Together we can make it: a responsible and determined generation

Together for a new Africa organized the first part of the 3rd wave of youth leadership training. This latest wave will conclude the 3-years journey of young people from East Africa where the project was launched 3 years ago. This year with all the difficulties associated with the pandemic, the training took place in a special way.

The members of Together for a new Africa met in their respective countries and also connected together online so that they could follow the lessons with other members from other countries. The young people who attended are from these 7 countries: Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. More or less 100 young people were connected. Roughly the same number as in previous years since the cycle is followed by the same participants for 3 years.

The training took place from January 3rd to 5th,2021. Three intense days that do not replace the 10 days planned for each wave. Rather, it is 3 days that prepare these participants for the last training which will take place when conditions will be  favorable for all. The theme for this year is “Together for a New Africa: Responsibility and Determination”. 

A theme that calls for an evaluation of the course taken. A difficult journey that has challenged the thoughts and ideologies of some young people but has also helped them to adopt a “global” thinking and “local” actions in their contribution for society, for the world.

Professor Edward K. Kirumira, on Day two introduced a dialogue on Africa 60 years after independence. He challenged young people who want to exercise leadership to build and promote a frame of qualified professionals around them, who will know how to advise them and will be able to manage institutions and social interactions with them: ”if you have no people who can constructively advise or criticize you and you are not able to do so, it will be very difficult for you to be a good leader ”. 

Jean Marie Vianney, professor at the University of Burundi, for his part, in the dialogue on the concept of African leadership and governance in African communities before colonization, reminded participants that the development of the modern states in Africa has too much neglected traditional institutions instead of strengthening them. 

During his presentation he spoke of a concept that has turned out to be little known to today’s African youth “la palabre” which is: “a form of participatory democracy and governance that appeared in Africa long before colonization.…La Palabre is this traditional gathering place in the shade of a tree, of which citizens express themselves freely on life in society, on village problems, on the policy to be pursued and on the future ”. Together for a new Africa has thus become a source of social education and discovery for many participants.

In their words of greetings, the main partners of the project in particular, the representative of the NGO New Humanity, Marco De Salvo, of the Political Movement for Unity, Mario Bruni, and the Principal of the Istituto universitario Sophia, Giuseppe Argiolas, expressed their interests, affections, and support for the project. They invited the young participants to make the most of the training in order to become the key, not only for Africa but also for the whole world, in this effort for the common good.

As said by Melchior Nsavyimana, coordinator of the Together for a new Africa project, in his concluding words, the journey is not ending but will always continue because Africa needs new energies, skills and especially a new leadership that only together we can provide. He noted that the hardest part is always being able  to think together. A step that for two and almost three years the young participants have been taking. 

This project helps the participants rethink politics and empowers them to bring unity in all areas of their life – personal, professional, social and political. The latter also helps them create a network of alert, determined and responsible young people because leadership is also having the courage to change and overcoming the fear of losing. Together we can do it.