African youth initiatives Report launch

The African Leadership Institute conducted research on the state of African youth leadership initiatives. The report launch was held on the August 28th, 2018, in Nairobi, Kenya at the Strathmore University, titled An Abundance of Young African Leaders – But no Seat at The Table. The hashtag for the launch, #SameTableNewSeats, sparked much interest on social media platforms and trended on Twitter that day.

The report was officially launched by Dr Vincent Ogutu, Vice-Chancellor Designate of Strathmore University, with keynote speakers, Dr Patricia Murugami and Rosemary Okello also of Strathmore Business School and Margaret Mliwa of the Ford Foundation.

A panel discussion was led by Julie Gichuru with panelists, Janah Ncube, Serah Makka-Ugbabe, David Kamau, Raphael Obonyo, Kanini Mutoomi and Lade Araba – of which three are Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellows. Raphael Obonyo, is the Co-Chair of the advisory board of AFLI’s new initiative – Project Pakati .

The report identified a total of 105 leadership initiatives focusing on young African leaders (18-40 year olds) in the following categories:

Leadership Development Programmes
Leadership Mentoring Programmes
Leadership Networking Platforms
Leadership Impact Platforms
It goes on to dispel the myth that Africa lacks leaders, as some 700,000 young Africans have undergone some form of leadership initiative. This then raised multiple questions of, “Where do these young leaders go after they complete their programmes?”, “How is their knowledge and impact sustained?” and “How should African governments and institutions be leveraging the talents of these young leaders to help them co-create solutions to some of Arica’s most pressing developmental challenges?” Young and old voiced their opinions, hindrances and solutions around this subject in a vibrant discussion.

Judging from the responses from the audience and social media, the report launch was timely and relevant. Stakeholder engagements are currently ongoing to determine the next phase of action, building on the report outcomes.

A gallery from the event is below: