Rapper Suffix and poet Robert Chiwamba alongside Mervis Maigwa are in United States of America (USA) having made the list for this year’s six-week flagship programme of the Young African Leaders Initiative (Yali) also known as the Mandela Washington Fellowship.
Mervis of Travel with Mervis, who has been instrumental in uplifting tourism in the country, wrote on her Facebook page that she was glad to be part of the programme.
“I feel privileged to be among the lucky few. We have been placed in different states in the US in three leadership tracks: business, civic engagement, and public management. I will be at the University of Nevada, Reno, under the Leadership in Business track,” she said.
Suffix, who released his third album titled Tailora last month, said yesterday that apart from being an artist, he is passionate about good governance.
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“The knowledge I have in terms of economics, politics has probably helped me to address social, economic and political issues that affect us as a country.
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“So, Mandela Washington is a great opportunity for me to learn the skills of how to engage our leaders, conflict resolution and pretty much how to lead well,” the artist, who is doing Public Management programme said.
Chiwamba, who is Poetry Association of Malawi (Pam) president and recently released a tribute poem honouring former Vice President late Saulos Klaus Chilima, also said he was excited to be part of the programme.
“I am placed under the Public Management track due to my work with Malawi Revenue Authority. However, I have a chance to meet leaders in other sectors such as the arts sector which I intend to do,” he said.
US Embassy Public Affairs Officer Edward Denny said yesterday that US Embassy Lilongwe was excited to announce that 18 young Malawians are participants in the 2024 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders.
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Denny said since its inception in 2014, nearly 6,500 young leaders from every country in Sub-Saharan Africa, including a total of 139 young Malawian leaders have participated in the Mandela Washington Fellowship.
“The 2024 cohort increases the number to 157 Malawians. The fellows come from diverse backgrounds and include artists, innovators and a paramount chief, in addition to practitioners in the medical, legal, energy, education, environment, NGO, governance, business and entrepreneurship sectors,” he said.
The programme empowers young African leaders through academic coursework, leadership training, mentoring, networking, professional opportunities and local community engagement. Last year artists Kim of Diamonds and KBG also participated in the programme.
