Ghana Campus YALI Partnership Event
November 25, 2015
Webster University's campus in Accra, Ghana, held its final celebration of the Webster centennial on Saturday, Nov. 14, by bringing together 105 young African leaders, Webster students, faculty and staff.
The Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) is an initiative of U.S. President Barack Obama to encourage the next generation of African Leaders. The Accra YALI Regional Leadership Center (RLC) offers an innovative leadership training program for young people in the West African sub- region as well as other parts of the African continent.
As a YALI RLC partner, the Ghana campus offers scholarship opportunities and provides support in leadership training for participants. Additionally, the YALI RLC cohort has access to the Webster Ghana campus facility for special lectures and campus events.
Webster Ghana campus director Christa Sanders gave the welcome speech and advised the youth to be ‘’agents of change’’ to transform not only Africa but the world at large.
Hannah Verity, director of Global Programs in Webster's College of Arts and Sciences, visited Accra and participated in the program. She challenged the cohort to consider global citizenship and to reflect on the positive impact YALI would have on them as future global leaders.
YALI RLC director Victor Osei explained that leadership had no limits regarding age, gender, race, disability etc. He also stated that there are many possibilities for leadership, so African youth should ‘’rise to the occasion’’ and take advantage of such opportunities.
U.S. Embassy public affairs officer Daniel Fennell also spoke, lauding President Obama for a remarkable initiative in identifying and empowering future leaders in Africa.
Finally, Webster graduate students and YALI participants shared their perspectives on, "What does it mean to be a global leader?" This was followed by the key note address by Charles Buckman, a motivational speaker and author. He encouraged all participants to be future global leaders and to follow the three ‘D’s of leadership; namely to be: daring, disciplined and determined.
The event concluded with a lunch and networking session for Webster students and YALI RLC cohort 2 participants on campus.
See media coverage of the event in this story at Modern Ghana.