The African Leadership Institute is pleased to announce the Associates who have been selected for the 2022 Class of the Tutu Fellowship programme. As has been the case with previous cohorts, the people selected are exceptional emerging African leaders. AFLI received more than 330 nominations of outstanding quality from across Africa, from which the cohort was selected. They are from the following countries: Cameroon, Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.
A few candidates are included this year who were selected in 2020 but who could not attend that cohort due to COVID restrictions. The selected candidates demonstrate the incredible wealth and breadth of leadership talent that exists in Africa’s young people, which bodes well for Africa’s future.
On 26 December 2021, AFLI lost its founding patron, Archbishop Desmond Tutu. So for this cohort, the baton is passed to them to remember a life of service well-lived and the values and ideals he espoused and bequeathed to us — ubuntu, servant leadership, integrity, humility, compassion, and moral courage. The African Leadership Institute remains resolute in its mission to nurture a new generation of African leaders who will uphold the legacy and values of Archbishop Tutu, as they lead in their various spheres. In some way, we have always been prepared for his passing because it was our very raison d’etre from inception—to shine a light on his example to always inspire the kind of leadership that is sorely lacking but much needed in Africa specifically, but the world, more broadly. With his passing, our work has newfound importance and significance.