Latest News

The African Leadership Institute is pleased to announce the Associates who have been selected for the 2022 Class of the Tutu Fellowship programme. As has been the case with previous cohorts, the people selected are exceptional emerging African leaders. AFLI received more than 330 nominations of outstanding quality from across Africa, from which the cohort was selected. They are from the following countries: Cameroon, Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. 

A few candidates are included this year who were selected in 2020 but who could not attend that cohort due to COVID restrictions. The selected candidates demonstrate the incredible wealth and breadth of leadership talent that exists in Africa’s young people, which bodes well for Africa’s future.

In March 2020, the African Leadership Institute announced the Associates who had been selected for the 2020 Class of the Tutu Fellowship programme.  As has been the case with previous cohorts, the people selected were exceptional emerging African leaders. AFLI received more than 300 nominees of outstanding quality from 36 African countries, from which the cohort was selected. Before the class could begin, COVID intervened and the programme was deferred until conditions allowed for an in-person convening.

Since that initial announcement of the cohort was made, not all of the candidates were still able to participate in the programme. The names below represent the final cohort who begin the first workshop in the programme in South Africa next week.

It is clear that we are living in exceptional and unprecedented times. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted our ways of working and interacting and, naturally, AFLI has also been impacted. This post provides some sense of the impact of the pandemic and its implications on the Tutu Fellowship Programme.

When the effects of the pandemic were starting to be felt in March 2020, we had just completed the process of selecting our 2020 Archbishop Tutu Leadership Associates. We carried the news of that announcement here in our News.

In March 2020, the African Leadership Institute announced the Associates who had been selected for the 2020 Class of the Tutu Fellowship programme.  As has been the case with previous cohorts, the people selected were exceptional emerging African leaders. AFLI received more than 300 nominees of outstanding quality from 36 African countries, from which the cohort was selected. Before the class could begin, COVID intervened and the programme was deferred until conditions allowed for an in-person convening.

Since that initial announcement of the cohort was made, not all of the candidates were still able to participate in the programme. The names below represent the final cohort who begin the first workshop in the programme in South Africa next week.

Archbishop Tutu Fellowship Certificates were awarded to the 2018 Tutu Fellows at an exuberant celebratory event kindly hosted by Lord Hacking at his home in London at the end of an intensive but very rewarding 10-day workshop at Oxford University and in London. Old favourites continued to be amongst the highlights of the week – conducting choristers in Exeter College chapel, Eddie Obeng’s aliens, good kings/queens, warriors and medicine women in Mythodrama’s Henry V, cooking lunch with Caryn and Ros, dining in the House of Lords after a personal conducted tour of the Houses of Parliament, and Andrew Feinstein’s amazing stories of corruption in the global arms trade.

The African Leadership Institute, once again, has a very strong cohort of emerging African leaders for the prestigious Tutu Leadership Fellowship for 2018.  Amongst nearly 300 nominees of outstanding quality from over 30 African countries, 18 of Africa’s highest potential young leaders were selected to take part in the programme. Including the candidates nominated by our sponsoring organisations, the candidates represent ten different African countries and various industries, and range from 30 to 39 years of age. The selected candidates demonstrate the incredible wealth and breadth of leadership talent that exists in Africa’s youth.  The biographies of the 2018 candidates follow:

A final celebratory dinner hosted by Investec in their London offices on 15th September brought to an end a six-month tumultuous journey of learning, of exploration, of self-reflection and establishing bonds of friendship and collaboration amongst 28 of Africa’s highest-potential emerging leaders, that will pertain across thousands of kilometres and for many many years. The Tutu Fellowship awards were presented at the dinner to those who had met the exacting standards required by the Fellowship and the 2017 class of newly-awarded Tutu Fellows dispersed to fulfil their potential and commitment as young leaders to make Africa a better place for all to live in.

The Tutu Leadership Programme has two workshops, one in South Africa, and the second in the UK.  Between the speaker sessions, group projects, soul searching and other required work is time for bonding, networking, and fun.  The gallery below gives a sense of the camaraderie among the Class of 2017.

The African Leadership Institute has had Archbishop Tutu as the patron of it's flagship Leadership Programme for years.  During that time, the Archbishop has lent his voice and his support to the work that AFLI has done in turning out servant leaders. Earlier this year, that arrangement was cemented when AFLI and the Archbishop Tutu Leadership Programme were selected as projects that must uphold the legacy of Archbishop Tutu. 

The first workshop of the 2017 Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme was held at Mont Fleur Conference Centre from the 22nd to the 29th of April. The 26 Fellowship candidates, selected from more than 300 nominees, were from 11 African countries such as Equitorial Guinea, Sierra Leone and Egypt. 

The intensive leadership learning activities at the retreat in the Stellenbosch mountains provided space for introspection and time for friendships to develop among the cohort. This will serve them in good stead when they return home, ready to tackle and make a difference in the challenges of leadership in Africa.

The first workshop of the 2016 Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme was held at Mont Fleur Conference Centre from 23 to 30 April. The 23 Fellowship candidates, selected from over 250 top quality applicants, came from 11 different African countries as far afield as South Sudan, Chad and Somaliland. However, after 8 days of intensive leadership learning activities at this beautiful retreat in the Stellenbosch mountains, they left as a cohesive and enthusiastic body ready to tackle and make a difference in the challenges of leadership in Africa. Further work awaits them before the second workshop in Oxford and London in early September, but the Mont Fleur experience was a very memorable one, as it has been for the 10 previous Fellowship classes. The candidates were not only encouraged to reflect on the leadership challenges of Africa by renowned African business and civil society leaders, and by political leaders such as Trevor Manuel and Jay Naidoo, but they were also enticed to reflect on their own leadership through carefully structured experiential learning exercises, which teased out some thought provoking self-reflection. The attached photos capture some of spirit of the week at Mont Fleur.

The Tutu Fellows and AFLI’s network of contacts across the continent have been very active over the last couple of months, seeking and identifying Africa’s highest potential emerging leaders to nominate them for the prestigious Tutu Leadership Fellowship. The Tutu Leadership programme is arguably the best leadership programme designed specifically for Africa’s emerging leaders in the age range 25-39 from all sectors of society, and as such, the all-expenses paid Fellowship is a highly sought after award. Only once candidates have been nominated may they submit an application for the Fellowship.