By KENETH SAWE

Celebrating 1,000th Graduate of Youth Leadership Program

The  Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Regional Leadership Center East Africa (Center) marked its 12^th Commencement Ceremony, celebrating the graduation of more than 1,000 emerging young African leaders. A partnership between USAID and private sector leaders, the program trains young African leaders to positively impact their local and global communities.

The Center draws promising participants from 14 countries in East and Central Africa: Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

The program’s 1,000^th graduate, Hana Bekele, is a 34-year-old visually impaired Cohort 12 graduate from Ethiopia, who is committed to empowering persons living with disabilities, particularly women and girls. Ms. Bekele explains the impact of the program, "I now know my potential and I know what to do to realize it. This program is a life-changing platform which inspires young people to be self-aware, goal-oriented and change-makers. By learning from other young people who go through this program, they leave with the confidence that indeed they can be the change that they want to see." Already a leader, Ms. Bekele is the General Manager of the Ethiopian National Disability Action Network and board vice-chair.

Ms. Bekele is just one of the 1,000+ graduates to improve their leadership skills, develop specific individual goals, map out clear action plans and build networks across the region with established leaders, and some leaders even serve as mentors. Upon graduation, Center alumni have access to an exclusive array of benefits including implementation grants and funding opportunities, career development resources and continued learning experiences.

The Center recently launched a virtual library called U-Learn, which contains free courses, videos and articles on leadership, entrepreneurship, civic engagement and public management. The library is open to the public, with the hope of increasing the Center’s reach to thousands more young leaders across East and Central Africa.

USAID’s Mission Director Karen Freeman explains, "The young people of the RLC inspire us all - they have the ideas and energy to lead their communities to new heights and we are proud to be associated with supporting their innovative training program. We are grateful for the similar faith shown by our private sector partners towards these young people. Private sector partners are uplifting young leaders to actualize their businesses and community projects."

For more information about the YALI Regional Leadership Center East Africa, please contact Susan Amu, Communications Manager, at susan.amu@yalieastafrica.org.

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