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The goal of the African Leadership Institute (AfLI) is to nurture and enhance leadership capability across Africa, with particular focus on the promising leaders of the future. AfLI’s aim is to create a network of high potential young Africans who have attended our programmes, and who are expected to rise to top leadership positions in their sphere of activity over the next 5-20 years.

The goal of the African Leadership Institute (AfLI) is to nurture and enhance leadership capability across Africa, with particular focus on the promising leaders of the future. AfLI’s aim is to create a network of high potential young Africans who have attended our programmes, and who are expected to rise to top leadership positions in their sphere of activity over the next 5-20 years. AfLI will provide leadership learning activities that enhance their experiences, insights, tools and confidence, and provide a support network that will better enable them to become drivers of the transformation of Africa.

Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowships

The flagship programme of the Institute is the Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme (ATLP), whereby each year 20-23 high potential individuals from across sub-Saharan Africa are awarded the prestige Archbishop Tutu Fellowship, following a rigorous competitive selection process. The Awards are aimed at the cream of the continent’s future leaders, as indicated by the demanding selection criteria below, specifically targeting the next generation of Africa’s leaders in all sectors of society, between the ages of 25 and 39.

The ATLP is a multi-faceted leadership learning experience, whose focus is “African leadership in a Global context”. It is a 5 month part-time programme run in partnership with Oxford University and African institutions. The world class faculty and guest speakers are drawn from both Africa and outside, and the programme incorporates modules in Africa and at Oxford, reflecting the African/Global duality of the leadership that will be required of future African leaders.

The ATLP involves two 9 day workshops, the first in South Africa on April 24 to May 1, 2010, while the second will be held at Oxford University and in London at the beginning of September. Tasks are also assigned to be completed between the two workshops – with proper planning these can easily be accomplished outside normal work hours. The candidate’s costs of travel, accommodation and tuition at the workshops will be covered by the Fellowship. The ATLP has been designed specifically for Africans in consultation with Oxford and our African faculty and advisors, and incorporates a combination of theory, sharing the experiences of successful leaders, experiential learning, varied practical applications and assignments, conducted in an Oxford style tutorial environment. A balance is maintained in the various sessions between personal development & self awareness, the African context of leadership, values and ethics of leadership – the hard and the soft elements of leadership. An integral part of the ATLP is that the participants will be required to apply their learning to a “community project”, and in so doing extend the benefit of their learning to the broader community. Emphasis is placed on peer interaction and feedback, as well as tutorial style internalisation of the learning. The Fellows place a great deal of value on being able to share pan-African experiences and becoming a member of an exclusive network which is established across the continent.

At the end of the programme, successful participants will graduate as Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellows and will be admitted into the AfLI network where Fellows can interact, engage in dialogue on leadership and strategic issues, and organise meetings and civic engagements. With the help of our sponsoring corporations, the network is planned to become a platform to challenge, encourage, and support Fellows to become active leaders in society.

The ATLP provides participants with an intensive learning and broadening experience on the principles and application of leadership, and an opportunity to explore the issues and specific characteristics of African leadership, as well as the global challenges and dimensions of leadership. The programme places emphasis on learning and experiencing, not teaching, offering a variety of formal and informal learning opportunities to enhance the leadership capabilities of the candidate. At the end of the ATLP, the Fellow will have achieved:

* Membership of an elite network of leaders throughout Africa and beyond, committed to leading change and development on the continent.
* A self formed view of leadership principles and values that are most appropriate to the future African context and his/her own circumstances, which will be the model he/she will apply to his/her own leadership endeavours

* A breadth and depth of understanding of leadership – what has been successful and unsuccessful (and what that means) in different contexts, at different times, and in different cultures – and the complexity of demands on leaders.
* A broader understanding of how leadership functions in the global arena, and the complexity of issues facing global leaders
* A global perspective on the challenges and application of leadership within an African context, and confidence in the role he/she can play as a leader in both Africa and the global arena
* Practical experience of leading a project through which he/she will have enhanced the capabilities or circumstances of at least 25 young Africans.
* Interaction with African and global leaders
* A breadth of understanding of the regional and global forces and issues that will influence the decisions and behaviours of future leaders in Africa.
* A broad, systemic, strategic and visionary approach to addressing leadership issues
* Practical experience and feedback from working as part of a team of high calibre individuals
* A better understanding of his/her own strengths and weaknesses as a future African leader in a global environment
* He/she will be a more confident and wiser leader, with experiences, tools and insights that will enable him/her to “play” in both the African and global arenas.

Comments from previous Fellows

Typical comments from the previous Fellows in their feedback at the end of the Programme:

* “This has been a truly life changing experience”
* “It gave me the most extraordinary opportunity to meet Africans who inspired me now and will for many years to come and to be exposed to thinking and learning that made fireworks go off in my brain.”
* “This has made me rethink my role as a leader, and I will be taking time out to refocus my efforts”
* “It has been a life changing experience. Spending time with successful fellows from the continent and from different professional backgrounds has given me perspectives on leadership and African challenges I would never have had otherwise. The faculty has been exceptional, and most leadership programmes do not bring together such a diverse and top class group of speakers into one programme as this programme has done.”
* “I do not look at Africa and its people, the same way I used to anymore. My allegiance to the continent has increased multifold; and I have high hopes for Africa and its people and its future. I now know that there is indeed a space for me to play a role in changing the lives of my fellow Africans. I have been inspired more than I could have imagined.”
* “It has been a wonderful journey of self discovery, learning, inspiration, motivation and interaction. I am a different person, and my path forward has been greatly influenced by what this course has made me think about.”
* “The program has made me feel that I have a responsibility. It’s made me realize that my leadership is null and void if it doesn’t affect and touch the people around me. The whole program made me conscious about the issues that our continent has and it made me start asking myself – about how and what can I do to make a small difference. A question I had never thought of asking before. It used to be all about me and my success but the whole dynamics have changed now, it’s now all about who else can benefit from what I am doing – within my community, industry, church and the continent.”
* “I spent last week at (a brains trust meeting of SA’s top business leaders). Other participants included very senior people in SA business and civil society. It was facilitated by the best, and had the best minds contributing. And it couldn’t touch my AfLI experience in any way! Somehow you have achieved an excellent mix of providing direction but leaving enough space for participants to wander; you have mixed lecture with participation; and – so importantly – you created a forum where everyone can contribute. “
* “A great strength of the programme is its ability to attract the most senior, in terms of occupation, young persons from different parts of Africa and from different fields”
* “I had thought that issues on leadership were meant for the politically inclined, but this program taught me why we are all leaders in our own spheres, how to prepare for leadership, what leaders must know and how to avoid the usual pitfalls.”
* “It was an honour and a privilege. The quality of the experiences, and the people we met were exceptional and the programme gave me many opportunities to reflect on my own leadership styles and growth as an individual. I have grown enormously as a result.”
* “The programme is inspiring and life changing. I have been taken to a higher level of touching lives and changing people positively”
* “I learned on the programme more than I could ever have been taught by any group of lecturers – the presenters on the programme were facilitators who provided the oxygen for the experiential aspect of the programme. I learned how to step back and take a “Napoleon glance” at my own leadership and followership style, as well as those of my colleagues, in a productive way.”
* “A powerful experience which made me think of life differently, especially given the fact that it afforded me the opportunity to interact with people beyond my borders, it was an eye opener – an experience which kind of said do not let your potential get to your head but rather harness it for the betterment of the broader society.”
* “The impacts of the two workshops have been profound in the areas of self assessment and critical evaluation of continent wide issues and how complicated and dependent on collective ideologies solutions are”
* “The program is mind-set changing in terms of inspiring me into knowing that I can make a significant impact on Africa through my leadership”
* “The best thing about the programme is that it was not just focusing on developing me as a leader in my current organisation or chosen career, but it was focused on building enhancing me as a person to be a more effective leader in all facets of my life, including my role in the community, which is often neglected.”
* “I have attended a lot of professional training programmes and I think that the ATL fellowship programme will have the biggest impact on my career moving forward.”

Without exception the previous Archbishop Tutu Fellows have stated they would definitely recommend the programme to other high potential young Africans.

Selection of Candidates

The ATLP is designed to be a prestigious and highly selective programme. The Fellowships will be limited to a maximum of twenty selected participants who will be chosen by a selection panel from a set of nominated individuals from across sub-Saharan Africa. These 20 will attend workshops in South Africa and Oxford, and must be available for both. They should also be prepared to commit time out of normal work hours to tasks required to be completed between the two workshops

Preferred candidates are people, who, by their actions and achievements, and the values and principles by which they conduct their affairs, have demonstrated their potential to be a leader. They will be between 25 and 39 years of age (under 40 on 1 April 2010). Candidates can come from any sector of society – business, government or civil society. Candidates nominated and selected for the programme must demonstrate many of the following characteristics:

* Confident, Optimistic, with high Expectations and high Energy
* Courage to take Risks – be prepared to fail; challenge the status quo; do things which may be unpopular
* Determination and strong professional will
* High Values, Standards and Ethics
* Ability to Inspire others to believe in themselves and the cause; to Liberate and Empower others to succeed
* Committed to Serving his/her constituency (stakeholders/cause) ahead of self-gratification
* Humility – chosen to lead rather than self imposed leader
* Visionary, Strategic and Forward thinking – leading for a better future
* Systemic thinker – ability to assimilate, simplify and channel complex inter-connected forces to advantage
* Empathy and strong Relationship builder

Candidates must also be currently living in Africa, or temporarily placed abroad by their employer or completing further education abroad. They should be committed to living in Africa and to actively contributing to its long term success. We are keen to seek candidates who may not otherwise have access to such a leadership training opportunity.

Only nominated candidates will be considered for admission into the ATLP programme. Nominators are required to complete the Nomination Form for a proposed candidate and return it to the email address advised. The prospective candidates will then be sent an Application Form to complete and return by email before the closing date for applications of 16 January, 2010. For more information, contact Peter Wilson ([email protected]) or Olugbenga Adesida ([email protected]).

The decision of the selection panel will be final and no correspondence will be entered on the selection or not of individual candidates.

NOMINATION FORM

2010 ARCHBISHOP TUTU FELLOWSHIP

LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME
NOMINATION FORM

The Nominator is requested to please complete the information required on this Nomination Form in support of the Candidate you are nominating, and submit it to us by e-mail to [email][email protected] (copied to [email][email protected]). If you do not have e-mail access, you may fax it to (44)-1932-874501.

Following the receipt of your form , we will contact the Candidate to request him/her to complete an Application Form, which we will send to him/her. Up to date contact details are thus important.

The essential information we require from you are those asterixed *, the remainder is very useful. Your motivation of the candidate provides very valuable information to the selectors, and we respectfully request that if you do have time, please fill this in.
Candidate Information

*Name:

Age:

Male or Female:

Nationality:

Country of Residence:

Occupation:

*Candidate’s e-mail address:

Brief Comment on the Candidate to motivate the Nomination
Your motivation of the candidate is very valuable to the selectors

Nominated by:

*Name:

Position Held:

Country:

Relationship to Nominee, if any: