Ghanaian Advocate Josephine Worlali Adatsi Represents Youth Voices at Major Continental Education Leadership Workshop

A young Ghanaian education and gender advocate, Ms. Josephine Worlali Adatsi, is gaining continental recognition after representing Ghana and youth voices at a high-level African school leadership workshop in Nairobi, Kenya.

Ms. Adatsi, Executive Director of The Josephine Worlali Adatsi (JWA) Initiative, was among policymakers, researchers, and education leaders from across Africa who convened from 10–12 February 2026 at the African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) Continental Validation Workshop. Notably, she was the youngest participant at the convening, contributing youth perspectives to discussions shaping the future of school leadership across the continent.

The workshop focused on validating the first continent-wide mapping of school leadership policies and systems and developing a roadmap to strengthen leadership and improve education outcomes across Africa.

During the workshop, Ms. Adatsi advocated strongly for the inclusion of students and young people in education leadership conversations, stressing that they are the primary beneficiaries of school systems. She emphasised that reforms must not focus solely on administrators but must also reflect the voices, experiences, and realities of learners.

She also proposed leveraging artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, and youth-led communication platforms to help translate and share Africa’s school leadership research in ways that are accessible and relevant to schools and communities.

The convening highlighted the urgent need to professionalise school leadership through structured training, mentoring, certification, and stronger policy coordination. It resulted in the development of a draft Continental School Leadership Roadmap aimed at strengthening education systems across Africa. Global education research supports this focus. The UNESCO Global Education Monitoring

Report (2025) identifies school leadership as the second most influential school-level factor affecting student learning outcomes, after teachers. Speaking after the workshop, Ms. Adatsi highlighted the importance of youth representation in shaping education policy.

“Young people must not only be seen as beneficiaries of education systems but also as contributors to shaping them. Being part of this continental conversation reinforces the need to ensure youth voices are included in building stronger and more inclusive education systems.” she said.Ms. Adatsi leads The Josephine Worlali Adatsi (JWA) Initiative, an organisation dedicated to empowering young people, particularly young women, through leadership development, advocacy, and capacity building.

Her participation marks an important milestone in strengthening youth representation in education leadership discussions and contributes to ongoing efforts to improve education systems in Ghana and across Africa.