President John Dramani Mahama has positioned the Accra Reset Initiative as Africa’s strategic response to a changing and increasingly uncertain global landscape, arguing that the continent must move from dependency to co-ownership in shaping global prosperity
Speaking at the Davos Commitment on the sidelines of the 2026 World Economic Forum in Switzerland, President Mahama said the initiative was born out of necessity, not sentiment, as traditional models of global cooperation show signs of strain.
“We didn’t come here to ask for charity. We came to propose a partnership of the willing, built on mutual respect, shared priorities, and joint responsibility,” he said
According to President Mahama, the Accra Reset seeks to redefine North–South relations by ensuring that countries in the Global South are not passive recipients of development programmes but active co-designers of investment, infrastructure, and job-creation strategies.
At the heart of the initiative is the idea of “Prosperity Spheres” regional platforms where countries align policies and coordinate investment to drive industrial growth and employment across Africa.
Beyond economics, the President framed the initiative as a generational mission aimed at restoring dignity and opportunity to Africa’s youth
“Africa must become a place where young people no longer feel compelled to risk their lives crossing deserts and seas in search of hope,” he said. “We want systems that work, industries that thrive, and nations that stand tall.”
President Mahama contrasted today’s global climate with the early 2000s, when decisive international cooperation led to the creation of the Global Fund to combat HIV/AIDS, an effort that saved millions of lives across Africa and beyond.
“At a time when funding to the UN system and other life-saving global institutions is being cut, Africa has learned a hard lesson: we must take responsibility for our destiny,” he said, describing the continent’s greatest challenge today as a “pandemic of unfulfilled potential.”
He pointed to chronic youth unemployment, fragile health systems, and extractive economic models that generate wealth without long-term value as evidence that the current global framework is failing Africa.
“If the world could mobilise to fight a disease, why can’t it mobilise to fight poverty, dependency, and structural exclusion?” he asked.
President Mahama said Ghana was already demonstrating what a reset looks like in practice. He outlined measures including a leaner government, reduced to 58 ministers and deputy ministers aggressive digitisation to curb corruption, youth-focused skills training, and debt renegotiation to free up resources for social and economic investment.
“This is not about excuses,” he said. “It’s about execution. That is what resetting Ghana means.”
Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who chairs the Guardian Circle of the Accra Reset Initiative, said the goal was to anchor the initiative within the broader North–South Dialogue, focusing on practical reforms and bankable projects in health, technology, and infrastructure.
“The future will not be handed to anyone,” Obasanjo said. “It will be negotiated, organised, and built by those who prepare for it.”
With the Accra Reset, Ghana is betting that Africa’s next chapter will be written not through appeals for aid, but through deliberate partnership, disciplined execution, and collective ambition.