A training
programme for the second cohortof theYoung African Leaders Initiative
(YALI) has begun at the West Africa Regional Leadership Center (RLC)
which is hosted by the Ghana Institute of Management and Public
Administration (GIMPA) in Accra.
One Hundred and five participants from
Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Liberia, Togo, Cote D’Ivoire
and Burkina Faso are attending the five-week training programme.
In an address at the opening of the
training programme in Accra, yesterday, Dr Victor Osei, Project
Director, YALI RLC West Africa, Accra, said the training programme was
an opportunity to help improve the well-being of Africa and the
continent’s future leaders.
Dr Osei said the goal of the Accra RLC
was to educate and motivate the youth to make positive changes in their
communities, their countries and in Africa as a whole.
In his remarks, Nana Osei-Bonsu, Chief
Executive Officer (CEO), Private Enterprise Federation, Ghana (PEF
Ghana), stressed the need for the training programme to be grounded in
practicality and serve as a tool box of leadership training that would
empower participants to influence policy and build their capacities to
create and manage businesses as well as empower their communities with
enhanced livelihood opportunities.
Nana Osei-Bonsu pledged the commitment
of PEF Ghana to partnering the YALI Project and to providing internship
opportunities for participants to build their capacities in
entrepreneurship, business leadership and corporate governance through
its Africa Development Bank Project to train more than 1,000 Small and
Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
In a key note address, Mr Alex Duprais,
Mission Director, United States Agency for International Development
(USAID), West Africa, lauded the YALI Project as a way of nurturing
Africa’s youth and an avenue for transforming the future of communities
in Africa.
Mr Duprais expressed delight that the YALI Project included women in Science and Technology.
YALI is a signature effort launched by
the President of U.S.A., Barrack Obama, in 2010 to invest in the next
generation of African leaders by supporting young African leaders to
spur growth and prosperity, strengthen democratic governance, enhance
peace and security, and shape the future of business and
entrepreneurship, civic leadership and public management across Africa.
In 2012, USAID awarded two grants
totalling US$1.3 million to support the core principles of YALI such as
professional training, access to mentorship and networking opportunities
in Africa, with the aim of increasing public and private sector
engagement with the continent and enriching young leaders' potential to
contribute to economic, political, and social development of Africa.
And in July 2014, President Obama announced the creation of YALI RLCs in Africa toprovide quality leadership training,support entrepreneurship and enhance professional development and networking.
The Accra Centre has been established
with support from USAID Ghana, The MasterCard Foundation— whose mission
is to advance youth learning and promote financial inclusion to catalyze
prosperity in developing countries— Microsoft, Webster and Notre Dame
Universities, and Africa 2.0 Foundation,a pan-African civil society
organisation that provides a platform for emerging and established
African leaders to drive forward the transformation of Africa.
Other sponsors are PEF Ghana— a
non-profit, non-political, autonomous institution and the apex Business
Council of Ghana— Ecobank Ghana and Vodafone Ghana.
Source: ISD (G.D. Zaney)
