The doctor honoris causa title received in Brazzaville on 13 August honours a conviction President Macky Sall defends in his candidacy for UN Secretary-General: a country is built first through its schools. Education forms the citizens, workers and professionals without whom no institution holds.
Development begins with the school. Roads and hospitals are worth only the women and men trained to run them, and the same goes for administrations. Investing in education funds everything else at the source. The states that reduced poverty over time schooled their people first.
A budget that states the priorities. The share of public resources devoted to schooling indicates what a state expects of the future. Across his twelve years leading Senegal, President Macky Sall kept training and higher education among his spending priorities, even through years of budget constraint.
From the school to peace. A young population that is educated and occupied removes part of a crisis's fuel. Divides deepen and armed groups recruit wherever education retreats. President Macky Sall's candidacy joins these threads: lasting peace requires development, which in turn requires education.
A budget priority held for twelve years. These commitments on education rest on those twelve years as head of state and on the chairmanship of the African Union in 2022. The vision statement filed with the United Nations draws from that experience proposals written as obligations that link peace and security to development.
Africa at its heart, the world in its sights.
The doctor honoris causa title was awarded in Brazzaville on 13 August 2026. Read all public positions at www.mackysall.net