| Launch of the Young Africanaders Awards by the Chairman of the African Union, Hby President Karume of Zanzibar on behalf ofis Excellency Jakaya Kikwete, who had been called away to an emergency meeting of SADC. Aidan Eyakuze (2006 Tutu Fellow) was Master of Ceremonies, and Sean Lance, Chairman of the African Leadership Institute (second from the left at the table) gave the opening address. |
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Elsie Kanza (2008 Tutu Fellow) addresses the assembly of Presidents, Ministers, Ambassadors and other dignitaries at the launch of the Young African Leaders Awards programme
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SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT OF ZANZIBAR AND CHAIRMAN OF THE REVOLUTIONARY COUNCIL, HIS EXCELLENCY DR. AMANI ABEID KARUME, AT THE LAUNCH OF THE YOUNG AFRICAN LEADERS CONFERENCE AND AWARD PROGRAMME, KILIMANJARO KEMPINSKI HOTEL, DAR ES SALAAM, 26TH JANUARY, 2008
Mr. Sean Lance,
The Chairman, African Leadership Institute;
Retired President Ali Hassan Mwinyi;
Honourable Lawrence Masha,
Minister for Home Affairs;
Honourable Ministers;
Honourable Members of Parliament;
Excellencies Ambassadors and High Commissioners;
Distinguished Invited Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen
I am honoured and delighted to be here today to represent the Chairman of the African Union and President of the United Republic of Tanzania, His Excellency Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, at the launching of the Young African Leaders Conference and Award Programme. On his behalf, I welcome all the delegates and participants.
Foremost, I wish to take this opportunity to commend and thank the conveners of this conference for initiating the noble concept of Young African Leaders Award Programme. I also thank all of you for your kind response to their invitation to today’s meeting. The list of attendants include government leaders - past and present, politicians, academicians, diplomats, business executives, professionals, students and representatives from the media, civil society, NGOs, culture and sports. Indeed it is very rare to have such a unique combination at one place, at the same time.
This attendance is certainly a reflection of the people of Africa accepting the concept of the Young African Leaders Award Programme. It has to be so because after all the young people constitute about 75 per cent of the entire population of our continent. This makes it imperative for all our doings and services in our countries to be focused on the young people.
This includes giving support by governments, business and civil society among others to the youths upon whom rest the continent’s present and future transformation and development. The mantle of leadership must not wait for the youths to become middle aged but should start to be handed over early by identifying young people who have the quality of leadership in the various fields of human endeavours.
The challenges our continent is faced with are numerous; they cut across national boundaries, different cultures, religious and at times even regions. One doesn’t have to go far to prove that point; the conflict raging in some parts of our continent is a clear testimony of those challenges. One of the great threats to stability and prosperity in Africa stems from the threat of global inequality. And we should all understand that inequalities are not just morally offensive; they are also dangerous and fuels extremism. When the UN charter talks of the “sovereign equality of states” and the “equal rights and dignity of man and woman and of Nations, large and small”, that principle must be extended to individual citizen of every country, across the board, African is no exception. So what the African continent needs now is sustainable peace, political stability, and economic prosperity for its people.
Every century in human history comes with its opportunities and challenges since the responsibility of harnessing the opportunities for the good of that generation and overcome the challenges lies in the hands of the leadership of the day. It is, however, imperative for the past and present leadership to prepare the future leaders for those challenges. So far there is no process within our countries to identify those future leaders and bring them together to learn and share their views on critical issues facing our continent. I would like here to give special commendation to the very Reverend Archbishop Desmond Tutu for founding the African Leadership Institute, an organization that has started to work on those lines in limited areas.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am pleased that this institute is playing a supportive role to this concept of the Young African Leaders Conference incorporating the Young African Leaders of the Year Award. I am also informed that the conveners organized a workshop yesterday in Dar es Salaam to plan for the first young leaders’ conference and award for later this year.
These initiatives provide optimism for the future of our continent and we are all obliged to give them our full support. This goes beyond the consideration of politics, self-interests, ethnicity, gender or nationalism. We need to go to the realms of science, technology, research, civil duties, the academy, business and entrepreneurship in addition to politics and government. The future development of Africa will depend on the combined role of young African leaders from all sectors and fraternities within our societies.
I at the same time call upon the past and current leaders in government, business, sport, arts and other faculties to support the initiative of Young African Leaders programme by inviting dialogue whereby those young people will learn from their experiences and get the opportunity to challenge and bring change.
In identifying these young leaders, I wish to caution those executing the programme to avoid the danger of creating a cartel of anointed people. The Young African Leaders of the future must be those with proven leadership qualities at work, studies, society and who are compassionate with initiative and eager to learn. They will be the role models for the emerging leaders of the continent who will lead our people in the task of meeting the many challenges facing our countries.
The whole programme must be a unique opportunity for our young people to excel in their activities and prove their strong leadership qualities. As the conveners have recognized, it would be difficult to choose a single Young Leader of the Year. I would like to suggest the consideration of various categories covering science, the arts and culture, business, politics, civil duties and others. The winners will be expected to be role models and good candidates for leadership in their respective fields. Regional and Pan-African games, for example, are good sources of spotting the leading sports leaders.
The programme’s success will depend on the cooperation of all of us here and the organizations and institutions we represent. I therefore call on all to be spirited and give active and substantial support, for example in sponsoring the awards and sponsoring youth leaders exchange visits and study tours. The conveners should also learn from institutions like the Archbishop Tutu Fellowship, US Young Leaders’ Programme and the various young leadership organizations in our countries.
In conclusion, I once again thank the conveners and all those who cooperated to organize this launching today and the workshop yesterday. I give special mention to the African Leadership Institute under the patronage of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and its chairman, Mr. Sean Lance. I also thank Honourable Lawrence Masha, the Minister for Home Affairs and Ambassador Ami Mpungwe for their active participation in organizing this event. They give a positive indication of the support of the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania to the programme.
I would also like to thank the Tanzanian scientist and the Mozambican businessman for their eloquent presentations. Finally, I thank you all for your attendance.
I am now pleased to declare that the Young African Leadership Conference and Award Programme is officially launched.
Thank you.
YOUNG AFRICAN LEADERS CONFERENCE & AWARDS INITIATIVE LAUNCHED IN DAR ES SALAAM TANZANIA
The President of Zanzibar His Excellency Abeid Amani Karume has today (26th January, 2009) launched an initiative to recognize the achievements of young African leaders known as Young African Leaders Awards.
President Karume launched the prestigious African awards on behalf of Chairman of African Union His Excellency Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, the President of the United Republic of Tanzania.
The Young African Leaders Awards event is a concept created by African Leadership Institute (AfLI) whose patron is the Very Reverend Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the first awards event is expected to take place in November this year in Tanzania.
The awards programme which will be preceded by a young African leaders’ conference is geared to recognise and nurture the next generation of African leaders under the age of 40 and facilitate opportunities for vigorous and constructive debate and action on pan-African and global issues that African leaders face now and in the future. Furthermore the initiative is set to establish a peer network of high potential “future leaders” of Africa which spans the continent, cuts across public/private/NGO sectors, divide and facilitates greater understanding between cultures, religions and nationalities.
In his speech President Karume praised the AfLI initiative and called upon former and current African Government leaders to fully support the initiative which is geared towards empowering a new generation of leaders in Africa.
The President continued saying that “These initiatives provide optimism for the future of our continent and we are all obliged to give our full support. This goes beyond the consideration of politics, self interests, ethnicity, gender or nationalism. We need to go to the realms of science, technology, research, civil duties, the academy, business and entrepreneurship in addition to politics and government. The future development of Africa will depend on the combined role of young African leaders from all sectors and fraternities within our societies.”
In his address to the invited guests African Leadership Institute (AfLI) Chairman Sean Lance said that the transformation and development of African continent lies with the young Africans in the various sectors of government, business and civil society.
The AfLI Chairman continued saying that “Africa is a young continent whose problems can be solved by young leaders by building them with the capacity to deal with those problems. The purpose of the awards is to offer the young people a chance to compete and also prepare them to be good leaders of the future African continent.”
The Young African Leader of the Year Awards will feature an award for Africans under the age of 40 in any sector of society and any country in Africa, who have demonstrated exceptional leadership in contributing to positive development in Africa. The recipient of the award is expected to have displayed courage, high values, standards and ethics and a selfless commitment to the needs of the people who are ultimately impacted by his/her leadership.
Young African Leaders Conference will be an annual 3 day conference targeted at the top young leaders in all sectors of society (government/business/civil society). It will be focused each year on selected topics which are critical to the future of Africa, and of relevance to young leaders and the theme of the conference for 2009 is “Challenging the new generation of leaders to rise and make Africa’s dream a reality.”
The African Leadership Institute (AfLI) with its experience in the field of development of high potential young leaders across Africa, and its alumni network of such individuals, will be responsible, in partnership with others locally and internationally, for the design, management, facilitation and coordination of this initiative.
AfLI Newsletter
The latest edition of our newsletter (December 2008), which recaps some of the highlights of the last year, and details some of the work that the Leadership Fellows are involved with, can be found in the Documents section of the website at;
http://www.alinstitute.org/Document%20Library/AFLI%20Newsletter%20Dec%2008.doc
Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellowship
20 young and dynamic Africans have been selected for the 2nd annual Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellowship. The prestige Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellowship is a multi-faceted leadership learning experience aimed at the cream of the continent’s future leaders. This is the activity that will establish the Institute’s core network of future transformational leaders, and stimulate its intellectual foundation.
The fellowship will be launched with a ten-day intensive experiential and learning workshop to be held at the Mount Fleur Conference Venue in Stellenbosch, South Africa from 21 to 29 April 2006. The second intensive learning workshop will take place at the Templeton College, Oxford University in the United Kingdom in September 2007. In between the learning workshops, participants will be given assignments which will allow them to apply their learning to concrete issues within their communities. AfLI will provide the fellows mentors who will serve as their coaches. AfLI will also provide a platform for ongoing dialogue among the fellows and with experts. The fellowship programme is part-time and will be annual.
AfLI’s intention through its various leadership programmes is to establish a network of future leaders across Africa committed to the successful development and transformation of the continent. The Institute intends to serve as a vehicle for these leaders to influence change in addition to providing these leaders of tomorrow with the experiences, insights, tools and confidence to become drivers of the renaissance of Africa.
Nigeria 2025The Nigeria 2025 Scenarios exercise was launched in Novemebr 2006 with the initial start-up funding of US$50,000 and US$30,000 by DFID and Ford Foundation, respectively.
The Nigeria 2025 project is proposed will provide a platform for a strategic dialogue on the future. The exercise will be a national reflection on the past, present and future of Nigeria to be led by the youth. It aims to provide a platform for collective reflection through a critical examination of the state of the nation, identification of the opportunities and challenges of the future, and exploration of alternative actions and concrete initiatives that could allow the population to build a desired future. It is hoped that the project would not only provide a platform to think about and debate the future but also a springboard for action by helping to:
- forge a shared vision among Nigerian’s current and future leaders,
- identify possible strategic paths for critical areas of transformation, as a basis for building a consensus on a transformational strategy,
- develop an agenda for change, and
- highlight the leadership capabilities required to effect the future transformation and suggest the programmes necessary to develop these capabilities.
Continued » 
SA2020 Scenarios Completed
The SA2020 project has now been completed and a series of launch seminars and media presentations are being planned to present the results to the public. These seminars and media presentations will provide a basis for national dialogue on the future of South Africa. The aim is to utilise the scenarios and the national vision developed by the SA2020 team to encourage a national debate and dialogue on alternative futures (what could be) and the desired future (what ought to be) and how the most desirable future could be realised while avoiding potential pitfalls.
The SA2020 team and the African Leadership Institute continue welcome demand from stakeholders for seminars.
For more information on the SA2020 project, kindly take a look at the project page and the SA2020 press release on this site. The print outputs of the exercise include a powerpoint presentation, the full document of the SA2020 project, the summary brochure on the scenarios, and a DVD/CD-ROM which includes all the print materials and an audio visual presentation of the scenarios using animation and live studio interviews with some members of the SA2020 team. The DVD/CD-ROM and summary brochure can be obtained from the University of Western Cape and the African Leadership Institute while the presentation and full document can be downloaded from this site.
For more information on the SA2020 or the other projects of the African Leadership Institute, kindly contact Olugbenga Adesida (oadesida@alinstitute.org) and Peter Wilson (pwilson@alinstitute.org).
Cabo VerdeAfrican Leadership Institute, in its formative years between 2002 and 2003, assisted the government of Cabo Verde, an archipelago made up of about 10 islands and 8 islets of the coast of West Africa in formulating national transformation strategy, organizing a national forum, and provided leadership training to the Cabinet, including the Prime Minister, all Ministers and senior advisers.
Read More > 
Masters Course in Futures Studies and Leadership
As part of its efforts to promote leadership education in Africa, the African Leadership Institute has developed in partnership with the Institute for Social Development, University of Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa, has developed a course on futures studies and leadership for Masters degree students. The first course was organised in the fall of 2004.
African Leadership Institute is currently exploring with other universities the possibility of running the same course. Interested universities should contact Peter Wilson (pwilson@alinstitute.org) and Olugbenga Adesida (oadesida@alinstitute.org).
