Building Futures With Critical Thinking, Creativity & Curiosity | Reflections from UNGA80
A month ago, a Kenyan woman posted a short video (this was reposted to X) which went viral.
She suggested (with evidence) that Africans do not plan far into the future because we have never had to navigate long winters. The clip drew a week of commentary — some thoughtful, and quite much of it racist.
Yet it struck a deeper chord: how do we, as Africans, plan for decades — not just seasons — especially in a rapidly changing world?
This question followed me into New York for the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (#UNGA80) — a gathering that also marked 30 years of the World Programme of Action for Youth (WPAY30). I joined conversations on digital finance, the future of work and AI, multiple intergenerational dialogues, and I moderated the Africa Regional Youth Forum on Energy & Just Transition.
UN 2.0
Eighty years after its founding, the United Nations stands at a profound crossroads. Born in the ashes of world war to preserve peace and rebuild shattered economies, the UN has evolved into the most wide-reaching multilateral platform on earth — stewarding peacekeeping, humanitarian response, climate agreements, and the Sustainable Development Goals. Yet the world it was built for no longer exists. Geopolitical power has shifted; the Global South now represents the majority of humanity, youth make up the fastest-growing population bloc, and technology is reshaping economies faster than policy can keep pace. The UN’s traditional pillars — peace and security, development, and human rights — remain essential, but the methods through which they are pursued often reflect the post-colonial hierarchies of the mid-20th century rather than the demands of a multipolar, digital, climate-strained era.
At the same time, the UN is experimenting with a new vision it calls UN 2.0 — an institution rebuilt for speed, inclusion, and foresight. It is investing in what the Secretary-General calls a “quintet of change”: data, digital transformation, innovation, strategic foresight, and behavioral science. These shifts matter because the stakes could not be higher. Climate deadlines are closing, artificial intelligence is rewriting work and governance, and half the planet’s population — young people in Africa and Asia — are still fighting to be seen as architects, not afterthoughts. How the UN evolves now will determine whether multilateralism remains a living engine for equity and shared prosperity, or a relic of a bygone order.
UNGA80
Across rooms and roundtables, the same themes kept surfacing for me — and I believe these are some of the pillars of the UN 2.0 the world urgently needs:
1. From Representation to Real Power
The UN has achieved a great deal in 80 years: it has prevented wars, coordinated humanitarian relief, advanced gender equality, and created shared goals like the SDGs.
But many Global South and youth voices remain symbolic. True decolonization means moving from being invited to speak to being able to set the agenda, influence budgets, and lead implementation.
2. Critical Thinking, Creativity & Curiosity
In nearly every room, I returned to these three words: critical thinking, creativity, curiosity.
AI will transform work completely. We must be honest about that and map a way forward, not try to regulate our way back to an old world. Innovation is not the enemy; it is the opportunity. But it only works for good if we engage our minds fully and meet reality as it is — not as we wish it to be.
3. Investment and Colonial Legacies
If we want an autonomous Africa, we must face history. Aid and private investment still follow colonial-era patterns: short-term, extractive, risk-averse.
The question must be asked every time capital flows south: How does this build long-term, self-sustaining systems?
Supporting MSMEs and startups with new business models is vital. This is the work we are attempting with Bien Corporation and Q2 Corporation — designing financing and technology that help communities own their futures.
4. Rethinking Education
One of colonialism’s lingering legacies is the way we invest in schooling. We have trained armies of public administrators while leaving few true builders.
The result: big governments with little productive infrastructure, dependent on donors.
We need to finance entrepreneurial, technical, and business education that grows industries and creates jobs — not just bureaucracy.
5. Who Gets a Seat at the Table?
I am grateful for programmes like the UNDP Graduate Programme, which gave professionals from underrepresented countries a path into global development. But too often the pathways end there.
Decolonizing means not just inviting talent — but creating clear routes to stay, grow, and influence.
6. From Policy-Rich to Action-Poor
In 2022 I supported the UNDP Independent Country Programme Evaluation (ICPE) for Malawi.
One key finding was blunt: Malawi is policy-rich and implementation-poor.
Many nations share this story — beautiful strategies, little execution.
UN 2.0 must focus on implementation, measurable change, and accountability, not only on producing new documents.
7. A Sense of Urgency
In 1900, global life expectancy was just 32 years. If I had been born then, I might have only two more years to live — and yet I would already have made my mark.
Today, young people are told to wait until 60 to matter. We cannot afford that. Time is running out for climate, for food systems, for fair digital futures.
We must build like every year counts.
8. What the UN Means to Me
For me, the UN is still a symbol of hope and a practical partner. It gave me early platforms — from the UNDP Graduate Programme to global youth dialogues.
But hope must evolve into shared power: not aid, but autonomy; not token seats, but decision-making space.
9. A Call to Leaders and Young Africans
- To world leaders: Invest boldly in youth-led innovation. Fund curiosity, creativity and critical thinking. Move beyond short election cycles — build for generations.
- To Africa’s youth: Do not wait for permission. Build, question, design, and claim your place now.
- To the UN: Be brave enough to decolonize. Move from representation to shared power; from aid to autonomy.
Lessons (Upcoming Book Series – 6th July, 2026)
If there is one thread running through my time at UNGA80, it is that the systems shaping our lives are at a breaking point — and yet they remain deeply resistant to change. This is partly why I am writing The Lessons Series: seven books that examine the invisible forces keeping nations like mine locked in cycles of dependence, and imagine what true transformation might look like.
Lessons.
Beggars in Suits.
Systemic Nonsense.
Impossible Economies.
So Wrong for So Long.
We Are Still at War.
A New Normal.
Each title asks hard questions about power, capital, and imagination — and how we move from inherited systems to futures built on critical thinking, creativity, and curiosity. My hope is that, just as the UN reimagines itself for a new era, this series will help a new generation confront uncomfortable truths, reclaim agency, and design structures that finally work for the Global South — not as an afterthought, but as an equal architect of the world to come.
Read my Published Books:
If you’d like to go deeper into my journey — from Malawi, through the United Nations to Microsoft, you can find it in my books:
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