THE 22nd Special Olympics Africa Leadership Conference opened in Johannesburg on Monday, drawing 110 delegates from 38 countries across the continent in what organisers have called the largest gathering of inclusive sport leadership in the region’s history.
The four-day summit – running from 23 to 26 March – assembles national directors, sports directors, and athlete leaders to shape the future of para-inclusive athletics on the continent, with programme sessions spanning sports development, leadership, partnerships, and programme quality.
A centrepiece of the summit is a Unified Basketball demonstration event hosted by Special Olympics South Africa at 3 Square Sports Stadium in Alexandra, with coaching and training delivered by NBA Africa — marking a rare intersection of elite professional basketball and grassroots inclusive sport on the continent.
“This 22nd Africa Leadership Conference is both a celebration and a call to action. Our focus remains: to enhance sports delivery, elevate athlete leadership, and empower every programme across Africa.”
Charles Nyambe, President & Managing Director, Special Olympics Africa Region
The conference carries a lineage stretching back to 2004, when the inaugural Africa Leadership Conference was held in Kenya. Since then, it has served as the primary vehicle for strategic coordination among Special Olympics programmes on the continent, funded in part by the A Very Special Christmas records initiative.
This year’s summit has attracted an unusually high-profile slate of institutional partners: Nike, the Basketball Africa League, the Project Management Institute, UPS, and Lions Club International are all represented, lending both commercial muscle and global sporting credibility to what has traditionally been a development-focused gathering.
Special Olympics International has deployed senior leadership to the conference floor. Jon-Paul St. Germain, Vice President of Sports Development, and Ed Uphoff, Vice President of Programme Technology, are among the international delegates contributing to key sessions. Gerald Mballe, Unified with Refugees Coordinator for Special Olympics Europe Eurasia, will also participate — a signal of growing cross-regional integration within the movement.
Athlete leadership remains a defining pillar of the conference’s architecture. Nyasha Derera and Jimmy Masina — both athlete leaders — are listed among session facilitators, reflecting the organisation’s commitment to ensuring that the people the movement exists to serve hold meaningful roles in shaping its direction.
The Special Olympics Africa Region works across more than 30 Olympic-type sports and serves athletes with intellectual disabilities alongside their Unified Sports partners — non-disabled athletes who compete alongside them. The region operates within Special Olympics International’s global structure, which encompasses over 4.6 million athletes and Unified Sports partners across more than 200 countries and territories.
The conference runs through 26 March.
