The Young Political Leadership School Africa (YPLS Africa) will host its first regional youth summit from March 23-25, 2022, in Freetown, Sierra Leone under the theme: Advancing Electoral Integrity for Political Accountability and Leadership in the Mano River Union region.
The summit will assemble 75 young leaders in politics and civil society from Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and the Gambia, for the purpose of learning, sharing, collaborating, growing their networks, and dialoguing on mitigating electoral violence, fostering electoral integrity and political accountability for national development, peace, and security across the region.
Sierra Leone President, Julius Maada Bio, is expected to deliver the keynote address at the opening session.
Other speakers will include the Ambassadors of the United States of America, the British High Commission, Ireland, the Secretary-General of the Mano River Union, the Head of the Elections Division at ECOWAS Commission, the Head of Policy Influencing and Advocacy Unit at the West Africa Civil Society Institute among others.
The YPLS Africa was created in 2016 in response to poor leadership, bad governance, and the exclusion of the youth from political and other decision-making processes across the African continent.
The program is unique in Africa and puts Africa’s youth in the spotlight. Its overarching goal is to contribute to the formation of a new generation of socially conscious, character-driven young political leaders who are accessible, responsive, and accountable to the African people.
A total of 730 young African leaders have benefitted from the program.
The Young Political Leadership School Africa, an initiative of Naymote Partners for Democratic Development, a leading civil society institution working to advance the principles of democracy, rule of law and good governance across Africa has been funded by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa.
