Impact Stories & Blogs

Papi Sibomana, Rwanda, Cohort 13 I am a visually impaired young leader passionate about community transformation.  When I graduated from University of Rwanda with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance in 2014, I was discouraged by multiple attempts made looking for a job in vain. I sent out many applications that I lost count of but never received a single interview invitation.  In early 2015, I decided to volunteer with Bright Future Cornerstone (BFC), a social enterprise that provides collaborative education for success in the area of leadership, tech-innovation and entreprene...

by Dr. Cedric Patrick Le Grand Ouanekpone, Central African Republic (CAR) , Cohort 1   Prior to joining YALI RLC EA, I was a young medical student and social change-maker. I was on the board of three local associations that I founded with my friends and colleagues to stand up for human rights, gender issues and access to quality education and affordable healthcare. When the war started in 2012 in CAR, I was committed with my team to treat patients in IDP camps, churches and mosques and to train young people helping them to refrain from violence. In that light, we produced a movie “The Do...

Waruguru Kiai, Cohort 5, Kenya   The YALI RLC EA program has greatly shaped my approach to social transformation in public service. For the last four years, I have engaged with more than 2,000 women and men with specific focus on devolved governments and good governance, financial literacy and access to government procurement opportunities. As a Nyeri County Youth Governor, I have engaged more than 100 Project Implementation Committees in over 10 Nyeri Constituency Development Fund Committees on Public Finance Management and Social Audit Strategies to avoid wastage of public resources.I ha...

  Ssekitto Kalule Emmanuel, Uganda, Cohort 27 I am a professional visual artist, founder and team leader at Faces Up Uganda, an NGO that empowers young people (10-25 years) in mentorship through creative arts to instil the 5Cs; Creativity, Critical thinking, Confidence, Consciousness and Contentment to reach their full potential.  Joining the YALI Regional Leadership Center East Africa was something I had anticipated for a while. I had heard about the great work YALI RLC EA was doing in empowering young leaders all over Africa and being a civic leader optimistic about the future of Africa...

By John Michael Orimbo, Kenya, Cohort 10 My disability has not hindered me from making impact in the community. I was not born with any form of disability. However, at the age of seven, I started becoming frequently sick. Diagnosis done by some doctors showed that it was as a result of a wrong polio vaccine administered to me at a popular hospital in the country. It took me some time to adjust but I was determined to live a normal life and to date, I am proud of my achievements. The Center’s experience is one of the best moments in my life as I was able to bond closely with everyone and ...

By Maureen Muketha, Kenya I grew up in a semi-arid area, very infamous for leading cases of malnutrition in Kenya; food was always scarce, disease and poverty were prevalent, women and children were the hardest hit.  This experience nurtured an innate desire to fight malnutrition and develop a solution to ensure future generations would have access to healthy food. I started by enrolling for a course in Human Nutrition and Dietetics for my undergraduate degree. By the time I was done with my four year course, I had a deeper conviction of the path I had chosen and a heightened confidence tha...

By Kakel Mbumb, Democratic Republic of Congo (Cohort 6) Even though my professional background is in Computer Technology, I have a strong passion towards business and entrepreneurship, for this, I have taken a number of short certified courses to gain a clearer understanding of the field. Over the years, I have had my hands in entrepreneurship and agribusiness engagements with the youth with a desire to change the lives of many young people in my country. I have served as a Co-founder and Coordinator of Agriprocessing and Pastoral Cooperative of Young Congolese (CAAPJECO), an organization t...

By Anna Cheche, Tanzania (Cohort 22) Nothing sends a bad signal about where you live or who you are, like a littered environment. When I look around me, I see efforts of reviving the image of my continent Africa. I take time to reflect and I ask myself what role I have to play in all these and my answer is always cleaning the environment around me. My community faces the challenge of littered environment caused by non-degrading waste as well as lack of durable and affordable building materials. The affected group is the low income earners because most of dumping sites are nearby their reside...

By Nixon Chege Part of the Young African Leaders Initiative program is an online platform, YALI Network, which offers free online leadership development courses to young Africans. The YALI Regional Leadership Center East Africa also has an online platform, U-Learn, offering courses to young Africans to help them sharpen their skills. 17-year-old Nixon Chege tells his story about how YALI online courses helped him get opportunities he never dreamed of!   Before the YALI Network course on Effective Communication for Healthy Outcomes, which I did in February 2017, the only experience I had...

YALI Regional Leadership Center East Africa, Kenya Community Development Foundation, Deloitte East Africa and Citi Foundation collaborate in supporting young entrepreneurs in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania   Running a successful business is quite challenging, but for young entrepreneurs running a business can have even more complications that make it difficult to get basic tasks done. However, encouraging entrepreneurial behavior amongst the youth is the only sure way of fighting the runaway unemployment in Africa.   To support young people change from job seekers to job creators, Citi Bank...