ABOUT YPLS Africa
Established since 2016
The Young Political Leadership School Africa (YPLS Africa) is a political organizing, leadership development and campaign training program for emerging young African leaders established in April 2016 by Naymote Partners for Democratic Development. The overarching goal of the program is to contribute to the formation of a new generation of leaders that would transform Africa with the following objectives:
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Objective 1- To build the capacity of young people in leadership and increase the knowledge and skills among young people in planning, organizing, and implementing political events.
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Objective 2- Increase the number of young people stepping forward to seek political offices at different levels of the governance structures.
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Objective-3 Increase knowledge among young people to strategize the mobilization of other young people to support their peers during political campaign processes and to increase the representation of young people in elected bodies across Africa.
The program convenes young politicians and youth activists with a passion for supporting good governance, policy advocacy, fostering transparency in government, and mobilizing their communities to ensure that government officials are accountable to the people. The YPLS Africa challenge, inspires, motivates, and sparks new insights for participants to become transformational and/or servant leaders in their generation.
At the YPLS Africa, participants are afforded the opportunity to meet, network, and learn from honored and exceptional leaders as speakers and facilitators from around the world and network with like-minded peers to acquire the skills they need to play an active role in the political and governance processes in their respective countries. The YPLS Africa is a great platform to democratically transform the African continent and improve democratic governance through well-experienced, accountable, accessible, and responsive young African leaders.
Since April 2016, one thousand (1,000) young politicians and activists have participated in the YPLS Africa program and completed ten (10) cohorts, they are playing active roles in the political processes of their countries.
Every year, the YPLS Africa program welcomes a cohort of 100 emerging African leaders (18-35 years) who are interested in public service, shared leadership, policy advocacy, entrepreneurship, communication, political campaigning and community organizing, etc. to Monrovia, Liberia. Indeed, we are grooming a generation of servant leaders in Africa and amplifying the voice and leadership of diverse emerging African leaders.
PROGRAM COMPONENTS
Over the course of one year, fellows engage in a series of theoretical and interactive exercises to develop their knowledge and skills to play greater leadership roles in political affairs. Our program includes the following:
One-week Leadership, Election & Governance Training: Fellows participate in a week-long training to enhance their skills in planning, organizing, and implementing political campaign events, strengthen their leadership, management, communication, and networking skills, etc.
Practicum (Leadership and Civic Engagement Events): Fellows participate in three months civic engagement events in their respective countries or communities, host policy debates and town hall meetings with stakeholders on electoral reform or campaign management. Fellows also participate in grassroots campaign events during electoral periods in their countries.
Mentorship and Internship: Fellows are placed at strategic national institutions to enhance their capacity and to learn by doing. They are supported to engage in various community organizing events and professional programs during the period of additional three months, mostly for female fellows based in Liberia.
YPLS Africa, cross boundaries and breaks political barriers that affect young people’s political participation and help them claim their economic, political, social, and leadership rights. This is an opportunity for you to be the positive change maker you have desired. At the YPLS Africa, we don’t discriminate against fellows based on race, color, ethnic backgrounds, religion or disability.