IYF Launches New Program for Young Social Entrepreneurs in Anglophone Africa

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Young social innovators in Anglophone Africa can now apply to receive advanced leadership training, networking, and funding opportunities through Social Entrepreneurs Transforming Africa (SET Africa), an initiative launched by the International Youth Foundation (IYF) and local partner Makerere University Business School (MUBS), in collaboration with The MasterCard Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Its goal is to equip young African leaders with the knowledge and skills needed to strengthen and scale up their social change projects.

The initiative is the newest member of IYF’s YouthActionNet® global network, now comprising 16 national/regional youth leadership institutes across the globe. The 25 youth to be selected to participate in the program in early 2014 will join a distinguished pool of nearly 900 YouthActionNet Fellows leading positive change in 70-plus countries.

“The launch of SET Africa represents an important step forward in IYF’s efforts to strengthen youth leadership opportunities in the region,” said IYF President and CEO Bill Reese. “In addition to affording us the opportunity to work with a respected partner like MUBS, this new leadership institute offers much-needed support to enterprising youth who are pioneering creative solutions to their communities’ most pressing challenges.”

In response to the US Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa’s call in 2012 to empower the next generation of young African leadership, IYF is working to enhance the leadership skills and opportunities of young African social entrepreneurs through SET Africa and a regional institute targeting youth across Francophone Africa. The latter, Innove4Africa, was launched in July 2013 and is based in Dakar, Senegal. Fellows in both institutes will be equipped with the personal and organizational leadership skills needed to strengthen and expand the reach of their projects within their target communities, thereby contributing to the vision of President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI).

Qualified youth in Anglophone African countries have until December 13 to apply to join the first class of SET Africa fellows. For more information about the program and application, please visit www.setafrica.org.

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the mastercard foundation usaid yan regional institutes set africa