Resources Futures in Africa Partner Convening

Context: Africa at the Epicentre of a Global Contest

The intensifying global race for critical minerals has repositioned Africa from a traditionally resource-rich continent into a strategic epicentre of twenty-first century geopolitics. As nations transition toward clean energy, digitalisation, and advanced defence technologies, the minerals required to power these shifts have become instruments of national security and geopolitical competition.

Africa’s mineral endowment places it at the centre of this shifting landscape. The Democratic Republic of the Congo supplies the majority of the world’s cobalt. Southern Africa holds 95% of global platinum group metal (PGM) reserves. Zimbabwe holds the largest lithium reserves on the continent. Manganese, rare earth elements, graphite, copper, and bauxite are distributed across Central, East, West, and Southern Africa. These resources have drawn renewed and intensifying attention from the United States, China, the European Union, Russia, India, Japan, South Korea, and Gulf States — each seeking to secure supply chains that underpin their industrial and strategic futures.

At the same time, Africa faces acute internal challenges. Weak governance, conflict dynamics, illicit extraction networks, and the persistent legacy of colonial economic structures continue to undermine development outcomes. Mining activities impose environmental and social costs — displacement, pollution, labour abuses, and the destruction of community livelihoods — without commensurate benefits reaching those most affected. The continent’s leverage is real, but so is its vulnerability.

The RFA Convening: Rationale and Objectives

The Resources Futures in Africa (RFA) Opportunity was launched in mid-2025 to support African countries in promoting just, transparent, and rights-respecting resource governance — anchored in community agency, state capacity, and Global South solidarity — capable of harnessing critical mineral wealth to drive economic transformation and sustainable development.

The May 2026 Partner Convening was designed to strengthen cohesion between partner organisations, promote an ecosystem approach to Africa’s prosperity and sovereignty, and establish clear groupings of partners at global, regional, and national levels. Its three opportunity goals — optimising economic linkages, enhancing human rights and environmental stewardship, and strengthening community voice and ownership — provided the analytical framework for all sessions.

Over four days, participants moved through the following thematic arc: the geopolitical context and South-South solidarity; reparative human rights economies and community resistance; Africa-China partnerships; and an analytical session on critical gaps and early signs of success.