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Back in June of this year, we shared news of how two Fellows were selected to participate in the final one thousand at UNLEASH 2017.  One of them, Jon Kornik, led the team that won the water solutions' challenge.  UNLEASH sets up global innovation labs and gathers some of the top minds of a generation in a kind of open source solution based approach to subject themes such as water, food, sustainable consumption and others. 

Three Tutu Fellows were speakers at the Gulu Youth Conference in Northern Uganda, in which their voices were heard on social transformation in Africa.  The Fellows were Deo Arinaitwe Rugyendo (Class of 2012), Daniel Kidega (Class of 2007), and Nobel Peace Nominee Victor Ochen (Class of 2011).  The Gulu Youth Conference was organised as a way to begin a process of transformation in Northern Uganda. 

I was asked by the blog, Critical Investigations into Humanitarianism in Africa, (CIHA) to write a review of Jeffrey Gettleman’s memoir, Love, Africa: A memoir of Romance, War and Survival, after ranting on Twitter about foreign correspondents who spend years in Africa, write books on the continent and somehow manage not to recount friendships with Africans as part of their experience. Such was the handling of Africa by Keith Richburg, formerly of the Washington Post, in Out of America: A Black Man Confronts Africa.

The University of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa has conferred a Doctorate in Business Administration on 2008 Tutu Fellow Siza Majola. Her thesis was titled: Developing a stakeholder management model based on an African traditionally governed community: Bafokeng case study.  Majola's PhD caps an MBA from Sheffield Business School in the UK, a B.Sc Honours in Geographic Information Systems from the University of Stellenbosch, and a B.Sc in Geology from the University of Fort Hare.

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.

Dear Peter, Sean, Jackie and the AFLI team,

Imagine a football game where two teams meet to compete. A game is typically divided into two halves of forty-five minutes each. The teams have trained, prepared and learned as much about each other as possible before showing up on the pitch. Despite this fact, they spend the majority of the first half of the game learning about each other, making major mistakes, figuring things out and adjusting where needed. Then it's half time. The coaches take their teams to the locker room. They review the first half of the game, the players' strengths and weaknesses, and they reshape the team's initial strategy with a view to win the game in the second half. The team goes back onto the pitch with a renewed focus, a transformed view of the world, a better understanding of each individual player, and a rekindled hope for the future.

Candidates from the 2017 Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme cohort were interviewed at Mont Fleur, outside Cape Town, about the first workshop in the programme. Rori Tshabalala says that an element of the programme is the self-reflection required to determine why we choose the paths we do.

Candidates from the 2017 Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme cohort were interviewed at Mont Fleur, outside Cape Town, about the first workshop in the programme. Abayomi Awobokun mentioned that an area in which leaders often fail is in thinking sufficiently rigorously about the outcomes that a path of leadership might produce.

Candidates from the 2017 Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme cohort were interviewed at Mont Fleur, outside Cape Town, about the first workshop in the programme.  Ahmed Zahran, who is from Egypt, spoke of how the group helped him gain a better understanding of sub-Saharan Africa, of which he had had limited exposure previously.

Candidates from the 2017 Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme cohort were interviewed at Mont Fleur, outside Cape Town, about the first workshop in the programme. Hema Vallabh talks about how the Fellowship programme creates an environment in which speakers and fellow attendees provide insights that are discomfiting to taken-for-granted positions.

Candidates from the 2017 Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme cohort were interviewed at Mont Fleur, outside Cape Town, about the first workshop in the programme.  Jude Abaga speaks of how the programme inspires authentic leadership. 

Candidates from the 2017 Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme cohort were interviewed at Mont Fleur, outside Cape Town, about the first workshop in the programme.  Martino Noely came away inspired with ideas on how to be a better change agent when he returned to Madagascar.

Candidates from the 2017 Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme cohort were interviewed at Mont Fleur, outside Cape Town, about the first workshop in the programme. Natalie Jabangwe says a key lesson of the programme is showing how unselfish leadership puts people first.

Candidates from the 2017 Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme cohort were interviewed at Mont Fleur, outside Cape Town, about the first workshop in the programme. Ngisana Mngomezulu says creativity will be needed to effect change.

Candidates from the 2017 Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme cohort were interviewed at Mont Fleur, outside Cape Town, about the first workshop in the programme. Onyinye Ibeneche shares how the programme helps leaders find and-and solutions rather than either-or solutions.