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For the first time since the pandemic began, Georgia State University once again played host to a group of young African leaders, continuing a tradition of welcoming innovators from across the continent.
The group was part of a cohort forced to participate in the prestigious U.S. State Department-led Mandela Fellowship program virtually last year. This year, some 200 were selected out of that larger group to travel to the U.S. to experience what they missed due to COVID-19 related travel restrictions.
The Young African Leaders Initiative, or YALI, was launched by former President Barack Obama in 2010 to offer a professional development program in the U.S. for visionary, service-oriented young people from across Africa. Early on, the highly competitive application routinely generated tens of thousands of submissions for 700 slots.
Atlanta, with its sizable African diaspora, civil rights heritage, thriving economy and focus on diversity, has always been a draw for the fellows, who start in Washington and fan out to host institutions around the country. Clark Atlanta University has repeatedly hosted groups focused on entrepreneurship through its Leadership in Business track, while Georgia State’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies has customarily provided programming more geared toward civic engagement. The University of Georgia has also hosted some groups. In at least one year, 75 YALIs were in Atlanta at once.
The YALIs spending two weeks at Georgia State this year hailed from 19 countries, constituting one of eight 25-member Alumni Enrichment Institute groups the State Department placed at institutions around the U.S. to learn best practices and build their networks.
“The program allows us to work with some of the most creative, game-changing young professionals from countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa,” said Sally Wallace, dean of the Andrew Young School, in a news release.
One highlight for many in the group was meeting the school’s namesake, Ambassador Andrew Young, engaging in a discussion with the civil rights leader, Atlanta mayor, Georgia congressman and United Nations ambassador, who built up strong relationships in Africa during and after his diplomatic and political careers.
The group also served the city, volunteering with MedShare, which sends surplus medical goods to many of their own countries, as well as purchasing and distributing supplies to the homeless in Woodruff Park and working with the Multi-Agency Alliance for Children.
On the business and economic development side, the program included stops at the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget, Invest Atlanta and Georgia State’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute, along with Georgia Tech’s CREATE-X program.
To learn more about the city’s global links, they met with the Mayor’s Office of International Affairs. Global Atlanta spoke with the group on their last evening in town, trading notes about the city’s international legacy and forging ahead to create change with the help of carefully cultivated global network.
The Mandela Washington Fellowship, the flagship program of the Young African Leaders Initiative, has hosted more than 5,800 young leaders from all 49 countries in sub-Saharan Africa since its inception. Applications for the 2023 fellowships open Aug. 16.
Between 2014 and 2019, Georgia State hosted 125 fellows — 25 per year — and hosted 30 virtually in 2020 amid the pandemic.
Read more: A Network of African Business Influencers, Minted in Atlanta
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