The Obama Foundation Leaders Africa program seeks to build a growing network of innovative and values-based changemakers who will drive positive change in their communities, the continent, and the world. 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 and across our world. The Leaders program launched in Africa in 2018, expanded to Asia Pacific in 2019, inaugurated Europe in 2020, and kicked off in the United States in 2023.
Inspired by President Obama’s leadership approach, the Leaders program engages participants in the challenges, opportunities, and skills of making positive change. Supported by full group sessions, small group discussions, and individualized leadership coaching, participants 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 work. They will be inspired to take further action, propelled by new ideas and skills. Most importantly, Leaders will continue to gain a broader global perspective by joining the Obama Leadership Network, a growing global alumni community of over 1,200 active changemakers.
Leaders Africa is a six-month, non-residential, virtual leadership journey for 34 emerging leaders from across the continent focused on exploring values-based leadership skills and building deep relationships with fellow cohort members.
Application Deadline: December 18, 2024
Eligibility Criteria
- Location: The program currently invites individuals residing in all countries and territories in the continent of Africa.
- Citizenship and Residency: You must meet one of the following criteria:
- Citizen of an African country or territory OR
- 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 status
- Geographic Focus: 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.
- Language Proficiency & Age: You are professionally proficient in spoken and written English and you will be between 24 and 45 years of age on August 26, 2024.
Leaders participate in the following core elements as part of the program:
- Weekly Virtual Video Calls: 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 Groups: 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.
- Individualized Leadership Coaching: 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.
The virtual Leaders Africa program
- The virtual Leaders Africa program seeks to identify exceptional leaders in public, civil society, and the private sector who have a clear issue-focus and who can illustrate the impact of their work. Our objective is to build a network of values-based leaders, who create positive, innovative change in their communities, throughout Africa, and around the world.
- The 2025-2026 program is entirely virtual, with no in-person programming scheduled for the program cycle. Participants can expect a dynamic blend of virtual activities designed to enhance networking, collaboration, and shared learning experiences. Among other leadership specialists, program participants will have exclusive opportunities to engage virtually with Obama Foundation leadership.
