Summit Program
Three days of ministerial roundtables, plenary sessions, breakout sessions, training sessions, and exhibitions focused on energy transformation and economic reform in Africa.
- Total Sessions
- 28
- Think Tank Leaders
- +150
- Thematic Tracks
- 6
Day 1 — From Tools to Transformation: Building the Foundations for Energy Reform
28 October 2026
Closed-door statutory meeting of ACBF's governance bodies, running in parallel with the opening day. Attendance is by invitation only; the main Summit programme continues for all other delegates.
Knowledge Sharing Session A — Addressing Key Regulatory Challenges in the African Energy Sector
Regulatory measures for universal access, efficient use of generation resources, and attracting private investment across the electricity supply chain. Delivered by the African School of Regulation (ASR).
- Utility Viability
- Power Sector Reform
Knowledge Sharing Session B — Energy Data, Evidence, and Policy Use: Tools for Think Tanks and Researchers
Hands-on work with energy data systems and open data platforms to turn research evidence into real-world policy decisions. Delivered by the ATTP Secretariat.
- Financing
- Utility Viability
Roundtable 1 — Mission 300 Country Compacts: Translating Pledges into Connections
Country delegations and partners assess Mission 300 Compact implementation, share early lessons, and link reforms, institutional capacity, and financing. Hosted by the World Bank and AfDB/ACBF.
- Financing
- Keynote Plenary
Roundtable 2 — Powering Africa's Trade Transformation: Think Tank Insights on AfCFTA Implementation
African think tank research on AfCFTA implementation and how energy underpins trade, industrialization, mobility, and regional value chains. Hosted by ACBF's CADAST Project.
- AfCFTA Implementation
- Industrialization
Roundtable 3 — From Energy Access to Export Competitiveness: Insights from the 2026 Africa Export Competitiveness Report
How reliable, affordable, sustainable energy enhances industrial competitiveness, value addition, and export diversification. Hosted by ACBF, Institute for Competitiveness India & Shift Impact Africa.
- Industrialization
- AfCFTA Implementation
Policy Dialogue 1 — Unlocking Capital for Women-Centered Climate Solutions: Philanthropy and Clean Cooking
Gender-responsive financing for clean cooking at scale in Sub-Saharan Africa, with peer exchange on demand-side interventions. Hosted by the WINGS Network.
- Financing
- Leadership Dialogue
Policy Dialogue 2 — Reform Design and Stakeholder Engagement for Power Sector Change
Practical tools for reform sequencing: building political coalitions, engaging utilities, and designing participatory reform processes. Delivered by the Africa-Europe Foundation.
- Power Sector Reform
- Leadership Dialogue
Policy Dialogue 3 — Blended Finance and Guarantees for African Energy Infrastructure
Guarantee instruments, de-risking tools, and blended finance structures for Sub-Saharan Africa's infrastructure gap, with a FAGACE co-financing case study. Hosted by FAGACE and GSF Global Advisors.
- Financing
Policy Dialogue 4 — From Institutional Strengthening to Economic Transformation: Climate Adaptation and Productive Energy for Resilient Food Systems
How stronger African institutions deliver climate adaptation and productive-energy solutions for resilient food systems, drawing on the SALCA program. Hosted by the ACBF Climate and Energy Unit.
- Industrialization
- Leadership Dialogue
Special Session 1 — Domestic Financing for Public Systems: Lessons from Tobacco Control for Sustainable Reform
How domestic revenue mobilization and earmarking create fiscal space for public systems and energy reform, drawing on tobacco-control experience from Benin, Côte d'Ivoire and Kenya. Hosted by the ACBF Tobacco Control Program.
- Financing
Special Session 2 — Energy Subsidy Reform: Building Fiscal Space While Protecting the Vulnerable
African experiences with energy subsidy reform — implementation challenges, success factors, and strategies to improve fiscal sustainability while protecting vulnerable populations. Hosted by the ACBF SPARI Program.
- Power Sector Reform
- Financing
Special Session 3 — Building the Next Generation of Agribusiness Institutions: IAPA's Journey in Energy-Enabled Agribusiness Transformation
How agribusiness institutions turn energy investments into productive outcomes through enterprise development, skills, technology, and market integration, featuring the IAPA case. Hosted by ACBF (ABF/GIZ).
- Industrialization
Day 2 — Powering Transformation: Leadership, Finance, and the Politics of Energy Reform
29 October 2026
Opening Ceremony — Official Opening of the 2026 Africa Think Tank Summit
Welcome by the host government, addresses by co-conveners, keynote, and cultural moment, with simultaneous webcast for virtual participants.
- Official Ceremony
- Ministerial
Ministers' Roundtable — Political Leadership for Power Sector Reform: Challenges, Trade-offs, and Accountability
Energy and finance ministers discuss the political economy of power sector reform under the Chatham House Rule — tariffs, utility governance, fiscal sustainability, and regional markets.
- Ministerial
- Power Sector Reform
Panel Discussion 1 — Africa Think Tank Leaders Forum: Who Owns Africa's Energy Transformation Agenda?
Leading policy research institutions examine how think tanks can move from research outputs to strategic actors in energy policy design, reform, investment, and accountability.
- Leadership Dialogue
Panel Discussion 2 — Financing Energy Transformation in a Debt-Constrained Context
Beyond 'more concessional money' — governance and structural reforms that unlock existing capital, plus currency risk, sovereign risk, and AU continental financial institutions (AIB, ACB, AMF).
- Financing
From Evidence to Energy Access: Emerging Findings from the ATTP Project Research Consortia
The three ATTP research consortia (ERF, APHRC, ACET) present preliminary findings on energy, economic transformation, and governance, with structured feedback from a policy respondent panel.
- Keynote Plenary
Breakout A — Utility Viability, Regulation, and Power Sector Governance
Links between utility financial viability, regulatory credibility, and governance — cost recovery, regulatory independence, consumer protection, and turnaround management.
- Utility Viability
- Power Sector Reform
Breakout B — Inclusive Energy Transition: Clean Cooking, Gender, and Decentralized Solutions
Demand-side solutions, gender equity in energy access, and off-grid and mini-grid innovation, co-facilitated by a senior practitioner and a young innovator.
- Leadership Dialogue
Informal evening gathering for delegates to connect over refreshments, with a short cultural programme. Open to all registered participants.
Day 3 — From Commitments to Delivery: Consolidating Action for Impact
30 October 2026
Policy Clinic — From Energy Access to Productive Use: Policy Choices for Industrial Transformation
Interactive expert clinic on three real policy challenges of using energy to drive industrialization, jobs, and productive use, with emphasis on firm-level productivity. Hosted by the Ministry of Energy, Water and Mines, Benin.
- Industrialization
Interactive Lab — From Policy Commitments to Implementation: Reform Sequencing, State Capability, and Accountability
Participants solve a reform-sequencing challenge on a simulated composite African economy, focusing on delivery capacity, coordination, and measurable accountability. Hosted by the International Institute for Sustainable Transition in Africa.
- Power Sector Reform
Peer-Learning Roundtable — Utility Turnaround Stories: What Worked, What Didn't, and What It Took
Selected utilities with measurable reform progress share unscripted accounts of what drove change and what nearly derailed it, in a conversation format with visiting delegations.
- Utility Viability
- Power Sector Reform
Keynote Plenary — Regional Power Pools and Cross-Border Electricity Trade: From Potential to Implementation
The political economy of regional integration in the power sector — financing transmission corridors, regulatory harmonization, and cross-border renewables — opening with live data on intra-African power trade.
- Keynote Plenary
Youth Rapid-Fire Solutions — Scaling African Innovations for Energy Access, Productive Use and Clean Cooking
Four young Beninese innovators (under 30) each pitch a 3-minute energy-access or clean-cooking solution; the audience votes, with the winner announced at the closing ceremony. Hosted by the City of Cotonou.
- Leadership Dialogue
Launch of New Initiatives & Signing of MoUs
Formal unveiling of a flagship report and new platforms, and the signing of an ACBF–REPAIR/ARC Ltd Memorandum of Understanding.
- Official Ceremony
Closing Action Dialogue — The Cotonou Action Agenda on Energy and Transformation
Presentation and formal adoption of the Summit Communiqué — the Cotonou Action Agenda — with follow-up milestones, a core set of measurable indicators, and the youth innovation award.
- Official Ceremony
- Leadership Dialogue
Official Closing Ceremony — Summit Declaration & ATTS 2027 Handover
Closing addresses from co-conveners and the host government, the official closing declaration, and the ceremonial handover of the ATTS 2027 flag to the designated host country.
- Official Ceremony