Mandela Washington Fellows Back To Ghana

The Charge d' Affaires of the American Embassy, Mr Christopher J. Lamora, has urged the 33 Ghanaian Fellows of the 2018 Mandela Washington Fellowship to become leadership multipliers in the Ghanaian society.

'Share your experiences with your colleagues, friends, neighbours and families', and mentor those under and around you', Mr Lamora told the young talented Ghanaians who represented Ghana's best and brightest in the areas of Business and Entrepreneurship, Civic Leadership, and Public Management tracks during the 2018 Fellowship programme in the USA.

The 33 fellows, joined other 700 fellows from all corners of Africa for an intensive six-week academic and leadership training programme in various Universities in the USA to help them effectively lead organisations, communities and their countries.

The Fellowship is the flagship programme of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), which has supported more than 3,500 young African men and women since 2010 to further develop their leadership skills and potential.

The American Embassy, therefore organised a welcome reception for the Ghanaians in Accra where it interacted with the fellows and commended them for their selection and participation as well as for excelling in their various programmes.

Mr Lamora acknowledged one of the fellows, Mr Sena Koby Nyame, who returned home from his fellowship at Northwestern University and immediately sought opportunities to maximise the regional impact of his experience by campaigning for a seat on the 2018 YALI West Africa Regional Advisory Board.

'We are very proud that Ghana will be represented on this board where Sena will represent other fellows in the region and advise on U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) follow-on funding opportunities in Africa. Congratulations Sena! Mr Lamora added.

He also indicated that the 2018 cohort were now joining more than 150 Ghanaian Mandela Washington Fellowship alumni, most of them were already doing many exceptional things in the area of business and public management, as well as mentoring other young Ghanaians into profitable ventures.

Mr Lamora explained that YALI and the Mandela Washington Fellowship Programme were about growth, 'it's about progressive leadership development'.

He said apart from the Fellowship Programme, YALI also had the Regional Leadership Centre programmes and the on-line platform YALI network, and that one of the four regional centres was based in Accra, providing in-person and on-line training in business and entrepreneurship, civic leadership and public management.

The Accra Regional Leadership Centre, located at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, serves talented young leaders ages of 18-35 from nine West African countries, including Ghana, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon and the Gambia.

Some of the Fellows shared their experiences with the GNA, saying, the fellowship provided then 'awesome experiences that had impacted on their lives more positively'.

'It has helped me with a holistic approach of how I look at things. The fellowship has empowered you. They teach a little of everything- finance, climate change, politics, communication-they equip you to see other aspect of a problem from all angles and then you are able to find solutions from all these angles', Dr Joannishka Dsani, the only Veterinarian who qualified to be selected for the 2018 Fellowship.

Another Fellow, Ms Wedadu Sayibu, Programmes Manager of RAINS, a Non-Governmental Organisation, based in Tamale, said she observed that the American people do more community service, which has brought them to where they are today.

She said through the knowledge she had acquired, she pledged to mentor both in and out of school young people, especially, girls, to aspire for greater heights.