The start of this new decade in the year 2020 will go down in history as a year like no other, when the whole world was not spared from the challenges and uncertainties brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

For us at the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD, 2020 found us pre-empting the impact of the pandemic on areas such as food and health systems with early warning systems, as well focusing on the protection of the most vulnerable and marginalized people in our societies. During the year, we also latched onto our ethos of uniting with others and worked in solidarity to pursue a common African position in response to the pandemic, led by the African Union and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

One of the greatest lessons we keep learning is that Africa has no choice but to rely on its own resilience, strengths, and agility, in order to weather this current storm and many others that it faces.

In this festive season, our thoughts turn gratefully to those who have made our progress possible, our partners and stakeholders who work tirelessly with us towards the transformation of our continent. We thank you for your support as we continue to work together to improve lives on the continent. It is in this spirit that we also extend our well wishes to you for the New Year.

This year, there are also many of us who have lost loved ones. May we draw some comfort from the words of Birago Diop:

Those who are dead are not ever gone;

They are in the darkness that grows lighter

And in the darkness that grows darker.

The dead are not down in the earth;

They are in the trembling of the trees

In the groaning of the woods,

In the water that runs,

In the water that sleeps…

Listen to things

More often than beings …

Those who are dead are not ever gone.

Regards,

Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki

Chief Executive Officer

African Union Development Agency - NEPAD