Nigeria: Youth Leadership Development Programme 2024

The Youth Leadership Programme has never been more pertinent to the present problems being experienced in Africa today, especially those bordering on leadership, active citizenship, and sustainable development, as they approach an election year.

Programme Pathways

• The Youth Leadership Development Programme will take on two pathways this year:
  • The Youth Leadership Programme (Sustainability Pathway) addresses the need to educate, strengthen, support, and enable young people in Nigeria for leadership, activism, and social change through outcome-driven policy engagements and inclusive resourcing that will support youth in shaping and supporting medium and long-term national development.
  • Intercampus Leadership Debates (Advocacy Pathway) provides an avenue to reawaken student activism in Nigeria, demystify what leadership means, inspire active citizenship, and support them in collectively articulating their visions of the future while catalyzing pathways for them to decisively participate in that future themselves. This will be done through nationwide leadership debates.

YLDP Thematic Areas

• Technology, Innovation & Entrepreneurship
• Human Capital Development
• Sustainable Development and Infrastructure
• Facilitating Good Governance
• Resolving Fundamental National Questions, Such as Patriotism, Unity, Peace, Integrity, Etc.

Pillars

• The Pillars are:
  • Leadership
  • Active Citizenship
  • Sustainable/Community Development.

Programme Components

• Virtual Training on their Learning Management System (LMS): Participants are onboarded onto the LMS to gain access to the modules. The modules are developed under the three pillars of the Youth Leadership Programme; Leadership, Active Citizenship, and Sustainable/Community Development. Participants have 5 weeks to complete the modules.
• Virtual Community of Practice: Participants are incorporated into a virtual community of practice, an online community where learning materials, programme updates, and other opportunities for development are exchanged. Collaboration and information exchange are promoted here .
• Change Project Pitching Sessions, Mentorship, and Implementation: The participants will be encouraged to form teams of 3-5 persons who will pitch their proposals for community change projects that tackle social issues. 100 successful teams will be selected to receive funding/subgrants and will also be paired with mentors to further aid their development and influence the excellent implementation of their projects.
• Leadership Debates: Participants who choose to take part in the debates will also be asked to form teams and submit video entries for the debate competition. The competition will take place in 5 rounds which are:  Elimination round 1&2, quarter finals, semi-finals and finals. To further prepare them for the competition, participants will be taught policy accelerator courses by expert professionals, and the goal of this is to build their debating skills and boost their  knowledge of civic participation.
• Youth Leadership Conference: The Youth Leadership Programme will conclude with a physical Debate National Finale and Awards Ceremony. This will be an opportunity to reward participants/teams and institutions for their work over the course of five months.

Funding Information

• Sustainability Track are eligible for up to ₦350,000 in grants
• Advocacy Track Competing teams stand a chance to win up to N2,500,000 and other prizes.
• Competition Prizes
  • First Prize – ₦2,500,000
  • Second Prize – ₦2,000,000
  • Third Prize – ₦1,500,000

Criteria

• The Youth Leadership Programme (Sustainability Pathway)
  • Participants in the sustainability pathway consist of teams of 5-10 people from the same tertiary institution who will carry out community change projects focused on the thematic areas.
  • 60 teams will be selected to receive funding/subgrants and will also be paired with mentors to further aid their development and influence the excellent implementation of their projects.
• Intercampus Leadership Debates (Advocacy Pathway)
  • Participants who choose to take part in the debates will also be asked to form teams and submit video entries for the debate competition.
  • The competition will take place in 5 rounds which are: Elimination round 1&2, quarter finals, semi-finals and finals. To further prepare them for the competition, participants will be taught policy accelerator courses by expert professionals, and the goal of this is to build their debating skills and boost their knowledge of civic participation.
  • Teams who make it to the semi finals will be assigned coaches who will support their holistic development, build their leadership skills and provide feedback on presentations and debates.
  • In addition, teams that proceed to the finals will be hosted in a one-day physical residential boot camp where they will be provided intensive training on critical thinking and public speaking, and provided coaching support in preparing for the finals.

For more information, visit Youth Leadership Development Programme.