It's a great moment in any democracy: we witnessed the opening of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament by Speaker Daylin Mitchell and the delivery of the State of the Province Address 2025 by Premier Alan Winde.

What does Africa’s energy future look like, which implications does this have for Europe, and what forms of cooperation do we need? We discussed these and other questions at an event we co-hosted with the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies in Brussels this week.

"Actor or Bystander? Rethinking Africa's Agency in a Globalized World" - that was the topic of a Munich Security Conference Side Event which we co-hosted with the Institute for Security Studies Pretoria.

At a public event on the eve of the Munich Security Conference, which we co-hosted with the Federation of German Industries at the Hanns Seidel Foundation in Munich, we discussed the future of international cooperation with renowned speakers from 4 continents and a large audience.

It was great to join a Johannesburg meeting of representatives from diverse NGOs and other institutions to share experience, insights and ideas on Civic Education work in South Africa.

A Mentoring and Coaching Course for Municipal Managers is currently taking place in all five Districts of the Western Cape. The three day courses are met with great interest by the Officials invited.