Around the world, individuals and institutions continue to honour the life and work of Kofi Annan through books, artworks, events, awards, and educational initiatives. The Kofi Annan Foundation is not directly involved in all the projects listed here, but we have granted permission to use the name. We are grateful for every effort that helps keep his legacy alive and relevant to today’s challenges.
Kofi Annan Foundation, Geneva Graduate Institute, Geneva Peacebuilding Platform
The Kofi Annan Geneva Peace Address is an annual event held as part of Geneva Peace Week, dedicated to honouring Kofi Annan’s legacy by convening leaders and young peacebuilders to discuss peace. A cornerstone event of Geneva Peace Week, the Kofi Annan Geneva Peace Address catalyses crucial dialogues on peace through the perspectives of global leaders.
Kofi Annan Foundation, Democracy and Culture Foundation
The Kofi Annan NextGen Democracy Prize is an annual award given to a young leader, aged 18-30, for their exceptional work in defending, promoting, or renewing democracy. Launched by the Kofi Annan Foundation and the Democracy and Culture Foundation, the prize includes a $10,000 cash prize and a one-year mentorship with a democracy expert. The recipient is honoured annually at the Athens Democracy Forum.
Austrian Chancellery, the Austrian Development Agency, Kofi Annan Foundation and WFP Innovation Accelerator
Launched in 2023, the Award was established to recognise and support African entrepreneurs who use digital and technology-powered solutions to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Winners received a €250,000 prize, international visibility, and 12 months of support to scale their solutions. Past editions have focused on goals such as good health and well-being (SDG 3) and, more recently, food security (SDG 2).
Launched in 2006, the Eminent Speakers’ Lecture Series is a forum for exchanging opinions and sharing insights that shape development policies, projects, and programs in Africa. Through interactions with African Leaders, world-renowned personalities and Nobel Laureates, the Lecture series enriches the Bank’s policy dialogue on contemporary policy challenges facing Africa and proffers concrete and implementable solutions tailored to the specific features and needs of the continent. The lecture series was renamed to Kofi Annan Eminent Speakers’ Lecture Series (KAESLS) in 2019 by the President of the Bank Group, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, in recognition of the contributions of Mr Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, to global peace and sustainable development.
Crisis Group, Kofi Annan Foundation, International Peace Institute
The Kofi Annan Lecture, held annually in New York, explores critical global themes such as peacemaking and peacebuilding, drawing inspiration from Kofi Annan’s legacy and values. These lectures focus on issues that Kofi Annan prioritised, including peacemaking, peacebuilding, and strengthening the international system.
The Kofi Annan Courage in Cartooning Award is a biennial international award given by the Freedom Cartoonists Foundation to recognise cartoonists who work under difficult and dangerous circumstances. Named after the late former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who was an honorary chairman of the foundation, it is presented in Geneva on World Press Freedom Day. Recent winners include Rachita Taneja from India and Zunzi from Hong Kong in 2024.
“Kofi Annan is not the past, he is the future. His spirit will live on through the countless young people he inspired.”
Hajer Sharief
Books + Publications
Kofi Annan and Global Leadership at the United Nations
By Abiodun Williams
Kofi Annan and Global Leadership at the United Nations explores how Kofi Annan conceived his role as Secretary-General and exercised global leadership at a turbulent period in world affairs. It sheds light on the importance of leadership for the performance of a global institution. It discusses the challenges he faced during his tenure from 1997 to 2006 and how he dealt with them. The book charts Annan’s ambitious efforts to reform and adapt the UN to the needs of the twenty-first century.
Echoing the Voice of Peace: Quotes of Busumuru Kofi Annan
By Peter Panyin Anaman
The book, authored by Peter Panyin Anaman, Executive Director of the Global African Heritage Foundation (GAHF), is a 402-page compilation of 43 chapters. This curated collection features Kofi Annan’s most impactful quotes, offering profound insights on topics such as sustainable peace, conflict prevention and resolution, human rights, social justice, democracy, and other critical issues of both national and international significance. The book was launched in 2025 at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra, Ghana, and aims to preserve Annan’s legacy for future generations.
Interventions – A Life in War and Peace
Kofi Annan’s official memoirs
Over the course of forty years of service at the United Nations, the last ten as Secretary-General, Kofi Annan has been at the centre of the major geopolitical events of our time. As much a memoir as a guide to world order, Interventions provides a unique, behind-the-scenes view of global diplomacy during one of the most tumultuous periods in UN history.
The Kofi Annan Changemakers initiative supports young activists aged 20-30 who are making significant impacts in their communities. Each year, 12 to 14 changemakers are selected globally to participate in a 12-month program that offers mentorship, microgrants, workshops, and dialogue sessions. The programme includes a week-long module in Geneva designed to connect changemakers with professionals in their fields for mentorship and collaboration.
Supporting aspirational public health leaders from Africa in acquiring advanced skills and competencies to strategise, manage and lead public health programmes that will transform public health in Africa. Fellows admitted to the programme are senior public health professionals from African Union Member States who will contribute to and lead the implementation of a new public health order for Africa and, in turn, mentor and develop the next generation of public health leaders for the continent.
Kofi Annan Scholarships of the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Graduate Leadership Programme
Mansfield College, Oxford University
Named after the former Secretary-General of the United Nations and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Kofi Annan (1938-2018), these scholarships provide exceptional university graduates from developing and emerging economies with the opportunity to study at Oxford University. We are grateful to alumnus Jan Fischer (PPE, 1989) for his generous support of the Kofi Annan Scholarships.
The Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre
Training Centre in Ghana
The Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre is a training centre based in Ghana which provides training and research in peacekeeping and peace operations. The Ghana Ministry of Defence (MoD) established the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in 1998 and commissioned it in 2004. The purpose was to build on and share Ghana’s five decades of internationally acclaimed experience and competence in peace operations with other states in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region and across Africa.
“Human rights are the foundation of human existence and coexistence. Human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent. Human rights are what make us human.”
