By Bamidele Famoofo
African ministers, senior officials and development experts will gather in Ethiopia’s capital for the Twelfth Session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD-12), a high-stakes annual convening organised by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to chart the continent’s course as the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals draws dangerously close.
The Forum, running under the theme “Turning the Tide: Transformative and Coordinated Actions for the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063,” brings together thousands of participants — including government ministers, private sector leaders, youth representatives, civil society groups, academics and development partners from across Africa — in a hybrid in-person and online format. Pre-session events will run from 25 to 29 April., with the main Forum session taking place on 28-30 April.
“The stakes could hardly be higher. With fewer than five years remaining before the 2030 SDG deadline, progress across much of the continent has fallen sharply behind schedule, making this year’s session a pivotal moment for Africa to consolidate strategy and dramatically accelerate implementation. Africa cannot afford to let another year pass without decisive, coordinated action on the Goals. ARFSD-12 is not just a review exercise — it is a call to transform commitments into concrete results for the people of this continent,” says Mr. Claver Gatete, ECA Executive Secretary.
The Forum is co-organised with the African Union Commission, the African Development Bank and other UN system entities, reflecting the broad institutional coalition Africa is marshalling for its development push. Its outputs will feed directly into some of the most consequential global policy moments of 2026.
ARFSD-12 will generate Africa’s formal inputs to the UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) in New York, the 2026 UN Water Conference, the 2026 Africa Urban Forum and the 13th World Urban Forum. It will also advance Africa’s positioning on follow-up to the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, the Second World Summit for Social Development and COP30. Critically, the Forum will begin shaping the continent’s collective priorities for the post-2030 global sustainable development framework.
This year’s agenda centres on an in-depth review of five SDGs: Goal 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), Goal 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), Goal 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and Goal 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). Sub-themes are aligned with each of these goals, and the review is designed to produce actionable policy recommendations rather than declarations of intent.
A central driver of the Forum’s practical ambition is the preparation of Voluntary National Reviews. Nineteen African countries will present their VNRs at the 2026 HLPF, the largest such cohort in recent sessions, and ARFSD-12 provides the regional platform to strengthen those presentations and align them with continent-wide priorities.
Side programming adds further depth to the week’s agenda. A Knowledge Fair and Impact Labs are among the dedicated events designed to accelerate peer learning and translate rigorous analysis into practical implementation.
The Forum’s overarching theme also closely mirrors that of the 2026 HLPF : “Transformative, equitable, innovative and coordinated actions for the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs for a sustainable future for all” which is aligned with Africa’s intention to arrive at the global Forum with a unified, evidence-based voice.
