Young African Leaders Initiative
The Obama Administration’s Young African Leaders’ Initiative (YALI) is a long-term effort to develop an enduring and productive U.S.-Africa relationship with the continent’s youth. This wide-ranging effort has been led by the White House and the U.S. Department of State in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Peace Corps. At the core of YALI programming are three previous programs: the President’s Forum with Young African Leaders (August 2010), the Dialogue with Young African Leaders & the First Lady’s Young African Women Leaders Forum (May 2011) and the Mentoring Partnership for Young African Leaders and Innovation Summit (June 2012).
Since the 2010 program, the U.S. government exponentially increased the impact of YALI across Sub-Saharan Africa with over 2,000 local youth programs on the continent. To continue the dialogue and connect the alumni from the three YALI cohorts, Meridian worked in conjunction with the Department of State to implement two Alumni Reunion Seminars.
These alumni seminars laid the groundwork for the future YALI initiatives in creating an enduring and prominent initiative for promising young African leaders by building on and institutionalizing U.S. government, private sector and university outreach to young African leaders by achieving the following goals:
- Showcasing a new generation of young African leaders who are shaping the continent’s future;
- Reinforcing the U.S. commitment to fostering two-way dialogue between the United States and African youth;
Helping young leaders in Africa develop skills and networks to build brighter futures for their countries and communities.