The Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) is an initiative of the United States Department of State. It was begun in 2010 by President Barack Obama. YALI is a programme aimed at educating and networking young African leaders with activities including the Mandela Washington Fellowship that brings them to study in the United States for six weeks, with follow-up resources, and student exchange programs. [1] In 2014, the program was expanded to include four regional "leadership centers" in Ghana, Kenya, Senegal and South Africa. [2] [3]
500 participants in the Mandela Washington Fellowship arrived in the United States on June 16, 2014. [4] In 2019, there were 700 fellows. [3]
As part of efforts to decentralize and to reach a large number of young leaders, the Young African Leaders Initiative program created regional leadership centers across the African continent known as the YALI Regional Leadership Center (RLC). [5] Participants of the Regional Leadership Centers go through online and in-person training and are provided with professional development opportunities in these three track areas: Business and Entrepreneurship, Civil Society Management, and Public Policy and Management.
The Regional Leadership Center is located in West Africa, with centers in the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Accra, Ghana, [6] and the Centre Africain d'Etudes Supérieures en Gestion (CESAG), Dakar, Senegal. [7] The Accra Center has a satellite campus at the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON), near Lagos, Nigeria. The center in Dakar, Senegal, is for French-speaking West Africans.
There is a YALI Regional Leadership Center for East Africans located at Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya, which serves citizens of the following countries: Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. [8]
The Southern African Regional Leadership Center is at University of South Africa (UNISA) School of Business Leadership (SBL), near Pretoria, South Africa, with a satellite campus at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, Mozambique, for Portuguese speakers. [9]
YALI Regional leadership centre East Africa Alumni has a chapter in Rwanda the mission of which is "to empower young leaders in Rwanda and East Africa to develop the skills, knowledge, and networks needed to drive sustainable development and social change." [10]
The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) is a tertiary education and research institute in Muizenberg, South Africa, established in September 2003, and an associated network of linked institutes in Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon and Rwanda.
G-Day is a series of large-scale events held by Google in Latin America, Middle East, Africa and India for developers, tech enthusiasts and entrepreneurs. It started as a part of the G-Africa Initiative that was expanded to Latin America countries in 2012. These events typically lasted for two days, split into the developer day and the business day with the aim of showing them how to leverage Google tools in taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the Internet and mobile.
The Mo Ibrahim Foundation is an African non-grant foundation founded in 2006 by businessman Mo Ibrahim. Headquartered in London and Dakar, Senegal, it works to strengthen governance and leadership in Africa through its key initiatives:
Tourism is an important economic sector for many countries in Africa. There are many countries that benefit heavily from tourism like Uganda, Algeria, Egypt, South Africa, Kenya, Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana and Tanzania. The touristic particularity of Africa lies in the wide variety of points of interest, diversity and multitudes of landscapes as well as the rich cultural heritage. Also, an ecotourist industry is present in some African countries.
The Pan African Federation of Accountants (PAFA) is the regional body that is aimed to represent African professional accountants with one and louder voice, particularly in relating with International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). It was inaugurated in Dakar, Senegal on 5 May 2011.
Emmanuel Bombande is a conflict resolution, peacebuilding, and development professional from Accra, Ghana, and is the Chair of the Board of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict.
Nana Boakye-Yiadom is a global communications and PR expert with expertise on the African continent. He has more than 13 years combined working experience in journalism/media and communications. He is a Ghanaian, and a former international award-winning journalist and media trainer. He was a news presenter, anchor and editor of the Accra-based radio station Citi FM.
Ekow Mensah is a Ghanaian social entrepreneur and speaker who is founder and CEO of The African Network of Entrepreneurs (TANOE).
The Association of African Air Forces (AAAF) is a voluntary and non-political organization; membership is open to Air Forces or their equivalent within the continent of Africa and the United States of America. The Association is operated with support from the United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA); a United States Air Force major command (MAJCOM) and a component command of both United States European Command (USEUCOM) and United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM).
YALI RCL West Africa is one of the four regional leadership centres across Africa. The Ghana campus is situated at GIMPA in Accra, provides leadership training, networking, and professional development activities for young people ages 18–35 in West Africa. RLC is the acronym for Regional Leadership Center (RLC). Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) is an initiative of the United States Department of State. YALI started in 2010 by President Barack Obama. YALI is a programme aimed at educating and networking young African leaders regionally, which started in 2014. YALI RLC West Africa was one of the four regional "leadership centers" Ghana, West Africa. The centre at Ghana, is located at Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). The West Africa centres carry out training which aims at millennials within west African region. Participants of the Regional Leadership Centres go through online and in-person training and are provided with professional development opportunities in these three track areas; business and entrepreneurship, civil society management and public policy and management.
Adaku Ufere is a Nigerian energy professional and an international oil and gas, gender and development lawyer. She is the current Chief of Party of the USAID-funded Power Africa West Africa Energy Program in Accra, Ghana. She also founded Energy & Gender consulting firm DAX Consult
Flavia Nabagabe Kalule, is a Ugandan teacher, Inter-parliamentary union representative, women's rights activist and woman member of parliament for Kassanda district in the 11th parliament of the Republic of Uganda. She is chairperson of the women’s league at National Unity Platform(NUP) party also known as People Power.
Gorretti Byomire is a Ugandan computer scientist, academic and disability rights activist. She is a lecturer in the Department of Applied Computing & Information Technology at Makerere University Business School (MUBS), in Kampala, Uganda. She concurrently serves as the Director of the Disability Resource & Learning Centre at MUBS.
The African Judo Union (AJU) is the governing body of judo in Africa. It is one of the five continental confederations making up the International Judo Federation (IJF). AJU was formed on 28 November 1961 in Dakar (Senegal). AJU has headquarters in Madagascar and consists of 54 member federations.
Osasu Edobor is a Nigerian gender advocate and founder of Think Help Restore (THR) Media and the Safe Space Initiative. She is a licensed mental health first-aider, peer educator trainer, and counselor. As a campaigner for gender inclusion, Osasu created the HERFessions app, which provides support for survivors of sexual abuse. She is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow alumna and a Young African Leaders Initiative member.