On the 25th May, a good number gathered for Africa Day in Helsinki. True to its spirit, we celebrated the coming together of Africans in the diaspora and friends. The official theme for the day, as was set by the African Union, was the Year of Acceleration of the African Continental Free Trade Area Implementation. This was reframed for the Helsinki celebration as “The Year of Accelerating Collaboration and Trade” to put it into the context of Finland where collaboration among the African diaspora focused organisations is accelerating.
Last year four organisations came together and this year, 13 organisations took on the mantle of implementing Africa Day in Finland, including Think Africa. The event which was started by Afaes ry and UPF Finland about 10 years ago has grown to welcome several organisations to celebrate the event in a big style, to implement collaboration as called for by the theme.
I was honored to have been asked to give the keynote speech. In it, I highlighted two areas where I saw the accelerated collaboration within the African diaspora being beneficial: innovation and advocacy.
Innovation: It is said two brains are better than one. Through the exchange of ideas and willingness to collaborate we would be able to create solutions that meet the needs of many. We would partner with each other more to build bigger enterprises. I reminded the audience that we are lucky to be in Finland – a country that values innovation, and challenged us to use the resources available in Finland to create solutions, build projects, and businesses together. This will contribute to the economic power of the diaspora in Finland.
Advocacy: People of African background constitute 1% of the Finnish population and it will only increase. That is a number that cannot be ignored. Through strengthened collaboration, I stressed that we can address many issues that affect people of African background nationwide, whether at the political or socio-economic level.
The event was a nice mix of performances and highlighted a few countries through food, performances, exhibitions, and fashion show, all brought together by the organizers: Afaes ry, EarthAngels of Finland, Finnish-South African Society, Finnish-African Society ry, Finnish Morocco Association Smyky RY, Heed Finland ry, Suomi-Namibia Seura, Suomi-Tansania Seura, SahWira Africa International, The Sierra Leone’s Consulate Planning Office, Think Africa, WODESS ry and YEPP ry.
The celebration also showed strong support and collaboration between civil societies and the five African Embassies in Finland. Four of which were also part of a panel of guests, including a Ministry for Foreign Affairs representative, who discussed the theme African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) as a Catalyst for Finnish Trade with Africa.
Here is a look into the wonderful event that it was, in pictures on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn
Written by:
Myriam Munezero, Former Chairperson of Think Africa ry
