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Several Tutu Fellows form part of The Amahoro Coalition's Leadership Council, which champions the need for home-grown solutions to the horn of Africa region’s refugee crisis. The organisation, which was founded by 2014 Tutu Fellow Isaac Kwaku Fokuo, provides a structure and resources to help unlock the potential of the African private sector to generate transformative opportunities for displaced communities. It is in response to a massive need - millions of refugees have fled violent wars, civil strife, and persecution.  Some have been displaced for decades, lacking access to quality education and dignified livelihoods. This impacts the generation originally displaced as well as their children. 

The Fellows who are providing leadership to the Amahoro Coalition are 2014 Fellow Isaac Kwaku Fokuo; 2012 Fellow Julie Gichuru; and 2013 Fellow Nuradin Osman. The Leadership Council at the organisation comprises 11 people. 

2006 Fellow Judy Malan at AFLI 10th Anniverary celebration at Nirox Park. Also in picture, 2015 Fellow Martin Mbaya.

The African Leadership Institute is delighted to announce the appointment of Judy Malan as Programme Director for the Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme with effect from 1st March 2021.

Judy is well known to the Tutu Fellows community, having been a Fellow of the inaugural Tutu Programme in 2006 along with our past Chairman, Ronnie Ntuli and past Board Member, Aidan Eyakuze. It is truly heart-warming that members of that very first cadre of Tutu Fellows are still engaged and committed to continue our mission to build a network of high-potential values-based leaders across the continent who are committed to making Africa a better place for all to live in.

The organisation led by 2019 Tutu Fellow Samson Itodo has published a book about the impact of young legislators who are, in the words on the cover, "changing the face of politics in Nigeria". Beating the Odds is a compilation of powerful stories of young people - especially the beneficiaries of the Not Too Young To Run law - who ran for public office and won seats in the National and State legislature in the 2019 general election in Nigeria.

Samson is the Executive Director of YIAGA Africa, a community of change makers focused on building sustainable democracies in Africa, anchored on the principles of inclusion, justice, accountability and constitutionalism. He was also the convener of the #NotTooYoungToRun movement that led the successful advocacy for the reduction of age limits for running for public office in the Nigerian constitution.

Young people across the African continent have read the Greater Inclusion of African Youth in Governance and Public Service report and are calling for its implementation on social media. Project Pakati’s Change Makers posted their call to action throughout the month of March 2021, and it can be seen on their Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Following the launch of the Greater Inclusion of African Youth in Governance and Public Service report, the AU Youth Envoy, Aya Chebbi - within the confines of social distancing and the limitations on travel due to the pandemic - was able to meet the Namibian President, Hage Geingob, in October 2020. She was also able to secure a speaking enagagement at the opening of the South Sudan National Dialogue, where the tenets and recommendations of the report were put forward.

The African Climate Foundation (ACF) has elected 2018 Tutu Fellow Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg PhD to their Advisory Council. She is the Director of African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD), which works towards inclusive, agriculture-driven prosperity for the African continent, by strengthening the production and dissemination of more gender-responsive agricultural research and innovation.

The ACF is the first African-led, strategic, climate-change, grant-making foundation on the continent.

2014 Tutu Fellow Mokena Makeka was appointed Principal at Dalberg, and Director of the South Africa Office commencing January 2021. In his role, he will have a particular focus on the following areas: cities and urban development; the built environment and natural infrastructure; digital communities, innovation and entrepreneurship; transport and renewables; green livelihoods; forest economy; beyond smart cities and spatial and social transformation through design.

Dalberg Global Development Advisors is a strategy and policy advisory firm. Founded in 2001, it specialises in global development.

African Business Magazine has published a thought piece by AFLI CEO Jackie Chimhanzi in which she argues why Africa needs greater representation by young leaders at the decision-making table. The magazine published it as part of a special report to the 2020 World Economic Forum summit in Davos.

In the piece, which was co-written by the Pakati Project Manager Monique Atouguia, they point out that it is important for young people to occupy key leadership positions, but not just any young people. It is the young people who have the energy, focus, intensity, risk appetite, passion and single-minded drive to deliver well-articulated burning visions. Young leaders need to be at the centre of power, where decisions are being made.

2008 Tutu Fellow Elsie Kanza has been selected for a Richard von Weizsäcker Fellowship, a program of the Robert Bosch Academy. With this Fellowship, the Robert Bosch Academy offers outstanding personalities from over the world a residency of several months in Berlin.

The residency provides Fellows with the intellectual and physical space to pursue individual research and outreach activities on future-oriented topics in an international context. The Fellowship enables them to engage and study beyond their normal professional commitments. The highly-individualized stays offer these Fellows the intellectual freedom to deal with a variety of topics and issues beyond their regular duties and obligations. 

SA 2020 SCENARIOS SUMMARY

In 2004, a group of young South Africans, selected for their acknowledged leadership potential, envisioned that by 2020, South Africa would be “An inclusive, prosperous and just society founded on ubuntu, equality and freedom, fostering creativity and allowing its people to realise their full potential.” This Vision formed the foundation of their preferred scenario – “All aboard the Dual Carriageway”. It was one of four scenarios, ranging from disastrous to optimal.

Their hope was that “a quarter of a century after its transition to democracy, it would be a South Africa that has significantly dealt with the legacy of underdevelopment, poverty, unemployment and inequality that it had inherited. They imagined a South Africa that will have proudly taken its place within the world community of nations, as an economic and political equal.”  The group was facilitated by - and the final paper drafted by - Olubenga Adesida PhD, and myself.

The seventh edition of Choiseul 100 Africa – the Economic Leaders for Tomorrow 2020 has been released, honoring the most talented leaders of their generation who have had a positive impact on the continent's economic development, on society, and Africa’s success. Over the years, a number of Tutu Fellows have made previous lists. In this latest edition, eight were selected for the 2020 100 listing and a further eight for the 2020 200 listing.

The list is compiled independently by the Choiseul Institute every year, identifying and ranking African leaders under the age of 40 who are playing an important role in Africa’s future.

Like many of you, I watched yesterday as rioters and terrorists desecrated the United States Capitol Building. I was not shocked. That such violent opposition to U.S. democratic institutions would manifest after years of sustained assault should not be shocking.

The images from January 6th should not be considered an anomaly. We should resist the urge to label such acts as un-American and we should not move too quickly towards an overused rhetoric of healing. If this country is to survive the next few years, let alone thrive, we will have to face the aspects of our American identity that make so many people feel it is acceptable to deny reality—the reality of election results, the reality of a pandemic, and the reality of deeply rooted racism that manifests in the care with which law enforcement treated (mostly) White men rampaging through the halls of the Capitol Building.

2006 Tutu Fellow Aidan Eyakuze is listed among The Agile 50: The World’s 50 Most Influential People Revolutionising Governance 2020, which lauds politicians, civil servants and entrepreneurs who are driving agility in governments around the world. The list recognises “both high-profile icons and shines light on the unsung heroes whose work is indispensable in transforming government to respond to rapid technological change.” Apolitical made the announcement at the end of 2020.

It is compiled by Apolitical, an organisation that equips public servants to better do their jobs through courses, information, events and networking. It says that government is critical to solving global challenges, but that public servants often lack access to the best solutions because good ideas are often siloed in country's cities or sometimes even departments, leading to a duplication of effort, wasted taxpayer money, and poorer services.

2007 Tutu Fellow 'Gbenga Sesan, who has been immersed in the tech sector for most of his career, has warned that technology alone isn't a solution to inequality.  Tech evangelists have waxed poetic about the ubiquitous nature of technology might be the rising tide that lifts those in poverty out of that state.  In a TED talk, Gbenga argues that centuries of inequality can't be solved with access to technology alone - as limited as that may be. Instead, improved access must be coupled to training and support too.

Sharing the work behind the Paradigm Initiative, a social enterprise in Nigeria that's empowering young people with digital resources and skills, Gbenga details his vision for creating life-changing opportunities for generations of people across Africa.

The pandemic has affected everyone, but it is often the personal stories of those known to us that inform and shape our behavior regarding COVID-19. As the months of social distancing, handwashing and mask-wearing continue, pandemic weariness is setting in. 2013 Tutu Fellow Catherine Constantinides offers her experience with COVID-19 as a cautionary tale. She was young, healthy and with no comorbidities, and when she caught the virus in July it almost killed her. She describes her recovery as a nightmare.

She says, “For weeks I was too scared to fall asleep as I just couldn’t breathe. The idea of falling into a deep sleep and never waking up again terrified me. There is nothing more frightening than gasping for air and feeling as though your lungs are trapped in concrete."

2013 Tutu Fellow Catherine Constantinides has written an open letter to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the Chair of the African Union, about the plight of the Saharawi people and their homeland, Western Sahara. The letter was published publicly on the eve of an Extraordinary African Union meeting on Silencing the Guns.  It calls for AU action on the illegal occupation of Western Sahara by Morocco and on the military attack by Morocco in violation of a UN ceasefire agreement on Saharawi civilians in November 2020.

Catherine is a board member of the Saharawi Commission for Human Rights as well as a human rights and climate activist.

President Ramaphosa used his opening remarks as AU Chair to put the issue on the table.