YALI flagship program set to host young leaders

The Mandela Washington Fellows Alumni Association of Nigeria (MWFAAN), a flagship program of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), is set to host over 1000 active Nigerian youth leaders in September.

The event, which will draw young leaders from the six geo-political zones, will see them come together with the common aim of localizing ideas and collaborative actions to promote Sustainable National Development.

The program is an annual event from the stable of the Young Leaders Assembly (YLA).

These were made known by the President of the MWFAAN, Mr. Lamide Johnson in Abuja during a press briefing.

According to him: “The Young Leaders Assembly is supported by the United States Embassy, Abuja with the aim of assembling young civic leaders, entrepreneurs, public managers, activists and student leaders working to promote national development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Nigeria and Africa at large.

“It is envisioned strategically to position Nigerian youths on the pivotal roles in the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals in all critical sectors of the economy by 2030 via a coordinated infusion of entrepreneurial and leadership skills through Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) network.

“This year’s summit, scheduled to hold on the 14th of September, 2019 with the theme; “The Future of Work”; will feature powerful keynote speeches, panel sessions, lightning talks and an action plan development session.

“Peculiar with the assembly, is the Beyond School Community Challenge (BSCC) and Young Leaders Award (YLA). The BSCC is a national community development and entrepreneurship program for secondary school students, it aims to engage young people in Nigeria for the purpose of creating impact within their community and developing critical entrepreneurial skills.

“The BSCC provides a platform for outstanding secondary school students to provide solutions to problems around their environment by creating community development projects. Guided by mentors and their schools, the students identify the challenge, proffer viable entrepreneurial concept to address the challenge.”

He further added: “This year, the young innovators will be designing and building solutions that solves urgent problems and guarantees social impact in their immediate community. It is expected that a diverse number of problems as it concerns the peculiarity of the different regions in Nigeria will be identified and solutions proffered.

“The Challenge identifies top finalists annually from the pool of applications received across Nigeria by working closely with the Federal and States Ministries of Education, and the top 10 finalists selected will be invited to pitch and exhibit their entrepreneurial ideas at the Young Leaders Assembly.

“This year, we have planned to award cash grant to the best 3 projects teams, and access to three months mentoring from industry experts and Mandela Washington Fellows, additional educational grants for each winning team member, award plaques, certificates for the Schools involved and Cash Prizes for the best Mentor/Teacher.”

“The Assembly will also feature the Young Leaders Awards which aims to recognize, celebrate and encourage youths and individuals who are contributing immensely towards the pursuit of sustainable development goals as well as youth and economic development in Nigeria.

“The call for applications for the 2019 Beyond School Community Challenge, and the call for nominations for the Young Leaders Award is ongoing and will close on 10, August, 2019.”

According to the Cultural Affairs Officer, U.S Embassy, Mr. Sterling D. Tilley, “The U.S Embassy has a long, standing relationship not only with YALI, but also with its many different sections within YALI – including the Young Leaders Assembly.

“We have been there from the beginning and we will continue to be there throughout the existence of the YLA.

“We provide financial assistance to the various different programs that they run, one of which is the Beyond School Community Challenge. We believe that through the YLA, the step down of those efforts will help the youths.”

Also speaking was Founder of Girl Child Africa, and an alumna of the YALI network, Bukky Shonibare.

She said, “We have been able to assemble ideas and we expect some form of community development, addressing some of the social ills that we have seen. We do not expect that the government is going to solve all of our problems even though we know that the primary responsibility still rests on them by the constitutional mandate that they have.

“We expect the office of the ‘citizens’ to take an active role in addressing some of these issues.”

The MWFAAN membership drawn from all sectors of the economy (and classified under Business and Entrepreneurship, Civic Leadership, Public Management and Energy tracks) as beneficiaries of the US State Department Initiative – Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI).