“Together for a New Africa” Pioneer Group Graduate at a Colorful Ceremony

Participants in the Thursday, January 6 graduation were drawn from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan.

The pilot phase of “Back to Africa - Together for a New Africa” was conducted at various levels, allowing the young leaders to participate in three regional interdisciplinary, intercultural and multi-perspective leadership trainings of 6-10 days.

With the help of volunteer tutors, the trainees then organized local activities, involving their fellow youths in their respective countries or communities, ranging from social and ecological grassroots activities to leadership awareness campaigns in schools and universities.

The participants attended four Summer Schools, with the last one involving a series of online trainings that were conducted between January 3 and January 6, culminating in the graduation. 

A section of the topics that were delivered in this year’s series of training were woven around Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letter, Laudato Si’, and included Integral Ecology, Governance and Climate Change and Ubuntu and Climate Change.

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T4NA graduation in DRC. Credit: Together for a New Africa

In his presentation on ‘Ubuntu and Climate Change’, Prof. Justus Mbae who is the chair of the project board of T4NA reminded the trainees to relate with the environment with respect, love, and other divine principles of Ubuntu that have always guided how Africans relate with each other.

“Africa has always had the spirit of Ubuntu. In the world view, we talk of how a person relates with other human beings. But now, we must talk about how a person relates with nature,” Prof. Mbae said.

He added, “In the spirit of Ubuntu, we care and respect other people. But we must also care and respect nature and the environment.”

From Sophia University Institute, Prof. Declan o’Byrne underscored the importance of long-term thinking in leadership. 

T4NA graduation in South Sudan. Credit: Together for a New Africa

In the interview with ACI Africa, Ulz disclosed that those who graduated from the T4NA project will also be responsible for national groups in coordinating the initiative’s upcoming project cycle.

The Development Coordinator of the Focolare Movement Eastern Africa also said that those who have financial stability will be called upon to support the incoming students. 

The next T4NA project outlines a number of activities, including the plan to establish a Centre of Excellence from where the project will be coordinated.

“For the Centre of Excellence, we are going to form a group of researchers who will deepen, professionally, some of the topics which will be delivered to the students. We’ll also look into having some online exchange meetings on certain topics,” Ulz said.

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T4NA graduation in Rwanda. Credit: Together for a New Africa

Those who graduated from the program have expressed a need to continue staying in touch with each other, the official of the Focolare Movement Eastern Africa said, and added, “We welcome them all, intellectuals, researchers, Religious people… everyone will find their place to drive this partnership.”

He informed ACI Africa that the next project cycle will start in September this year with the training of tutors followed by the Summer School of participants who will apply on the initiative’s online platform at www.togetherforanewafrica.org.

The next cycle, the native of Austria said, will be a cycle of three years with participants who will be drawn from 12 countries instead of the previous seven.

Selection of participants will depend on the situation of the pandemic as well as the availability of resources, the official said, and added, “This is an expensive project because we always have to move many young people attending Summer Schools around the continent.”

Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.