AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE African diaspora will feature in this year’s edition of the Knowledge, Arts and Networking (KAN) festival, a platform where Africans from all over the world converge to deliberate on the issues of the continent.
Briefing reporters here on Monday, the festival’s Director Khalila Mbowe said the platform, which will be held virtually, will for the first time feature Africans living overseas.
“This time round, we’ll have the diaspora with us, ultimately to sustain the people’s manifesto narrative,” she explained.
Through the platform, Africans will tell the African story as envisaged in Agenda 2063, the continent’s blueprint and master plan for transforming Africa into the global powerhouse of the future, according to Ms Mbowe.
Scheduled to start on January 28 at the MS Training Centre for Development Cooperation (MS TCDC), the festival will carry the theme of The African Development Agenda: A People Emerging.
Also in store during this year’s edition will include KAN Hacks, a youth hackathon that aims to develop innovative solutions to solve a predetermined challenge, KAN Run, Kan-frica Chai and an essay competition.
“The festival has resolved to be the platform on which individual and collective commitments for development are made in alignment with the African Union (AU) agenda,” offered MS TCDC Acting Executive Director Sara Ezra Teri while fielding questions from journalists.
She further noted that the that event will provide a space where practitioners collectively explore practical ways of understanding and appreciating their roles in confronting everyday challenges while deepening their contribution to effectual development on the African continent.
The festival will feature conscious art, both visual and performing art which will speak on Africa’s rich heritage and pertinent issues that affect the continent.
According to Ms Teri, this year’s festival aims to produce the People’s Manifesto, which will serve as an individual and collective resolve of Africans from both home and beyond.
