The Rise of Afro-Optimism
Ivor is a South African Industrialist and Philanthropist with a passion for Africa and its people.
In his foundation, he carries forward a long family tradition of innovation, entrepreneurship and community engagement.
It is this background that drives his commitment to the development of young people through educational, environmental and cultural initiatives.
Advancing and building the institutions and practice of democracy
Promoting personal, communal, and corporate best practice in matters affecting the environment
Creation of the AFRICAN ORAL HISTORY ARCHIVE, a heritage portal designed to create a history that will be accessible in perpetuity.
OPINION
July 18, 2021
South Africa is bleeding. Thirty years ago, the doomsayers were waiting for it to happen at any moment. The country’s different groups would turn on each other, they said. The slaughter would be unlike anything that had ever been witnessed. The infrastructure would be destroyed.
But it never happened. Instead, the world looked on dumbfounded as—in Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s immortal phrase—the “rainbow nation” was born.
Recently, South Africans across the country’s nine provinces and all over the world watched as the rainbow seemed to evaporate like the myth that the cynics and the skeptics have always claimed it was. Thousands of people descended on shopping centers, making off with everything from essential foodstuffs to luxury items. Entire shopping centers were burnt to the ground after looters ransacked them, before leaving with cases of alcohol in a country where the sale had been prohibited to stop the spread of the third wave of COVID-19 and prevent the compromised public health sector from being totally overwhelmed.
OPINION
March, 2021
CURRENT AFFAIRS
July 17, 2021
CURRENT AFFAIRS
March 12, 2021
Enough polls of young people and a few examples of democratic practices hint that Africans may be demanding better governance.
The people of Niger live in a sweltering sandscape on the southern reaches of the Sahara known as the Sahel. The country is surrounded by neighbors with overlapping Islamist insurgencies. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have streamed across its borders in recent years. Hundreds of thousands of its own people are internally displaced by fighting between extremists and the military. Agriculture, the backbone of its economy, is at risk from climate change.
OPINION
March 6, 2021
CURRENT AFFAIRS
November, 2020
CURRENT AFFAIRS
December 2, 2020
Johannesburg, South Africa. 3 December 2020. On the backdrop of increased fighting across Mozambique’s North between government forces and ISIL-linked terrorist groups, coupled with continued insurgency throughout Lake Chad and West Africa’s Sahel, a recent multinational study indicates that Africa’s youth sees terrorism as one of the biggest threats facing the future of the continent.
CURRENT AFFAIRS
October 30, 2020
With the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election just days away, results from a sweeping multinational survey suggest that young Africans are acutely aware of and appreciate the influence the United States asserts on the continent, with 74% of the 4,200 (aged 18-24) polled from across 14 sub-Saharan African nations citing that the United States regularly impacts modern-day African affairs and 83% suggesting that influence is positive.
CURRENT AFFAIRS
September 15, 2020
On the International Day of Democracy, results from a multinational survey suggest that sub-Saharan Africa’s young people are startlingly, evenly split – 48% – 48% – divided over whether democracy or stability (economically stable, one-party states) is more important for the future well-being of the continent. The study reveals that political failure and subsequently high levels of disillusionment in governance to bring about necessary change bodes the potential to make this generation vulnerable to autocracy.
PRESS RELEASE
September 2, 2020
CURRENT AFFAIRS
July 17, 2020
CURRENT AFFAIRS
July 14, 2020
PRESS RELEASE
July 17, 2020
CURRENT AFFAIRS
June 16, 2020
CURRENT AFFAIRS
June 25, 2020
CURRENT AFFAIRS
June 16, 2020
Pan-African Youth Survey of 14 Sub-Saharan countries reveals South African youth to be inclusive, racially conscious, pro-environment and concerned about politics, equality, land reforms, immigration
PRESS RELEASE
May 25, 2020
Johannesburg, South Africa, May 25th, 2020 – While Africa Day (May 25th), the official day of the African Union (AU) marking intercontinental unity, takes place solemnly in 2020 on the backdrop of the continued outbreak of COVID-19 (coronavirus), a recent study of Africa’s youth has showcased continent-wide resiliency, institutional trust, cohesion and collective ‘Afro-Optimism’ in facing the challenges ahead.
Inside
Africa
CURRENT AFFAIRS
May 3, 2020
PRESS RELEASE
April 21, 2020
PRESS RELEASE
April 22, 2020
PRESS RELEASE
February 20, 2020
Largest of its kind Youth Survey reveals rising Afro-Optimism and Afro-Capability driven by entrepreneurship, post-colonial mindset, digital technologies and shared African identity
OPINION
© Copyright 2017 Ichikowitz Family Foundation
