Young African women leaders for sustainable development

Twenty young women have now begun their one-year empowering fellowship with UN organizations worldwide

The African Young Women Leaders Fellowship Programme was launched in September 2019 to help a new generation of young African women serve the continent and the world by designing and implementing development programmes and contribute to advancing the SDGs.

The Programme is a partnership between the African Union Commission and UNDP building on the African Union’s “1 million by 2021”, a youth initiative that seeks to connect 1 million young Africans to opportunities through education, employment, empowerment and engagement.

The 20 young fellows selected from 20 countries in 2019 have now all started their one-year assignment with UNDP’s country, regional or headquarters offices all over the world. We asked a few of them for their impressions, and a glimpse into the personal and career paths that led them to the fellowship:

Julia Negumbo

Julia comes from Namibia and started her fellowship at UNDP’s headquarters in New York.

Growing up was not always easy, she says, as her parents would sometimes raise children who were not related to the family: “I was confused about who were my biological siblings and who were not, I would always mix up everything.”

But there were lots of good sides, she adds.

“My mother never liked us going into the streets because it was very rough, but we had each other, and we were a small community within our home. If I look at other people from my surroundings who were my age, most of them didn’t get a chance to finish school. I think that my parents kept us away from all that. I always say if my mum had had access to education, she would have been a very influential woman.”

To study at the University of Namibia, Julia took a loan from the Government and studied microbiology and biochemistry. After graduation, she worked at a dairy company for two and a half years. She then received a Commonwealth Scholarship for a master’s program in biotechnology, bioprocessing and business management at Warwick University in the UK, but back home, , she remained unemployed for almost 2 years, to her surprise.

“It is the system in my country that [doesn’t] like giving leadership positions to young people. [They] feel that the new generation likes to challenge and is fully aware of their rights.”

Before joining the African Young Women Leaders Fellowship Programme, Julie set up the first Commonwealth Alumni Association in Namibia, and went to Italy to work for the European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer as a trainee.

A survivor of tuberculosis, Julia does not describe herself as a strong person but as a courageous one. She speaks 3 languages, likes volunteering, drawing fashion and reading books.

Back home she wants to make a meaningful change in her community and says that this fellowship will help her achieve her dream to start a foundation to help young people.

Achievement Dhlakama

Achievement comes from Zimbabwe and has been deployed to UNDP China, which is her first experience living abroad.

The 27-years old specialized in law, likes discussions on politics and global warming, and is passionate about tennis, running and boxing.

She graduated in Law from the University of Zimbabwe, and later brought her skills into practice during an internship at the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights Association where she organized trainings for young women on leadership and civic engagement, and why they should vote.

“We organized a famous campaign “Pray, register and vote” to encourage students in universities to register and actually vote.”

Later, Achievement worked for a private law firm focusing on corporate law contracts negotiations, arbitrations, out of court settlements and drafting legal, commercial and labor contracts. Following this, she interned and worked for the UNHCR in administration but also interacting with refugees in the country.

“It was an interesting experience: doing interviews, counselling and hearing about refugees from all over Africa.”

Achievement is interested in working on law initiatives, researching, reporting and sharing experiences from her work in Africa for UNDP in China.

“We shouldn’t be afraid of failing and we owe it to the previous generation of women who have been fighting for so long. Therefore, it is our turn. As young women we need to do more and say: “I think I can do this” and then do it, if you fail, try again or start something new because we are still young.”

Rawan Taha

Rawan is Egyptian. She was born and raised in Saudi Arabia and is now part of UNDP’s governance team in Lusaka, Zambia.

At only 28, she has already visited 16 countries and says the USA is her favorite because of its progressive society.

At the age of 18, Rawan moved with her family to Cairo, Egypt, to study dental surgery and dentistry. At first, she experienced a cultural shock, not knowing much about her country of origin.

After six years of studying, Rawan realized that volunteering in her community was the best way to pursue and explore her interests.

“I was helping marginalized children who don’t have access to education and helping disabled people in the community to find work, to reduce the stigma around them and to integrate them in society. I discovered there are so many disabled people in Cairo. People don’t know much about them, they are afraid to look at them.”

This experience motivated her to work in health promotion and inclusion .

“I just wanted to do something that was more related to social voices so I could advocate for leaving no one behind.”

For 2 years, Rawan worked as a dentist in a Government public hospital located in a slum community. Most of her patients had medical problems beyond dentistry such as skin diseases or asthma, because they were recycling garbage with their bare hands.

“It was an eye-opening experience to see that the people who were getting treatment at the hospital needed so much more than healthcare. They needed a system to serve them in other aspects of their life as well.”

Afterwards, Rawan got a scholarship to study for a Masters’ degree in public health in the United Kingdom. She worked various student jobs to support herself, and for a couple of months, assisted the East Ethnic Youth Support Team NGO supporting refugees, mostly Syrians.

“I was doing mostly social work even though I was enrolled as a medical professional. People that came to access care had not yet been granted refugee status by the Government.”

Back home, she had no luck in finding a job so she decided to do unpaid work to expand her network and help move her career. Before joining the African Young Women Leaders Fellowship Programme, Rawan went to China for 2 weeks with the UNLEASH Programme, a global innovation lab, to work on solutions to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

She is very excited about the fellowship in Zambia as this is a new area outside her current expertise.

“I hope I can continue to remain humble while keeping my aims high”

Aminata Ndiaye

Aminata comes from Dakar, Senegal, and is posted in Guinea Bissau.

She graduated from Science Po in Paris after 5 years and later went to South Africa for an exchange student programme at Stellenbosch University.

Her first months in Paris were lonely, she says, but in time she joined communities of Senegalese and African people studying at the same university.

Museums like the Louvre or Quai Branly with its arts from Africa and the Pacific are her favorites: “Most of all, I liked going to the museums and libraries because, contrary to Senegal, you find libraries everywhere. Also, walking around the streets can be very nice and clean. What I did not like in Paris is that people are too individualistic [and sometimes do not] even know the name of [their] neighbor.”

After graduating from Science Po, Aminata worked for a Belgian NGO focusing on fighting corruption in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

“My Master’s research thesis was about corruption and I got a job straight away on this subject. I was very impressed by the fact that Civil Society in DRC is vibrant, very energetic, dynamic and broad.”

Aminata’s ambition is to pursue a career as an international diplomat:

“What I have seen in France and USA makes me feel that it is urgent for us to make Africa livable for these millions of young people that would like to go to Europe. We need to develop our continent and make it peaceful, lovely, livable and best for the young people.”

Footnotes: Text by Anna Moghilda UNDP RSCA / All photos © Anna Moghilda/UNDP RSCA and personal photos of Julia Negumbo, Achievement Dhlakama, Rawan Taha and Aminata Ndiaye.