The YALI Regional Leadership Center West Africa – Accra, on Monday June 10, 2019, welcomed participants of Ghana Cohort 14 at a colorful event in Accra. In all, a total of 127 young people, drawn from nine West African countries, were welcomed and onboarded to the YALI Regional Leadership Center’s Emerging Leaders Program.

In her welcoming remarks, Dr. Mrs. Shola Safo-Duodu, Project Director at the YALI Regional Leadership Center (RLC) West Africa – Accra, encouraged participants to stay committed to the three-week onsite program and draw from the inspiration of several other Alumni of the RLC who are blazing the trail across the continent.

The Project Director stressed that 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 over 4,000 successful applicants, over 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 of the training, 127 successful participants made it to the three-week onsite training.

Mr. Pape Moumar Sow, USAID Regional Coordinator for YALI West Africa, encouraged participants to appreciate the resources put at their disposal throughout their three-week onsite training, encouraging participants to understand the relationship between quality and excellence in Africa. In doing so, the Regional Coordinator encouraged participants to keep improving in everything they do while reminding themselves of the global space they find themselves in, where competition is keen in all sectors. Mr. Sow admonished Ghana Cohort 14 to take advantage of opportunities that abound around them and do things differently for others to admire their creativity.

Prof. Anthony Sallah, Dean of Students of GIMPA, in a speech read on behalf of the Rector of GIMPA, congratulated participants for making it through the stringent application processes of the YALI RLC Accra. The Dean of Students advised participants to interact with other participants from other parts of the subregion, while taking the opportunity to learn as much as possible of the positives these different country representatives have 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.

Participants from Nigeria share some interesting facts about their country

Some members of the Ghanaian contingent performing the Agbadza 

The YALI Regional Leadership Center West Africa – Accra trains, equips and provides an avenue for young Africans from nine countries to develop their leadership skills. The initiative, currently in its Second Phase of implementation, trained 4,531 young Africans during its First Phase. Participants are selected from Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, The Gambia, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Togo, Liberia, Nigeria and Cameroon. The Center provides both online and hybrid (online + onsite) training to eligible young Africans in three Tracks: Civil Leadership, Public Policy and Management as well as Business and Entrepreneurship.