AfLI Newsletter

The first issue of our newsletter, which gives an overview of the activities of the Institute, together with an update on the work and projects which some of the Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellows have undertaken, can be found in the Documents section of the website at;

http://www.alinstitute.org/Document%20Library/AFLI%20Newsletter%20July%202008.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.

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.

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).

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).