Africans are rising - we are going to build a different kind of future | Kumi Naidoo

Fed-up with ineffective leaders who aren't dealing with the crises on the continent, people are coming together to launch a pan-African solidarity movement

The expression "Africa rising" was popularised by the Economist and focuses on GDP growth. The growing middle class and major increases in foreign direct investment all pointed to Africa being a prime investment destination and the promised return-on-investment levels that City bankers could only dream of since the collapse of the Asian tigers.

But while GDP has been rising across Africa, Africans themselves have been sinking - into deepening inequality, increasing corruption, shrinking civic space and in low lying areas, literally due to climate change.