecosystems and scale solutions that produce measurable outcomes.

Chief Executive Officer of Sterling One Foundation, Olapeju Ibekwe, said Africa needed to develop partnerships and financial instruments that could help address its financing challenges.

“The Africa Social Impact Summit has always been about moving beyond dialogue to catalysing action. Our presence at the United Nations General Assembly offers an opportunity to bring Africa’s priorities, innovations and solutions into the global conversation and connect them with the capital and partnerships needed to scale impact. We must move beyond discussing Africa’s financing gap to building the partnerships, financial instruments and investment pathways to help close it. Africa must be positioned not simply as a recipient of capital, but as an active partner in shaping and driving solutions for sustainable development.”

The forum will also examine how governments, businesses, development finance institutions, investors, philanthropies and civil society can work together to unlock additional sources of capital and support the expansion of development solutions.

Chief of Strategic Partnerships at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr Mariarosa Cutillo, said strategic collaboration was necessary to ensure that resources were directed towards sustainable development outcomes.

“Achieving sustainable development requires more than resources; it requires the right partnerships to mobilise, align and deploy those resources where they can deliver the greatest impact. Strategic collaboration across governments, development institutions, the private sector, philanthropy and civil society is essential to advancing inclusive development and ensuring that investments translate into meaningful outcomes for people and communities. The Global Action Forum provides an important platform to strengthen these partnerships, catalyse collective action and advance innovative approaches to financing Africa’s development priorities.”

Emil Ekiyor, CEO and Founder of InnoPower Global, said stronger alignment between capital, policy and innovation was needed to scale locally developed solutions.

“Africa has no shortage of ideas, entrepreneurs and locally developed solutions capable of addressing some of the continent’s most pressing challenges. What we need is stronger alignment between capital, policy and innovation to move these solutions from potential to scale. The Global Action Forum provides an important platform to connect African innovators and solution-builders with the investors, institutions and strategic partners needed to unlock sustainable growth and create meaningful impact.”

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