Angela Martins is Head, Culture Division, Social Affairs Department of the African Union Commission. The Division of culture harmonises and coordinates activities and policies across the continent, so as to strengthen structure and build opportunities for using culture as a tool for integration and African renaissance, cultural development, promotion of creative and cultural industries.

She holds is a product of Exeter University, United Kingdom where she obtained a Masters degree in Education. She is a proud daughter of Africa and what Africa stands for. It was therefore not surprise to see her return to Africa to contribute to the development of her roots upon the completion of her education in the United Kingdom.

Her work has been centered majorly on advancing the pan-Africanism movement. She has committed her time and resources to the socio-economic development of Africa.

She started from the scratch, working as a teacher, impacting knowledge on our future leaders knowing full well the importance of information and knowledge to nation building. She soon started training the trainers (teachers) her career progressed.

Before taking up the role of the head of Culture Division of the Social Affairs Department of AUC, Angela Martins served as Training Officer for the Southern African Development Committee (SADC) Parliamentary Forum where she was responsible for developing capacity training programmes for members of the parliament.

Since assuming office as head of Culture Division of the Social Affairs Department of AUC, Madam Angela has taken it upon herself to persistently advance the course of the African culture as the role of culture in the sustainable development of the people is not lost on her. Making policies that guide development of culture and actually seeing that these policies are followed through can sometimes be very tricky. She thus help the Culture Division of the AUC to not just develop cultural policies for African Union member states and but also ensure their thorough implementation and in so doing help to facilitate job creation and promotion of Africa’s abundant resources and skills.

She has been spear heading the commissions drive to promote socio-cultural initiatives and cooperation at national, regional and continental levels. She has proven to be huge advocate for promotion of cultural and creative industries; her involvement in The Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) is testament to that. Her commitment to using culture and the creative industry to promote African integration and socio-cultural development has been unwavering, a true example that young Africans can learn from.

To ensure the preservation of the African culture, the Culture Division of the Social Affairs Department of AUC under her leadership has also given guidelines to member states for funding culture through innovative mechanisms. She has made giant strides to liberalize the cultural sector to allow for private sector participation with the view of overcoming the perennial challenge of paucity of funds.

She has demonstrated great commitment in advocating for the development of African culture, seizing every available opportunity to promote African culture, arts and creativity.

Speaking at the NEPAD Regional Conference on Arts Education held in Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa shortly after assuming office as Head of Culture division, AUC, Madam Angela said, “Efforts in our continent to place Arts Education in our schools and universities curricula are still very limited; hence initiatives such as this one should be emulated so that our cultural and creative industries are developed and provide the much needed revenue to the economies of the continent. It is important to promote culture and education by placing emphasis on creativity and innovative ideas. We are certain that through the teaching of the arts and culture, Africa’s children and youthful populations will recognise and develop a stronger African identity, learn to promote and preserve our rich heritage and shared values as well as drive the development of the continent.

“We are certain that through the teaching of the arts and culture, African children and youthful populations will recognize and develop a stronger African identity, learn to promote and preserve our rich heritage and shared values as well as drive the development of the continent.

Angela Martins has been a major proponent for using culture as a tool for peace building, integration and socio-economic development in order to contribute to the attainment of African Union goals.

The achievements of the Culture Division of the AUC under her guidance is a fair reward for the hardwork and innovation put in by her with the support of her able team and a pointer to what can lies ahead in years to come.