The Mandela Washington
Fellows Alumni Association of Nigeria (MWFAAN) is set to host the 2019 Young
Leaders Assembly (YLA). The Young Leaders Assembly, which holds annually unites
over 1000 active Nigerian youth leaders who are global citizens and progressive
thought leaders around a common aim - localizing ideas and collaborative
actions to promote Sustainable National Development.
The Mandela Washington Fellowship
Association of Nigeria (MWFAAN) is a flagship program of the Young African
Leaders Initiative, an initiative of the US Government through the US
Department of States.
The MWFAAN membership is drawn
from all sectors of the economy (and classified under Business and
Entrepreneurship, Civic Leadership, Public Management and Energy tracks) as
beneficiaries of the US State Department Initiative – Mandela Washington Fellowship
for Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI).
These notable and distinguished
young leaders are currently championing various projects and initiatives that
are capable of redefining socio-economic landscape of Nigeria and African continent
with supports from country governments and corporate organizations across
Africa since inception to date. The Nigerian arm of the alumni network is
believed to be the largest and strongest youth network in Africa, priding
itself with about 405 young leaders providing leadership for over 120,000 YALI
network members.
 |
| Sterling Tilley, US Embassy Public Affairs |
The Young Leaders Assembly,
is supported by the United States Embassy, Abuja with the aim of assembling
young civic leaders, entrepreneurs, public managers, activists and student
leaders working to promote national development and the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) in Nigeria and Africa at large. It is envisioned strategically to
position Nigerian youths on the pivotal roles in the realization of the
Sustainable Development Goals in all critical sectors of the economy by 2030
via a coordinated infusion of entrepreneurial and leadership skills through
Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) network.
This year’s summit,
scheduled to hold on the 14th of September, 2019 with the theme:
“The Future of Work”; will
feature powerful keynote speeches, panel sessions, lightning talks and an action
plan development session. Peculiar with the assembly, is the Beyond School
Community Challenge (BSCC) and Young Leaders Award (YLA).
The BSCC is a national
community development and entrepreneurship program for secondary school
students, it aims to engage young people in Nigeria for the purpose of creating
impact within their community and developing critical entrepreneurial skills.
The BSCC provides a platform
for outstanding secondary school students to provide solutions to problems
around their environment by creating community development projects, guided by
mentors and their schools, the students identify the challenge, proffer viable
entrepreneurial concept to address the challenge.
This year, the young innovators
will be designing and building solutions that solves urgent problems and
guarantees social impact in their immediate community. It is expected that a
diverse number of problems as it concerns the peculiarity of the different
regions in Nigeria will be identified and solutions proffered. The Challenge identifies
top finalists annually from the pool of applications received across Nigeria by
working closely with the Federal and States Ministries of Education, and the
top 10 finalists selected will be invited to pitch and exhibit their
entrepreneurial ideas at the Young Leaders Assembly.
This year, we have planned
to award cash grant to the best 3 projects teams, and access to three months
mentoring from industry experts and Mandela Washington Fellows, additional
educational grants for each winning team member, award plaques, certificates
for the Schools involved and Cash Prizes for the best Mentor/Teacher.
The Assembly will also
feature the Young Leaders Awards which aims to recognize, celebrate and encourage
youths and individuals who are contributing immensely towards the pursuit of
sustainable development goals as well as youth and economic development in
Nigeria.
The call for applications
for the 2019 Beyond School Community Challenge, and the call for nominations
for the Young Leaders Award is ongoing and will close on 10, August, 2019.
Finally, we the Mandela
Washington Fellowship Association of Nigeria (MWFAAN) believe that youths are
drivers of change and hope for our nation.
 |
| Lamide Johnson, MWFAAN President |
ABOUT
MWFAAN
The Mandela Washington
Fellowship Association of Nigeria (MWFAAN) is a body of young African leaders
with its membership drawn from all sectors of the economy (and classified under
Business and Entrepreneurship, Civic Leadership, Public Management and Energy
tracks) as beneficiaries of the US State Department Initiative – Mandela Washington
Fellowship for Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI).
These notable and distinguished
young leaders are currently championing various projects and initiatives that
are capable of redefining socio-economic landscape of Nigeria and African continent
with supports from country governments and corporate organizations across Africa
since inception to date. The Nigerian arm of the alumni network is believed to
be the largest and strongest youth network in Africa, priding itself with about
405 young leaders providing leadership for over 120,000 YALI network members.
We have organized several
projects of this standard effectively; a recent example is the US Embassy
funded Impact Project that extended the impacts of the Mandela Washington
Fellowship through a series of networking and mentorship programs to about
5,000 youths across 24 cities in Nigeria and the June 2019 Public Service Conference
for Innovative Public Leadership in Nigeria that brought One hundred and twenty
(120) delegates from twenty seven (27) Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs)
of government including Directors, Heads of departments, representatives of Permanent
Secretaries and other high ranking Government Officials, delegates from Public
Service Institute, delegates from Centre for Management Development, and representatives
of Statutory Institutions, academics and researchers to a 2-day leadership
simulation on innovation and servant leadership principles for transformational
leadership in Nigeria and featured international guest speakers from the City
of Madison, Bridgewater State University Massachusetts and Mandela Washington
Fellows from Zambia and Sierra Leone as well as representatives of development
partners namely, the Kukah Centre.
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