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2012 Tutu Fellow Dr. Andrew Mude has won the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application.  He and his team are also receiving a USAID award for scientific excellence.  The recognition is for their work developing the innovative use of satellite technology and community outreach to develop livestock insurance for vulnerable herding communities in the Horn of Africa.  The program uses satellite data to help protect livestock herding communities in the Horn from the devastating effects of drought. 

AFLI’s inaugural leadership workshops were held in 2006. 2016 is, therefore, a significant year for AFLI! I have become the CEO of AFLI at a time when the Institute has commemorated its 10th anniversary and celebrates its 11th class of young African leaders – an opportune time to pause and reflect on what AFLI has achieved but, more importantly, what lies ahead and what AFLI can still achieve. It is also a time to thank our wonderful sponsors for making this happen over these 11 years – notably Investec, GSK, Rio Tinto, Centum, AGCO, and our Chairmen, Sean Lance and Strive Masiyiwa for their individual donations.

The Tutu Fellowship Programme requires each participant to write an essay on leadership in Africa. The quality of submissions is very high as demonstrated by this challenging and thought provoking piece by 2016 Fellow Jon Kornik,  where he posits that we are decades too late for leading by looking in the rear view mirror when faced with a dynamic and disrupted future. New values, new mindsets and approaches are needed in leaders for positive outcomes for the people of Africa.

A 2016 Tutu Fellow, Success Masra, recently was invited to the White House as part of a group of young leaders. It followed the launch of a compilation book on Nelson Mandela for which he was the lead author.  The book, originally published in French, is titled Les Héritiers de Madiba (The Rainbow Heirs of Madiba).  From there, Masra went on to Paris to defend his PhD on the role of development financial institutions in promoting renewable energy. 

It has been one year since students shook up the establishment and called for "fees to fall", and now we find ourselves once again facing a violent confrontation between students, the university establishment and the government.

Underpinning this violence and anger has been the inequality and lack of capacity of the state to provide financial resources and opportunities.

A team of the 2016 Fellows has put together a powerful video in which they look at Africa today and where it may be headed. The group comprises Sureka Asbury, Peter Biar Ajak, Raqiya Yusuf Ibrahim, Andre Hilton Ross, Tshepo Ditshengo, Dorothy Ghettuba, Cumeshan Moodliar and Rinos Mautsa.

They argue that Africa's current relative well-being rests on China's growth, but that corruption and weak governmental institutions prevent the continent from reaching its full potential. In their exposition, which pulls no punches, they outline three scenarios.

South Africa has seen a series of protests at a girls' school prompted by enforcement of the dress code, which impacted students who wanted to be able to wear afro hairstyles. In a piece for the BBC, Nigerian novelist and writer Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani questions whether a South African school's hair rules really were racist.

She recalled her days as a student at one of Nigeria's most prestigious boarding schools for girls where rules were rigidly enforced and falling foul of them could result in a shaven head. 

James Mwangi, the Executive Director of The Dalberg Group, says that small enterprise - if it is given the support it needs - has the power to create growth and prosperity for Africa.  The 2009 Tutu Fellow said that elements like providing early access to small amounts of capital and mentorship could unlock the potential of entrepreneurship. Innovative solutions to problems facing developing countries were likely to emerge with this kind of support.

Tutu Fellow Ifeoma Malo was interviewed by This Day Live on her views on renewable energy in a country with a chronic energy shortage.  Malo is a former senior policy advisor to the Nigerian government on energy and is now active in advocacy for renewable energy use in countries such as her own and others facing the challenge of meeting growing energy demands. She makes the case that renewable energy is the best solution to Nigeria's struggle to meet its energy needs.

In a piece I wrote on my blog, I made the point that the visit by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to Nigeria is a big deal.  He drew attention to the importance of technology startups, helped validate the country's technology ecosystem, and held high-level meetings with the Nigerian government. Zuckerberg also controls the largest pool of private data in the world of 1.71 billion active users and 1.5 billion mobile users - which is more than the entire population of China or India. His visit has important lessons that must not be lost. 

The African Leadership Institute will have a new Chief Executive Officer starting 1 October 2016.  The Board of the African Leadership Institute in South Africa has appointed Dr. Jacqueline Chimhanzi as CEO. Jackie Chimhanzi is a 2010 Tutu Fellow and has been a member of AFLI's Board for several years. Her involvement at Board level and being a Tutu Leadership Fellow enables her to enter the post with considerable knowledge and understanding of the various dimensions of the job.

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:

Social media in Lagos erupted after police and heavy equipment showed up and a short while later began demolishing a street of shops and small businesses in Ikoyi. Among them was one owned and very recently opened by 2014 Tutu Fellow Ada Osakwe.  The shop, Nuli Juice, was just six weeks old.  Local news reports report that officials said the landlord had been given notice after non-payment of taxes. Osakwe said that she had paid all taxes relevant to running an eatery with no notification of impending action.  

The 2016 class of Tutu Fellows offered a vote of thanks to the leadership of the African Leadership Institute at the farewell dinner at Lord Hacking's house. It follows:

Two quotations mark the point of departure for this vote of thanks.

• On our first day in Mont Fleur, Stellenbosch, in South Africa, Peter Wilson said: “This is more than just a programme. This is a learning opportunity”.
• During the day spent at the Investec offices in London on the last day of the Programme, in speaking about the importance of enjoying the work you do, Ciaran Whelan – Investec Global Head of Private Banking, said: “Life is too short to have another bad day.”

South Sudan has been troubled by war since it's inception. 2016 Tutu Fellow Peter Biar Ajak has been trying to bring a measure of peace between the sides through a common passion - wrestling. During the recent cease-fire brought about by the stuttering peace process, he was given just days to organise a wrestling tournament.  At the last moment, nervous government officials wanted to cancel it, but wrestlers from both camps wanted to know from the President, "Is he against peace, or is he against wrestling?"

This documentary, by VICE Sports, covers the tournament.