500 Youth African Leaders met Barack Obama at the Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders Presidential Summit on 28th July 2014 at Washington DC. Here is the President’s message.-Diane Uwimana
A group of six Burundian participants in the six- week academic study ©Iwacu
“The main message I want to leave you with is that, in the same way I’m inspired by you, you should be inspired by each other; that Africa has enormous challenges — the world has enormous challenges, but I tell the young people that intern in the White House — and I usually meet with them at the end of their internship after six months — I always tell them, despite all the bad news that you read about or you see on television, despite all the terrible things that happen in places around the world, if you had to choose a time in world history in which to be born, and you didn’t know who you were or what your status or position would be, you’d choose today. Because for all the difficulties, the world has made progress and Africa is making progress. And it’s growing. And there are fewer conflicts and there’s less war. And there’s more opportunity, and there’s greater democracy, and there’s greater observance of human rights”, declare Barack Obama, the US President during the meeting the African Leaders gathered in the Youth African Leaders Initiative-YALI.
The President goes on saying that progress can sometimes be slow and frustrating. And sometimes, youth take two steps forward, and then they take one step back. But the great thing about being young is that they are not bound by the past, and they can shape the future. And if all of them work hard and work together, and remain confident in their possibilities, and aren’t deterred when they suffer a setback, but they get back up, and they dust themselves off, and they go back at it: “I have no doubt that you’re going to leave behind for the next generation and the generation after that an Africa that is strong and vibrant and prosperous, and is ascendant on the world stage”.
Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders in honor of Nelson Mandela
This Monday, 28th July 2014, in front of 500 exceptional young leaders, President Obama has announced the renaming of the Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders in honor of Nelson Mandela. He has also announced that the United States intends to double the number of annual participants in the Mandela Washington Fellowship to 1000 by summer 2016.
The Mandela Washington Fellowship is the flagship program of the President’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) and embodies President Obama’s commitment to invest in the future of Africa. The first class of Mandela Washington Fellows arrived in June 2014 for six weeks of intensive executive leadership training, networking, and skills building, followed by a Presidential Summit in Washington, DC. Through this initiative, young African leaders are gaining the skills and connections they need to accelerate their own career trajectories and contribute more robustly to strengthening democratic institutions, spurring economic growth, and enhancing peace and security in Africa.
500 Fellows among them six Burundians- Armel Ntwari, Director General, CEO, Development Inter-people Finance Operations (Microfinance), Fikiri Nzoyisaba-Director of Innovation and Production, Imagine Burundi Terimbere (NGO)- Martine Nibasumba, Director of Planning and Research at Burundi Revenue Authority(OBR)- Ketty Ruhara, Deputy Director in Charge of Operations and Francophone Africa, International Leadership Foundation- Jean Paul Simbashira, National Coordinator in National Network of Youths engaged in fighting HIV and Ariane Kampingwe, Deputy Coordinator of International Protection, National Office for the Protection of Refugees and Internally Displaced People- are selected each year to participate in a six-week academic program at a U.S University in one of three study tracks.
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The Class of 2014
Selected from nearly 50,000 applications, the 500 Mandela Washington Fellows represent the extraordinary promise of an emerging generation of entrepreneurs, activists, and public officials. Mandela Washington Fellows are between 25 and 35 years old; have proven track records of leadership in a public, private, or civic organization; and demonstrate a strong commitment to contributing their skills and talents to building and serving their communities. The first class of Fellows represents all 49 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and includes equal numbers of men and women. Despite their youth, more than 75 percent of Fellows already hold a mid-level or executive position, and 48 percent have a graduate degree. Twenty-five percent of Fellows currently work in a non-governmental institution and 39 percent of them operate their own business. Nearly all Fellows are the first in their families to visit the United States.
IWACU Open Data
