ADF 2023 to examine backtracking of democracy and endless pursuit of it

It’s less than three months to go from the next edition of the Athens Democracy Forum, taking place in the Greek capital from September 27-29, 2023.

Politicians and policymakers, academics and activists, journalists and youth will be challenged to advance and discuss concrete solutions to address the most pressing issues of our time.

Athens Democracy Forum will take place under the patronage of Her Excellency The President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou.

The next Forum, organized by the Democracy & Culture Foundation in association with The New York Times, will debate, in depth, parallel trends: the backsliding of democracy and the relentless and innovative pursuit of it. The program will challenge participants to design solutions and collaborations that will power their work for the months and years ahead. 

This year’s ADF agenda includes a broad array of issues affecting democracy today:

• Case Study: China v. United States – Toward coexistence or war?
• Rethinking Security: When Threats are Invisible
• Case Study: The Future is African
• Tutorials on the Tools of Democracy
• Rethinking Climate: Flight and Fight instead of Agriculture

The cast of speakers is already set to include Jutta Urpilainen, European Commissioner for International Partnership, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, former president of Costa Rica, Dr. Benedikt Franke, Vice Chairman and CEO of the Munich Security Conference, Thomas L. Friedman, author, and New York Times columnist; Laura Thornton, Senior Vice President, Democracy, German Marshall Fund; Elhadj As Sy, the chair of the Kofi Annan Foundation board; Art O’Leary,  C.E.O. of the Electoral Commission of Ireland, and secretary to the citizens’ assemblies on biodiversity loss; Keyu Jin, associate professor of economics at the London School of Economics; Fatou Jeng, Youth Advisor to the UN Secretary General; Amos Gitai Filmmaker; Adama Sanneh, Co-Founder and C.E.O. Moleskine Foundation; Simon Reid-Henry, author and academic; to name just a few. Look out for big speaker news in our next newsletter.

This year, the Democracy & Culture Foundation is launching the Kofi Annan NextGen Democracy Prize, an award for a young leader aged between 18 and 30 years old, in association with the Kofi Annan Foundation. The aim is to recognize exceptional leadership and inspire more young people to commit to the advancement of democracy. The winner will receive an award of US$ 10,000 and a one-year mentorship with a recognized democracy expert. Each year, the winner will have the opportunity to speak at the upcoming Athens Democracy Forum and officially pass the award to the next recipient.

Namatai Kwekweza is a recipient of the Next Generation Foresight Practitioners Walkabout Prize and a fellow at the School of International Futures. She is an award-winning professional public speaker as part of Toastmasters International in Southern Africa. Kwekweza is a 24-year-old Zimbabwean pro-democracy activist and feminist with over six years of experience in community organizing, social entrepreneurship and human rights advocacy, mainly focusing on youth and women’s rights. She is a disruptive thought leader and consultant who currently serves as the director of WELEAD Trust, a youth leadership and advocacy organization that she founded in 2017 at the age of 18.

The Forum is supported by Microsoft, Climate Democracy Initiative, Arizona State University, Google, Council of Europe , EBRD, Libra Philanthropies, Lamda Development, Costa Navarino, Athens Development & Destination Management Agency, Cosmote, Aegean Airlines, Grand Bretagne Hotel, Berggruen Institute, Tsomokos Communications, The American College of Greece and the Global Liberal Arts Alliance.