Strengthening Africa’s Bargaining Power – ISCA – International Security Conference on Africa (ISCA) is an international non-governmental organization dedicated to fostering dialogue, collaboration and actionable solutions to address security challenges across the African continent.

Strengthening Africa's Bargaining Power

ISCA 2025 Conference

Dr. Nathalie Delapalme, CEO of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation to the left and Her Excellency Louise Mushikiwabo, Secretary General of La Francophonie to the right

The high-level panel “Strengthening the Bargaining Power in Africa,” brought together African and international leaders to interrogate the continent’s potential and persistent challenges in shaping global decision-making. Featuring Her Excellency Louise Mushikiwabo (Secretary General of La Francophonie) and Dr. Nathalie Delapalme (CEO of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation), the discussion examined economic, institutional, and social levers for transforming Africa from a peripheral recipient to a substantive rule-maker in world affairs.

Dr. Nathalie Delapalme

CEO of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation

Dr. Delapalme opened the discussion by situating Africa’s contemporary bargaining power in a world that has evolved sharply since the post-World War II order was created. The continent, once wrongly seen as dependent, now commands demographic and resource power amid shared global vulnerabilities from pandemics to inequality. Delapalme argued that global challenges now demand global solutions, and Africa is indispensable to such answers.

Her Excellency Louise Mushikiwabo

Secretary General of La Francophonie

H.E. Mushikiwabo stressed that African states must take initiative: “Africa must take its place, the place that is rightfully hers.” Despite increased African visibility in multilateral forums, real progress remains hindered by internal and external factors. Chief among them is the lack of a consistently articulated and unified African interest. Mushikiwabo insisted that while achieving consensus across 54 countries is complex, the few occasions when African unity was achieved—such as the successful bid for the Director-General of WHO—demonstrate its effectiveness.

Delapalme pushed the debate further, noting that mere representation (such as new seats in the G20 or the UN) is insufficient unless African actors can sustain a common position and follow through with strategic, organized advocacy. Fragmentation and lack of follow-through dilute Africa’s collective strength on the global stage.

Both panelists critiqued the limitations of the post-war multilateral system, dominated by entrenched powers and systematic vetoes. They emphasized that Africa should diversify its partnerships, engage actively within multilayered forms of multilateralism (BRICS, La Francophonie, ASEAN, etc.), and adapt with agility to the proliferation of shifting international coalitions. Mushikiwabo described the evolution from fixed alliances to “successive coalitions” as both a challenge and an opportunity for a young, dynamic continent.

Examples from the Ebola and Covid-19 crises illustrated how African governments, private sector, and diaspora can rapidly mobilize coalitions, pool expertise, and negotiate effectively with international actors—underscoring that capacity and innovation exist when collective will is present. The need to extend these approaches to broader fields—such as digital regulation and debt relief—was identified as the next frontier.

The panel underscored that Africa’s path to enhanced bargaining power lies in sustained unity, agile engagement, pragmatic coalition-building, and resolute self-confidence. Rather than waiting for external validation or transformation of global structures, African actors must leverage existing strengths, identify mutual interests, and bring disciplined, methodical follow through to international advocacy. Echoing the words of the panelists: Africa, with a third of the world’s population and resources by century’s end, must move assertively from observer to architect of the rules that shape a shared future.