The Obama Foundation launched its Leaders: Africa gathering, a 5-day convening of 200 rising leaders from 44 countries representing the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. The convening is part of a one-year leadership development and civic engagement programme designed to train, support, and connect emerging African leaders to create positive change in their communities. The convening will include plenary sessions, problem-solving workshops, leadership sessions, and skill-building trainings to increase the Leaders’ capacity to drive positive change in Africa.
The Foundation will be sharing photos and video from the gathering daily on obama.org/africa and via press release. Below is a daily schedule for the gathering.
Sunday, 15 July
- Plenary Session: “Ethical Leadership in Africa,”with speakers Mo Ibrahim and Uzodinma Iweala.
- Leadership Sessions:
- Leadership Session 1: “Leadership of Self,” with speakers Hatim Eltayeb, Ryan Findley, and Rachel Adams.
- Leadership Session 2: “Storytelling and Leadership,” with speakers Rob Burnet, Mimi Kalinda, and Taiye Selasi.
- Leadership Session 3: “Leadership of Others,” with speakers Veda Sunassee and Samantha Ngcolomba.
- Plenary Session: “Failing Forward: Risk-taking and the Benefits of ‘Failure,’” with Jason Njoku, Bina Maseno, Patrick Awuah, and Khanyi Dhlomo.
Monday, 16 July
- Plenary Session: “Leadership in the Face of Adversity,”with speakers Graça Machel, Bogolo Kenewendo, and Thuli Madonsela.
- Skill-building Workshops: Communicating for Impact: Building Effective Campaigns; Innovating in Government & Policy; Pitching for Investors; Goalkeepers: Accelerating Progress on the SDGs Fundraising; Fundamentals for NGOs; Leveraging Technology and Technological Tools; Scaling Your Organisation; and Strategising for Impact: Using Systems and Complexity Thinking for Tackling Big Challenges.
- Plenary Session: “Future Trends and the Importance of Governance in Africa,” with speakers Fred Swaniker, Sangu Delle, Maryana Iskander, and Judy Sikuza.
Tuesday, 17 July
- Plenary Session: “The Future of Africa: Elders Pass the Baton,”with speakers Kofi Annan, Lakhdar Brahimi, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Patrick Gaspard.
- IdeasFest: A group ideas competition that will mobilise Leaders to engage in design thinking so that they can begin to create concrete, implementable solutions to real-world social challenges.
Wednesday, 18 July
- Plenary session: “Innovating for the Next Generation,” with speakers Aliko Dangote, Trevor Manuel, John Collison, and Eleni Giokos.
- Town Hall with President Obama. Livestream available at obama.org/africa and on the Obama Foundation’s Facebookpage.
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