Twenty three dynamic young leaders were awarded their Tutu Leadership Fellowship certificates last month at a farewell dinner hosted by Lord Hacking at his home in London, having completed the six-month, part-time programme with an intensive but richly rewarding ten-day workshop in Oxford and London. This immensely rich and varied programme has made a deep impression on the graduating Fellows. A couple of comments illustrate the impact:
“It was a journey of self-reflection and internal renaissance which ignites a flame in you to improve yourself as a leader and the community around you.”
“Powerful, impactful, structured, intense and insightful. It is a life changing experience that brings the leader out of you.”
“Reflecting back on who I was and what I believed of leadership in Africa 6 months ago it is almost hard to believe that I am the same person. A truly transformative experience which has left me feeling empowered, anchored and focused.”
The learning experiences on the final workshop were wide and varied, with contributions from the Oxford faculty to world-renowned business and political leaders. It was mixed with memorable experiential learning sessions - which we don't divulge so as not to forewarn future classes - and visits to famous institutions like the House of Lords. The invited speakers included African experts Sir Paul Collier and Omari Issa; leadership gurus Prof. Eddie Obeng and Martin Kalungu-Banda; leaders of some of the world’s biggest companies, Sir Andrew Witty and Jan du Plessis; globally-experienced politicians Lord Patten and Lord William Hague; development practitioners Lord Malloch-Brown and Andrew Mitchell; philosopher Prof. John Lennox; China expert Rana Mitter; the world-class Oxford faculty, and many other incredible speakers and facilitators.
Despite this amazing array of speakers and facilitators, the stars of the workshop were the Tutu Fellows themselves, and we acknowledge that the Fellows learnt as much from their interactions with each other – personal insights, self-reflection, new perspectives, re-orientation to Africa, etc. – as they did from the external interactions we offered. This incredibly rich experience will have a lasting effect in nurturing the leadership talents of this dynamic group of future leaders in Africa.
The gallery is from various locations at which the workshop took place.
Nominations for the 2017 Tutu Leadership Fellowship open next week.
Report