YALI Regional Leadership Centre trains 128 participants

The Young African Learners Initiative (YALI) Regional Leadership Centre (RLC) West African has welcomed 128 participants of Ghana Cohort 14 to undertake a three-week onsite training in Accra after successfully completing the mandatory two-week online training.

The participants, drawn from nine West African countries, were welcomed onboard the YALI Regional Leadership Centre’s Emerging Leaders on site programme at a colourful ceremony in Accra.

The countries are Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, The Gambia, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Togo, Liberia, Nigeria and Cameroon.

The onsite training for the eligible young Africans is in three tracks: Civil Leadership, Public Policy and Management, and Business and Entrepreneurship.

Dr Mrs Shola Safo-Duodu, the Project Director at the YALI (RLC) West Africa – Accra, encouraged participants to stay committed to the three-week programme and draw from the inspiration of several other alumni of the RLC, who were blazing the trail across the Continent to contribute their quota to development.

She said the RLC received over 12,000 attempted applications for Ghana Cohort 14, out of which over 4,000 applicants successfully completed the process.

Out of the 4,000, more than 500 applicants made it to the interview phase, from which 150 qualified for the mandatory two-week online training.

At the end of the online component, 128 successful applicants made it to the three-week onsite training.

Mr Pape Moumar Sow, the USAID Regional Coordinator for YALI West Africa, encouraged participants to appreciate the resources put at their disposal for the training, urging them to appreciate the relationship between quality and excellence so as to compete favourably in all sectors in the global space.

He admonished Ghana Cohort 14 to take advantage of the opportunities around them and do things differently for others to admire their creativity and uniqueness.

Prof. Anthony Sallah, the Dean of Students, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), congratulated participants for making it through the stringent application processes of the Emerging Leaders Programme.

He advised them to share ideas with their counterparts in the Sub-region while taking the opportunity to learn, as much as possible, the positives those countries’ representatives had to offer.

Participants of Ghana Cohort 14, the 29th Cohort to be trained by the Accra RLC, shared interesting national facts and displayed the rich culture of their respective countries.

The YALI Regional Leadership Centre West Africa – Accra, trains, equips and provides an avenue for young Africans from the nine countries to develop their leadership skills.

The initiative, currently in its Second Phase of the implementation, trained 4,531 young Africans during its First Phase.