More than 124 youth leaders from 26 African countries are meeting in Kigali for the 2019 Youth Advocacy, Entrepreneurship and Leadership Training focusing on impactful leadership and how to own and run a successful business in the, ever-changing business environment. The young ambassadors who are of different education levels were selected from Eastern and Southern Africa, mostly from SOS Children’s villages. The youth will camp at the SOS Children’s Village technical school located in Kagugu sector under the theme, ‘The making of young digital citizen and advocacy’. Minister for Youth Rosemary Mbabazi delivering her opening speech to the youth in Kigali The training will be offered by tutors from Young African Leadership Initiative, the regional office for East Africa based in Nairobi in partnership with SOS Children’s Villages International. Opening the training, the Minister for Youth, Rosemary Mbabazi, urged them to be at the forefront to initiate the change they want and stop accusing their leaders of not delivering and to implement what are going to be taught back in their individual communities. “The transformation you want to happen in your country starts with that small impact you can create with your small effort not the actions of the politicians or leaders of your community, try to put into practice what they are going to teach you” she said. Daniel E. Ihansekhein, Regional Programme Development Advisor, SOS Children’s Village International Office, Eastern and Southern Africa, said the training was aimed at imparting skills which are relevant in the digital age. “In this training, we want to make these young ambassadors the leaders of today by empowering them with the kind of skills that are much needed to transform and create an impact in their communities,” he said. Ihansekhein added that they chose Rwanda because of the achievements it has registered in transforming the lives of its own people and the strides made in technology. “Rwanda has had a very tremendous journey of inclusive transformation and its one of the countries that have embraced and understood what impact technology can have its own people. So that’s why we chose it for this training,” he revealed. Gervais Bayisenge, SOS Children’s Village Rwanda Youth Leader, one of the Rwandans attending the training, said the training will help him in developing his entrepreneurial skills and hopes to implement the knowledge he will get from the training. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
