Windhoek
The 14 Namibian youths who were selected to represent Namibia at the Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) at the Regional Leadership Centre in Pretoria, South Africa, this month are said to be learning a lot from the programme.
The programme is aimed at grooming and empowering young African youth to become better equipped in their respective fields, as well for them to get together, engage and network on issues currently affecting youths with the aim of coming up with solutions.
One of the Namibians, Josephat Tjiho, who is currently in SA attending a civic leadership programme, says so far they have been taught how organisations can engage communities and public institutions to help raise issues affecting marginalised communities.
“We also learned about the types of leadership and their importance, as well as the aims of non-profit organisations and their importance,” says Tjiho, adding that he believes the programme will help inspire other Namibians, as it is a practical course which makes it easy for one to learn, understand and duplicate what one learn to others.
“This will also give a positive impact and hope for the youth that we are the change we seek and the time is now to bring that change,” he says.
The programme this year brought together 130 youths from 13 Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, following training in civic leadership, business and entrepreneurship and public management.
The programme is led by the University of South Africa, with governance training from the University of Pretoria, and entrepreneurship support from the Innovation Hub.
The Yali programme was created by President Obama in 2014 and started in 2015. Regional leadership centres will build on existing institutional capacity in Africa to provide high quality training, mentoring, and networking support to a greater number of young leaders than can be reached through the Mandela Washington Fellowship.
The centres will also reach exceptional young leaders between the ages 18 and 35 from a wide range of backgrounds and diverse experiences.