By Mua Patrick Mughe in Yaounde
The national youth president of the National Union for Democracy and Progress, NUDP, Ndansi Elvis is leading a delegation of 24 young Cameroonians to the United States of America.
While in the US, the Cameroonian Youth leaders are expected to hold talks with US president, Barack Obama.
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Ndansi
Elvis (middle) during orientation meeting
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The 24 young Cameroonians who are entrepreneurs, youth
leaders or public managers in their various communities, The Cameroon Watch gathered, were selected amongst several
thousands of applicants to take part in the 2016 edition of the Young African
leaders’ initiative, YALI, an initiative of US strongman, Barack Obama.
The young Cameroonians, who are expected to take off for the
US this Friday June, 17 will join others from 49 sub Saharan African countries
for a six-week sojourn in different cities across America.
Speaking to The Cameroon
Watch Monday, Ndansi Elvis who is also founder and executive director of Unite for Health foundation clinic with
branches in Yaounde, Ndop and Bamenda, said the YALI otherwise known as the
Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African leaders is essentially for
young leaders to exchange ideas and learn from what he described as the “mature
democracy of the US.”
Asked how
beneficial the US experience will be to him as a youth leader cum entrepreneur,
Ndansi Elvis who stood the 2013 parliamentary elections on the ticket of the
his NUDP party in the North West, said the exchanges will greatly help him in
his approach in politics.
“Obama’s
idea behind YALI is to bring forth a new generation of African leaders who
believe in themselves and who can be able to provide solutions to African
problems” said Ndansi who’s also author of a book titled “gateway to politics’’
YALI in a nutshell
The
Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders which began in 2014 is
the flagship program of President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative
(YALI) that empowers young people through academic coursework, leadership
training, and networking.
In 2016, the Fellowship will provide 1,000
outstanding young leaders from Sub-Saharan Africa with the opportunity to hone
their skills at a U.S. higher education institution with support for
professional development after they return home.
The
Fellows, who are between the ages of 25 and 35, have established records of
accomplishment in promoting innovation and positive change in their
organizations, institutions, communities, and countries. In 2015, Fellows
represented all 49 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Fifty percent of Fellows
were women; and for 76 percent of Fellows, it was their first experience
spending substantial time in the United States.
To note that Each Mandela Washington Fellow takes part in a six-week academic and
leadership Institute at a U.S. university or college in one of three tracks:
Business and Entrepreneurship, Civic Leadership, or Public Management.
Upon
returning to their home countries, YALI organisers say, Fellows are expected to
continue to build the skills they have developed during their time in the
United States through support from U.S. embassies, four Regional Leadership
Centers, the YALI Network, and customized programming from USAID and affiliated
partners..
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