Participants from the 2015 Mandela Washington Fellowship, the flagship program of President Barack Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), will convene for the Southern Africa Regional Conference at the Southern Sun, O. R. Tambo International Airport Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa from June 9-11, 2016. The conference will bring together 150 young leaders from 14 countries in the region who participated in the U.S. based academic and leadership Institutes and Presidential Summit.

They will discuss how the experience has impacted their work and share best practices on fostering sustainable development for the future of Africa. They will be joined by some of Africa’s most notable leaders in the private sector, representatives of the United States government, and international and local organizations.

Participation in the conference is by invitation only. Credentialed journalists are invited to attend and report on the following sessions, which are open to the press:

Thursday, June 9, 2016

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM:    Welcome Remarks
10:00 AM – 10:45 AM:  Leadership Lessons: The Role of Young African Leaders                                            in Driving the Sustainable Development Agenda
11:15 AM – 12:30 PM:   Panel Discussion: The Sustainable Development                                                                        Agenda
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM:       Panel Discussion: Innovative Approaches to the                                                                         Sustainable Development Goals

Friday, June 10, 2016

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM:     Opening Remarks
1:00 PM – 2:45 PM:        Mandela Washington Fellowship Pitch Competition

Saturday, June 11, 2016

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM:      Closing Remarks: African Leadership in the 21st century

Journalists attending the conference should be seated no later than 30 minutes prior to the start of each session. Journalists and media representatives are requested to register in advance by emailing newsroom@irex.org and must present identification verifying their employment as journalists.

The Southern African Fellows include participants from Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

USAID and IREX support Mandela Washington Fellows with continuing professional development opportunities in Africa, to advance these young leaders along their professional leadership trajectories.

PRESS CONTACTS:

IREX Communications Coordinator, Erin Powell – epowell@irex.org

USAID Southern Africa: Tebogo Sepeng – tsepeng@usaid.gov

For updates, follow Mandela Washington Fellowship on Facebook (Facebook.com/MandelaWashingtonFellowship) and Twitter (@WashFellowship), or join the conversation on Twitter at #MWFcon16  

Photos and video from the conference will be available online.