DEADLINE: 9 FEBRUARY 2024
The Obama Foundation’s Leaders program aims to inspire, empower, and connect regional cohorts of changemakers to accelerate positive and lasting change in their communities and throughout their region. These emerging leaders from around the world, generally 24-45 years old, forge societies and communities rooted in shared values, where all people belong, participate, and thrive.
Obama Foundation Leaders hail from a wide variety of nations and territories, work across public, private, and nonprofit sectors, and address a full range of social impact issues.
The Leaders program offers practical skill building for social change, leadership coaching, discussion of critical issues, and small group support. As participants, Leaders self-define a values-based foundation for sustained leadership, cultivate relationships with others to catalyze more inclusive, lasting change, and prepare to engage with issues at the systems level.
Upon completion of the program, Leaders will have gained a deeper understanding of how values-based leadership advances their ability to enact change. They will be inspired to take further action, propelled by new ideas and skills. Most importantly, Leaders will continue to gain a broader continental and global perspective, joining the Obama Leadership Network, a growing global alumni community of over 1,000 active changemakers.
Africa Program
Leaders Africa is a six-month, non-residential, virtual leadership journey for 35 emerging leaders from across the continent focused on exploring values-based leadership skills and building deep relationships with fellow cohort members.Â
Leaders participate in the following core elements as part of the program:
Weekly Virtual Video CallsÂ
These live virtual sessions are the primary form of collective engagement. These connections, an average of four times monthly, offer a mix of new content (conversations with experts, introductions to leadership frameworks, skill-building, etc.) and interactive, small-group work in breakout rooms.
Monthly Community GroupsÂ
Leaders work in peer learning groups that encourage deeper relationship-building and peer-learning, and offer opportunities to reflect on case studies of prominent African leaders, or discuss open questions from the group sessions.
Individualised Leadership CoachingÂ
Each Leader is paired with a coach to help them gain self-awareness, clarify goals, brainstorm ideas, achieve their development objectives, and unlock their potential.
Eligibility
You must meet one of the following criteria:
Citizen of an African country or territory ORÂ
Permanent resident of an African country or territory OR
Have lived in an African country or territory for at least the last 5 years, regardless of citizenship or permanent residence statusÂ
Your work is geographically focused on creating positive change for local communities, an African nation or territory, and/or the broader Africa region. You demonstrate a strong commitment to continue to focus your work in the Africa region
You can demonstrate at least 3 years of relevant experience in your issue area.Â
You will be between 24 and 45 years of age on August 26, 2024.
You are professionally proficient in spoken and written English.
You will refrain from participating in an electoral campaign as a candidate for political office from the time you are accepted into the program through May 1, 2025.
You can commit to fully participating for the entire duration of the six-month program. The Leaders Africa program is currently scheduled to begin the week of September 9, 2024 and will conclude no later than May 1, 2025, with planned breaks throughout.
The Obama Foundation is based in the United States. To participate in the program, you must be under no legal or regulatory restrictions that would limit your participation in virtual FoundationÂ