YALI Regional Leadership Center Southern Africa

The Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) is a signature effort to invest in the next generation of African leaders. The need to invest in grooming strong, results-oriented leaders comes out of the statistics: nearly 1 in 3 Africans are between the ages of 10 and 24, and approximately 60% of Africa’s total population is below the age of 35.

What is the YALI Regional Leadership Center Southern Africa?

The conceptualisation, development and curriculum content of the Regional Leadership Center Southern Africa (RLC-SA) as led by the University of South Africa (UNISA) were heavily influenced by the developmental, political and economic dynamics of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

The RLC-SA will develop the young African leaders in Business and Entrepreneurship Development; Civic Leadership; and Public Management and Governance through a hybrid of innovative and complimentary approaches that include contact sessions; online mentoring; online self-paced tuition; industry placements and experiential learning.

The centre will have year-long access to the state-of-the-art facilities at the UNISA Graduate School of Business Leadership (SBL) in Midrand, South Africa for the English speaking participants. The same program will be replicated in Mozambique for Portuguese speaking participants as a way of reaching and opening access to the disadvantaged lusophone communities. Contemporary African issues such as HIV/AIDS, gender, responsible leadership and technology will also be infused into the program to develop young and transformative African leaders. The productive partnership with the local and USA universities; private sector partners as well as the regional bodies such as SADC and the African Union will contribute to the improved quality of the program as well as the access, reach and delivery mechanisms.

The RLC-SA will, in collaboration with its partners, develop the 21st century skills that are the indispensable currency for participation, achievement and competitiveness in the global economy.

In pursuit of these ideals, the RLC-SA aims to:
•Create critical thinkers
•Solve complex and multidisciplinary problems
•Foster entrepreneurial thinking
•Innovative use of information, knowledge and opportunities
•Encourage communication and multicultural collaboration
•Create awareness of contemporary African issues

Objectives of the RLC-SA
•To provide the platform and tools to empower dynamic young Africans
•To awaken their innate leadership potential for the benefit of Africa and its global partners.