US Embassy hosts 2016 YALI Mandela Washington Fellows
The United States Embassy in Accra has held a reception for the 2016 Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) Mandela Washington Fellows at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra.
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The 41 Ghanaian Fellows, who were drawn from various fields across the country, were in the United States of America (USA) for six weeks, from the end of June till early August this year.
The participants were aged between 25 and 35.
The programme involved about 1,000 participants from the whole of sub-Saharan Africa.
Last year, 20 Ghanaians were involved in the programme.
The number of Ghanaian participants for this year is more than double the number that took part last year.
The programme covered such areas as Leadership plus either Business and Entrepreneurship, or Civic Leadership, Public Management and Energy.
US support
Addressing the Fellows at the reception, the Public Affairs Counsellor of the Embassy of the USA in Accra, Mr Daniel Fennell, said the Embassy would support them in putting whatever theories they had learnt into practice.
He commended them for going through the whole programme successfully.
He announced that the 2017 YALI programme had opened and urged those interested in it to put in formal requests for the programme.
The Fellows
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in exclusive interviews during the reception, a Resident Doctor in Paediatrics (Child Health Department) at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Hilda Mantebea Boye, who participated in the Public Management aspect of YALI, said they were taken through personality types and leadership styles, as well as taxation.
Dr Boye added that the programme offered her the opportunity to learn at first hand how American institutes were run, as well as how they solved problems in their systems and how they were able to work towards achieving success.
She said it also reinforced the fact that they held the key to solving problems and that there were more solutions than problems, and also that they were capable of solving problems.
For her part, Maame Tabuah Ankoh, who participated in Energy, said they were taken through Energy Policies, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency.
Maame Ankoh said California “is a leading state in innovation in the energy sector,” and that YALI had exposed her to the various different approaches towards solving energy challenges.
Nana Adjoa Entsuah, a media practitioner, who took part in Civic Leadership, said the programme had challenged her towards standing up for the voiceless in society.
She said the fellowship had built their capacity as Africa’s future leaders towards taking the mantle of leadership for building a better society.
A Mental Health Nurse at the Maamobi General Hospital, Mr Emmanuel Kofi Danso, who also took part in the Civic Leadership programmes, said they were taken through Non-Violent Conflict Resolutions and Networking.
He urged the youth to contribute to society by engaging more in volunteer programmes.
Mr Danso noted that the programme had enriched his knowledge of Human Rights, saying he had learnt that in caring for mental patients, the issue of human rights played a very important role.