Foundation story
“Humanity through Unity”: Dr. Gnaka Lagoke brings Ubuntu to the Addis Ababa summit
At the World Public Summit: Africa, Dr. Lagoke joined international discussions on economic consciousness, Pan-Africanism and Ubuntu’s place in shaping a more humane common future.
- Place
- Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Summit
- July 29–30, 2026
- Published
Addis Ababa brought together public leaders, scholars, diplomats and civil-society voices around a central question: what values should guide Africa’s contribution to a shared global future? For Dr. Gnaka Lagoke, Ubuntu belonged at the heart of that conversation.
A forum for Africa’s voice
The World Public Summit: Africa, titled “New World: Africa in Shaping a Common Future,” convened at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. The World Peoples Assembly’s official account records more than 700 participants from 51 countries and presents Ubuntu—“I am because we are”—as a foundation for shared responsibility and peaceful cooperation.
Economic consciousness and Pan-Africanism
GlobUs reports that Dr. Lagoke contributed to the concept “Economic Consciousness: The Missing Horizon of Pan-Africanism” and spoke during a meeting of the Scientific Expert Council of the World Peoples Assembly. His contribution placed economic development within a wider human framework: progress must also strengthen dignity, responsibility and relationships among people.
“Africa’s voice for a new world based on humanistic values is becoming increasingly vocal.”
Dr. Gnaka Lagoke, as quoted by GlobUs
This perspective connects Ubuntu to a contemporary Pan-African project. Institutions and economic systems matter, but they cannot stand apart from the values that hold communities together. Ubuntu offers a language for interdependence: the recognition that human flourishing is shared, and that unity carries mutual obligations.
From dialogue to a common position
The official summit account says the gathering culminated in an African Communiqué prepared in English, French, Amharic and Russian. GlobUs reports that the communiqué was adopted and emphasized value foundations associated with Ubuntu.
For the Ubuntu Philosophy Foundation, Dr. Lagoke’s participation illustrates how African philosophical traditions can inform public policy, international dialogue and practical cooperation. Ubuntu is not only a principle to discuss; it is a way to ask what progress should serve, whom it should include and how people can build it together.