Impact Stories & Blogs

I came to the YALI Regional Leadership Center’s Cohort 2 on a mission to find my leadership niche.  Already interested in information and communication technology, I desired to utilize my skills in both IT and finance to benefit youth and low income people in my country, but the concept for how to do so had escaped me. From the outset, I realized the Center’s learning environment was different from anything I had ever experienced.  I learned that communication, problem solving, and innovation were the pathways to where I wanted to go, but it was not until the Design Thinking course that...

Unlike a majority of other people with Albinism, I was fortunate enough to grow up in a community where I was accepted. My parents played a major role in building my self-confidence because they consistently reminded me that I was beautiful. My elder brother was also born with Albinism, so by the time I was born my parents already knew and understood the condition, ensuring that my brother and I were well cared for and loved. It was not until I was in high school that I began to develop an interest in boys and realized they showed interest in my friends but not in me. With time, I came to un...

The power of self-introspection is often underestimated.   Soon after I arrived at the YALI Regional Leadership Center East Africa as a participant in Cohort 5, I realized I had come to a place where I could openly share my experiences and explore new approaches to leadership.  I came to know myself by looking inward, examining my past, planning my future, and developing a personal vision and mission. At the Center I realized I did not have a clear vision, but within a short time I was able to gain clarity in terms of what I wanted to do with my life. To understand how critical this perso...

Words like inspiration and game changer tend to get used a lot, but Ernest Tuape, a Cohort 1 alumnus from Uganda, says his experience at YALI Regional Leadership Center East Africa was just that. “In the second half of 2013, I was struggling with personal and career decisions, and I needed to speak to someone. I reached out to someone who I believed would guide me and be a mentor. Instead, this person asked me to pay him for his time, and I did, during our first and what would be our last chat. Paying him was painful for me, so I did not go back and could not continue with him as a mentor....

Yanie Ayoun had always had a dream to be a fashion designer, but didn’t have the resources or confidence to pursue her passion.  Everything changed when she was accepted to the YALI Regional Leadership Center in Cohort 7.  The first week, her passion was ignited and through courses such as Franklin Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Design Thinking, she began to gain the confidence necessary to pursue her dream.  Her confidence continued to grow throughout the three-week residential session, and upon returning to Djibouti, she had new resolve.  “I had the confidence an...

When I first walked into the doors of the YALI Regional Leadership Center East Africa, I was enthusiastic and eager to improve my leadership skills at a personal level. During the introduction phase of the program, the team at the Center reminded us that we had ‘a great weight on our shoulders’ to ensure that we replicate the lessons learned and impact other youth in our respective communities. This statement struck me as profound. Immediately I realized that the program was not just about me, it was about making a difference in my community after the program. My experience at the Center...

"When spider-webs unite, they can tie up a lion" Africa’s demographic bonus presents the private sector with innovativeness and enthusiasm of young people as well as their borderless outlook of life through mobile technology and the internet. Young people offer incredible potential and offer new insights on current and future policies for the private sector. The YALI Regional Leadership Center approach to building partnerships is proactive and seeks to co-design, co-create and co-learn with partners. Partnerships with Africa 24 Media, Family Group Foundation, G&E, IBM, Intel, Knod Fou...