Few days after the conclusion of the first training course of Together for a new Africa pilot project on 6th January 2022, Sophia University’s African Alumni praise the success of the project and are optimistic for its growth and development in shaping the understanding of the concept of leadership in Africa. The 3-year course, which was extended to 4 years due to the pandemic reasons, gathered more than a hundred young people from 7 countries. Youth coming from different socio-political, educational and professional backgrounds shared a challenging journey on leadership and carried out different activities in their prospective countries as a sign of the protagonist of the development they want to see. 

by Adélard Kananira
Communication team collaborator
MPPU International Center

 

The project was designed by African students at Sophia University in Italy before it came to implementation in 2018. While thinking about which contribution to give in order to be part of the growth of their own continent, the massive migration that was reported in Europe gave them the crew. 

“ We have all the potential, we have all the capabilities to dream of Africa, we don’t necessarily dream about migrating.

We need leadership that can give people access to these resources, access to realize their potential in order to work for their own countries and communities and then dream for Africa. Not only to dream of leaving in order to realize themselves. What is needed is something  that gives the youth possibilities to become aware of their own potential in their country and that is a shift in leadership. For me that was important and heartfelt being a young person studying Economic development. We were thinking of giving youth the possibility to dream about development in Africa.”

said Mr. Constantine Akeibar from Cameroon, graduate of Sophia University currently working with the World Food Program at Rome headquarters in the interview he had with MPPU International. 

Mr. Akeibar is satisfied with the steps that the project is taking. He is convinced that Together for a new Africa is no longer just a vision but it is steadily transcending into reality. He, however, recognizes that the project will encounter challenges on the ground. 

He adds: “There are a lot of challenges that one may face when it comes to politics and leadership. I think in the field of politics one of the biggest challenges that will always come is the diversity of ideas and diversity of ideologies. African leadership is not established on a leadership of servitude. The leaders don’t see themselves as servants to the people rather the opposite. 

Together for a new Africa wants to transmit this idea that leadership is servitude, to serve the people. That would be the first challenge that would meet with the existing leaders. It is something that you can never overcome. We have to work with existing leaders, communicate our positions and slowly negotiate our position to avoid misunderstandings. Our position is to serve the people and we are not going to do it in one day. Therefore we should not expect that the change will happen in one day. We need to be resilient because we are going to face a lot of challenges of diversity of ideas by focusing on the leader being a servant to the people rather than what is currently happening.”

The conclusive training course that took over on 3rd to 6th January 2022 was a way to summarize the path already taken by the participant as well as thinking about the aftermath of the training. Participants were together in their countries and connected to the rest of the countries via zoom. Mr Akeibar had an opportunity to participate in plenary sessions via zoom and was amazed by the level of training participants got and applauded the work done by people who helped for the training course.

” I was really impressed with the level of training that the participants have received. I could definitely hear they have developed soft skills in leadership with the way they were speaking, the language and the terms they were using. They were talking about conflict resolution, how to engage with others and also how to manage people. That shows that the training provided by the Together of a new Africa project is of good quality.

Second impression I have is that leadership is not the change of oneself but also shows the love we have for our culture and for our people. That’s why we want to implement these ideas to develop our culture, to develop our society and also to develop our mentality on how Africans, especially youth, view leadership. Taking example in the African context, we live in the communities and these communities are led by a leader, in some communities they are chief, community leaders, Kings etc, where the people have to serve them. So leadership is not new to Africa. However, this kind of leadership is not sustainable, so we want sustainable leadership which we can clearly say that is something  the project is putting into practice.”

A research center called Permanent Center of Excellence will be established in Kenya for Alumni of Together for a new Africa who wish to pursue research in different fields. It will take shape also in the digital space to coordinate all activities and plant seed for a future library and archive. It is one of the activities proposed for the initiative that is set to run from September 2022 to August 2025. The next cycle of the 3 year training course will include 12 countries to be revealed across the year. 

Participants of the first training course will remain in contact to build a strong network that will go beyond national countries for future projects and collaborations. Mr. Akeibar invites them to put what they have learnt into practice because it is the only way they can assure that the project is sustainable and also to give their contribution for the growth of the project which is now theirs.

“For something to become reality, resources are needed, financial resources, human resources, time and dedication. The only way to validate a project is to support it in whatever way you can. It is a very good project for youth and it can empower them if we put the dedication that is worthy of putting because just talking about it is not enough, we have to make it practical. the only way to make the project come to life is for us to dedicate these resources and, for me being in financial position in which I can support the project, I will at any point to make sure that African future leaders are aware of how a leader is supposed to behave, how is suppose to use the authority given upon them, to act as a servant to the people to foster development.”

As the chapter of training closes, the one of living and putting into practice what has been acquired opens. The participating countries are from a very complex region due to economical and socio political turbulence. However Mr. Akeibar encourages the newly graduates to never think of themselves as being on their own  and to seek collaboration with people they take as role models. He reminded the Alumni that having a vision calls for having a direction. 

He encouraged them to reach out to their local role models in leadership and communicate their ideas for them to share their experience and ask for their support for this project; and at the same time, to reach out to other institutions at national and international level to craft for the change they want.

“My hope for the project is that it should reach as many as possible, that should be the aim for the project, the message for the project is a new vision of leadership in Africa should reach as many beyond African leaders as possible especially in the area of education, I think the target of this should be education, like young students, in politics, in international development and in all sectors, young students should be reached and be educated on how leadership should look like so they can dream about Africa in the future.”