« A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. »

John Maxwell.

Study Skills and Time Management Seminar.

There will be a mini seminar on Study Skills and Time Management at Kinbu Secondary Technical today at 3pm. All mentees are being advised to attend this seminar since it will go a long way to enhance their academic performance. Junior and senior mentors are also welcomed.

See you.

Developing Leadership Skills Today in Tomorrow’s Leaders

Leadership development programs benefit youth by giving them opportunities to explore various definitions and roles of leaders in the world and to develop the skills they will need to lead and influence others in the future. Some of the most important skills that youth leadership programs teach include:

Communication Skills

The ability to articulate a clear, inspiring message and have it heard and understood by countless others is one of the most important assets of any leader. Communication, like leadership, is an umbrella term that involves many diverse aspects—from the basics of writing and public speaking, to marketing the message, spinning it for different audiences, and coming across in a style (not too passive, not to aggressive, but just assertive enough) that appeals to those you are trying to persuade. Communication skills also have everything to do with receiving information. Effective listening skills are among the most critical abilities that youth leadership development programs can offer.

Accountability and Responsibility

One of the things people always want to know about a leader is if they can walk the walk as well as they can talk the talk. Effective leaders understand how to be responsible for their actions and accountable to others for their decisions. Inspiring leaders know that leading by example is more impactful than leading by authority, on any given day. Leadership development programs teach teens how to use power and position wisely, especially when it comes to making tough decisions.

Managing the Details While Understanding the Big Picture

Youth leadership development programs give teens a sense of the complexity of leadership, teaching the differences between basic management of everyday operations (which is incredibly important and not to be understated) and overall leadership of diverse groups of people toward a common goal. Leadership training combines coaching in everyday skills of negotiation, conflict resolution, and delegation with understanding of overall vision, inspiration and goal-orientation.

Leadership is not something that everyone aspires to. Effective leaders must have a thick skin (to say the least) along with the long-list of competencies, skills, and abilities noted above. Yet the fruits of effective leadership—the opportunity to bring about important changes and meaningful results—are extraordinary. Youth leadership programs provide opportunities for young people to develop the right combination of talents to inspire, to influence, and to truly lead their peers toward the bright future they all want in common.

Leadership Training

There will be a leadership training session on Tuesday 8th November from 5:30pm to 7:00pm in the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Boardroom, Databank. This session is compulsory for all senior and junior mentors.

Please call (0249212976) or send a message to infoYLMP@gmail.com or ylmp@databankgroup.com if you cannot make it for this training session.

See you all!

"I have come to realize that they who acquire wealth are more or less stewards in the application of that wealth to others of the human family who are less fortunate than themselves."


- Amon G. Carter

What Can I Do for You?

Four Steps to Greater Servant Leadership

Servant LeadershipImagine your team members happy, dedicated and passionate about their jobs. They can't wait to get to work in the morning and are always striving to do their best. It's the perfect scenario, but, unfortunately, only possible if you have a budget the size of Texas, right?

Actually, no! Being able to have a dream team working right alongside you is highly achievable, and it all begins with a simple concept that is thousands of years old. Servant leadership has been practiced in churches for many, many years. In fact, references to putting the needs of others before your own are mentioned throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.

It can work for your business, too, no matter your size. Dave and his leaders have been practicing it for years, and he credits it for much of the success of his business. To get you started on your own journey to servant leadership, we've listed a few of the principles that you can put in place today. Give them a try! They're not complicated, time-consuming or expensive.

1. Follow the Golden Rule
Servant leadership is as simple as following the golden rule: "Do to others as you would have them do to you." (Luke 6:31). Handle all interactions with your team by putting yourself in their shoes, and then act the way you'd want to be treated. When you would expect to be praised, praise. When there's a problem you would expect help with, lend a hand.

2. Act With Grace
The best way to handle any negative situation is to act with grace. For example, if you have to reprimand a team member, never embarrass them. Talk to the person privately and promptly, and always remember how you would feel if you were being admonished.

3. Give Praise
For the majority of your team members, money isn't the chief motivator; they just want a sense of accomplishment for a job well done. People, no matter what age, yearn for approval, and the best way to make them feel appreciated is sincere praise. So make sure you are always on the lookout for people doing something right instead of focusing on mistakes or failure, and be sure to let the team member know they are doing a good job. Don't be stingy with your praise. The person who helps a fellow worker in time of need deserves as much gratitude as your superstar salesperson.

4. Treat Them With Dignity
People also have the need to be treated with dignity. At Dave's office, there are no time-clock-punchers. He believes there is no dignity in doing just enough work to collect a check. Make it clear that your team members' work is important to you and your company. It allows them to buy into your dream and work with passion.

By serving your team members with respect, dignity and a caring heart, success will naturally follow, and you'll become a true EntreLeader. It's the best way to grow your business. In fact, in the long run, it's the only way.

Why train mentors?

The biggest reason to train mentors is that although people understand, intellectually, the value of mentoring, they don’t know its real power until they experience an actual mentoring conversation. You can tell them and they can read about the process and techniques. However, until they experience being listened to without being judged or told what to do, see for themselves the amazing ability of people to find their own answers when given the space and support to do so, and feel the synergy that can occur when people are attuned to one another, they may not have the wherewithal to be the mentor they could be.

Preparing people for mentoring begins as you promote the mentoring strategy. It is critical once you match mentors and mentorees and continues as part of your program support. Most mentoring programs provide a workshop each for mentors and mentees, separately then bring them together to get them off to a good start. Follow-up group sessions are a feature of best practice programs. If it is not feasible to get people together regularly, webinars can be very effective.

Training builds on people’s experience and natural skills. It focuses them on the outcomes desired of mentoring and equips them with tools and techniques to do it well. Training demonstrates a serious commitment to your mentoring strategy. Train people so that mentoring works!

Leadership, Integrity, Ethics and Morals.

This is an interesting post by Mike Henry,founder and Chief Instigator of the Lead Change Group.

There is much to discuss in the relationship between leadership, integrity, ethics and morals. Many people have opinions on the meaning of the words and they way they’re applied. Jim Furr, of Tulsa Executive Events has written a series of articles titled Pointers in Proverbs making drawing relevant wisdom for living from the biblical text. He connects leadership, integrity and ethics in an interesting way that I thought would start some discussion. See what you think.
Pointers in Proverbs by Jim Furr

“Good leaders abhor wrongdoing of all kinds; sound leadership has a moral foundation.” –Pr 16:12

After surveying over 75,000 people around the world and performing more than four hundred written case studies, James Kouzes and Barry Posner (The Leadership Challenge) identified the characteristics most desired in a leader. In virtually every survey, integrity was identified more often than any other trait.

No surprise here. Peter Drucker writes in The Effective Leader: “By themselves, integrity and character do not accomplish anything. But their absence faults everything else.”

According to Steven Hayward in Churchill on Leadership, a Wharton School of Finance study of large corporations over a four-year period concluded that “between 15 percent and 25 percent[!!] of the variation in profitability was determined by the character of their chief executives.” “… sound leadership has a moral foundation.”

Integrity

So what’s integrity? One study framed it in terms of ethics and morality. Ethics, they said, refers to our standard of right and wrong; it’s what we say we believe is right. Morality, on the other hand, is our lived standard of right and wrong; it’s what we actually do. “Integrity” means “complete,” “integrated.” To the degree, then, that our ethic and morality are integrated, we have integrity. To the degree that our ethic and morality are not integrated, we lack integrity.

Looking at this another way, if John tells you that he will lie, cheat and steal from you, he has a low ethic. If he does business that way, he also has a low morality. John is unethical and immoral, but he has integrity – twisted as it may be – because his morality is consistent with his ethic. Of course, when you and I think of integrity, we’re assuming a high ethic matched by an equally high morality.
Right Things

Most of us would probably agree that always acting with integrity can be a challenge. Norman Schwarzkopf made this observation: “The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.”

Several years ago, a friend who owned a certain professional sports franchise, although his team had just won the national championship, due to a failed TV contract found himself $10 million upside down. Many advised him to file for bankruptcy, but my friend’s ethic required that he pay his debts. It took him 11 years!

How does one develop this level of integrity? I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you that it takes practice and hanging around the right kind of people. Stephen Graves and Thomas Addington put it this way in The Fourth Frontier: “Integrity is a character muscle we either develop or ignore. And it’s rarely a last minute decision. It requires discipline. It comes from years of practice or, at the other extreme, years of neglect…Our integrity is shaped not only by our personal decisions, but also by the company we keep…Good character keeps good company.”
Personal Observation

One other tip, if I may, that I’ve found helpful in developing integrity. The Bible says that God searches the earth in order to strengthen those who are totally committed to him (2 Chronicles 16:9). I’ve discovered that when my driving and guiding ambition is not simply to build a reputation, but to serve God and his people, then God lends his power to my efforts to have integrity, and that seems to make a significant difference.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Thanks guys for honouring the invitation and turning up for the YLMP Awards Day last Friday. Special thanks to the speakers who made it as well as the junior mentors.

Rev. Ogbarmey-Tetteh was the guest of honour and he encouraged the mentees to put into practice whatever they had learnt this past year. He made it known to the mentees that they should first of all be able to lead themselves before they could lead others.

All those who for one reason or the other couldn't make it can pass by the office to pick up their certificates.

Mentor with the YLMP!!!

This is actually an old post. Just want to remind you that applications are still welcomed that's why I'm reposting it...


Yes it's that time of the year again, we're accepting mentor applications for the 2011/2012 Young Leaders Mentorship Programme. We have a number of exciting things in store for you this year!

Firstly, the YLMP will be operating in two schools this year; both Kinbu Secondary Technical School and Accra High School. Secondly, for the first time we're looking at opening up our mentoring opportunities to university students outside Ghana!

We're really looking forward to seeing where this will take us. However, we'll only run the e-mentor scheme if we have enough potential e-mentors for every group to have at least one. That's where we're going to need your input. If you're interested leave a comment here, on our Facebook page or tweet us @infoYLMP with the hashtag #YLMPementor.

We're really excited about this project and would love to launch it this year along with our regular mentoring programme. We'd also love to hear any suggestions you might have.

For more information about our programme and what we do, have a look at our About Us page. You can also scoot around this blog for details of our past activities and events. You'll be able to find more titbits on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

AWARDS DAY POSTPONED.

We are sorry to inform you that the YLMP Awards Day which was scheduled for Friday the 23rd September has been postponed to Friday the 30th September, 2011.
However, the time(3pm) and the venue(Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Boardroom, Databank) remain unchanged.
Any inconvenience is deeply regretted.

Hope to see you all!

MY ENCOUNTER WITH THE GHANA POLICE

It saddens me to give an account of this experience.

On the morning of Saturday 20th August, 2011, I was driving on the Otano road with a friend of mine (Marina) to the Madina market; as I approached a police barrier, the policeman raised his hand, signaling for me to stop. He asked to see my driving license. I explained to him that I had left my license in another handbag at home.
“Ok, pull over to the side of the road” was his response.
I obeyed, stepped out of the car and walked toward him as he had already turned his back to stop other cars. He asked me to leave my car and go and get my license from my house. I asked him how I was supposed to go home to get my license. He suggested I take a trotro or taxi.
“But don’t I have 24 hours to produce my license?” I asked him.
“Madam, leave your car here and go home and get your license!” he said raising his voice.
By this time I had sat back down in my car with the door open. I called my aunty to let her know what was going on. She verified that I had 24 hours to get my license and so I should take my car.
“Let me speak to him” she said.
“My Aunty wants to speak to you” I said stretching my hand to give him my cell phone.
“Who is your Aunty” he responded harshly refusing to speak to her and obviously offended that I had asked him to speak to her.
“I’m going to go home, get my license and bring it to you to see or you may come with me if you want” I responded respectfully.
He stood in the way as I tried to close my door shouting. “You this small girl, you don’t respect. You want me to come home with you. I am on the job. I can’t come with you”.
I’m sure I must have looked really young; dressed simply in my jeans and t-shirt with a scarf wrapped on my head. He probably thought I was a 17 year old. He leans forward to remove my car keys from the ignition. My hand was in the way and I had the ‘are-you-seriously-going-to-take-my-car-keys’ look on my face. He quickly stands up and shouts to the other policeman across the street informing him that I want him to go home with him to show him my license.
He sits at the back seat of my car, stretches to remove my keys from the ignition and tells me to drive to the police station.
I told him he couldn’t do that but he could come home with me, especially because the distance between where we are to my house and the police station is the same.
While shouting at me and saying irrelevant things that I didn’t want to hear, I called my aunty again informing her that he’s not allowing me to go with my car. He asks to speak to my aunty. I hand him my phone, as the other policeman (his senior) comes over and shouts at me. “Herh! small girl, give me your car keys”. At this time I was thinking ‘oh great, two of them. Exactly what I need’. The policeman and I stepped out of the car. I’m sure by now the phone connection had been lost since I had very few call minutes left on my phone. I put my car keys in my handbag. The senior policeman tries to take my bag from my shoulders but I pull back.
“No, but I’ll leave my car here to get my license.” I say.
“I’ll slap you, you this small girl” he shouts raising his hand.
What I really would have liked to say “If you are a man, slap me!”, because apparently to him threatening to slap me implies that real men slap women, but I held back. Now I wish I hadn’t.
Anyway, at this time a small crowd had gathered; I was just hoping someone I knew would show up. My phone was ringing.Apparently, she had sent me Mr. Habada’s phone number (the Deputy Regional Crime Officer) but I didn’t see her text message till our way back from the market. Anyways, so I looked at the senior policeman “Officer please, my license is at home. I don’t live far at all. I have the right to go with my car but since you wouldn’t let me, I’ll leave it here, go home with my car keys and get my license. My friend and I are going to Madina market so we’ll use this way on our way back. I’ll be back in a few minutes”.
“Come, let’s go to the police station” he replied sternly, moving a bit towards me. By this point, Marina I’m sure was scared, so she pulled me aside “Elinam, just give them your keys. Let’s take a taxi home.”
“But Marina, I don’t have to leave my keys with them. This is so not right”
“I know. But just do it” she said in her sweet voice. She obviously didn’t want any more trouble.
I took in a deep sigh and said “ok”.
I locked up the car, gave the senior policeman my car keys and got my cell phone from the other policeman.
We stopped a taxi. Just as I was negotiating the price, one of the observers came to me, “Madam, all they want is a few cedis. Just give them a little something”.
“Ah, no. I won’t give them money” I responded.
“She has her license at home” Marina added.
I couldn’t believe he was giving us such advice.
Marina and I hopped into the taxi. The driver and I had agreed on GH¢6.
When we got home, my Aunty and Uncle met us at the gate. I rushed to my room, got my license and rushed out.
On our way back I asked the taxi driver if he had change for GH¢6. He said he did. As we neared the police barrier, the taxi driver gave me change for GH¢7. When I asked him why, he said that we had agreed on GH¢7 and that Marina had even agreed to pay GH¢7. Marina interjected reminding him that she was not there when we were negotiating the price. I can’t believe dude tried to lie and there was smoke coming out of his steering wheel. Ah, why this early morning too? Chale, my morning had already been filled with drama. The last thing I needed was more drama. It was too early for this. After going back and forth with him, I asked him to pull over. Marina and I got out of the taxi. I was going to give him GH¢6 and walk the rest of the way. Marina again convinced me to just let him take the GH¢7. I told her I didn’t like being cheated. She agreed with me but stated that we can’t always correct people. That sometimes we just have to leave people to God. We hopped into the taxi and I allowed him to take the GH¢7 knowing quite well that we had originally agreed on GH¢6.

In the taxi, on the way back to the police check point, I had decided to just hand over my license to the senior policeman and not say a word; in the hopes that upon checking my license, he will give it back to me and my keys. But no, this dude wanted to by all means find something against me and he apparently hadn’t finished speaking his mind. When I handed him my license and he saw that it was valid, he goes on to verbally assault me. He went on a bragging spree; talked about his daughter being married and older than me. That I think he (the policeman) didn’t have a car but that he already has a car and that if I saw the car he drives, I would be shocked; and that even if he wanted a car, he, a man, wouldn’t drive a car like mine. That my type of car is only driven by women. Speaking arrogantly, he stated that they call him Fire! So if I ever wanted to find him (why on earth, I would is beyond me!), I should just come to the East Legon Police station and ask for Fire. Then he asked me to open my car and show him my fire extinguisher and first aid kit. Marina asked the junior police man to plead with the senior policeman on our behalf since I didn’t have a first aid kit. He basically told her, we should sort it out ourselves. Marina informed the senior policeman that I didn’t have a first aid kit. He, obviously happy, said he would write a letter to have me go to court on Monday for not having a first aid kit. I was quiet the whole time and was in total shock and disbelief about the whole situation. Marina pleaded with him not to send me to court and that we were sorry. After a few minutes, he gave in saying “Tell your friend to act like you”.
“Don’t worry. I’ll teach her to be like me” Marina responded.
Then looking at me, he made a statement about how they (the Ghana police) are here to protect us and our cars. I totally ignored him, walked toward my car as he handed Marina my car keys and license. Marina and I sat in the car and we were finally off to the market.

My analyses from this incidence are that not all our policemen are well-educated. You cannot reason with them because if you respond to them then you are being disrespectful. They definitely have issues with pride and ego. They flaunt and abuse the power vested in them to enforce public safety. I write this to create the awareness that the Ghana Police Service still has a lot of improvements to make. They use their position to abuse and extort. I am disappointed. Sometimes it looks like there is no hope for our nation. I’m sure there are a few good policemen [I refuse to believe they are all like ‘Fire’] but not enough. We need a ‘Robocop’ in this country.

I don’t trust the police service in my country and that gives me great cause for alarm. I wish this wasn’t the case though. Will the situation in Ghana ever change? If so, when?
My challenge to us is that we shouldn’t settle with the status quo. Let’s all work together to make Ghana a better place. The change starts with you. Be the change you want to see!

SYNOPSIS OF END OF PROGRAMME MEETING WITH THE JUNIOR MENTORS

General views, comments & suggestions about 2010/2011 YLMP session:

• Mentees should be allowed to bring up topics and books for discussion (for mini seminars, course text etc).
• Training of mentees to become junior mentors when they get to the tertiary level to ensure sustainability of the programme.
• Getting the mentees involved in research for some institutions. In his opinion, this will enable the mentees to gain some skills in research that will go a long way to help them in their academic field, especially at the tertiary level.
• Finding different ways of engaging the mentees during the long vacations in some productive activities.
• Some mentees found the Appraisal Forms tedious and challenging to understand
• Some junior mentors also complained about the fact that they were unable to meet with their senior mentors because they tend to be were very busy with their work.
• Keeping record of the academic performance of the mentees.
• Mentors could offer to provide extra classes for mentees. Subjects will depend on mentor’s specific areas of expertise.

New strategies for improving the next session of the YLMP:

• Senior mentors will be made to meet with their junior mentors occasionally, preferably on Saturdays to enable the junior mentors to benefit by being mentored as well.
• Supporting this, mentor forums could be organised specifically for junior and senior mentors
• ALI/YLMP Forum: this will be a forum where some ALI fellows will be invited to meet with the junior mentors. Before these sessions, junior mentors should come up with topics they would like to discuss
• A three strike policy will be implemented for mentors and mentees who are absent from YLMP events without notifying either their mentors or Databank Foundation staff
• Mini seminars will have more variety and will include more than the usual lecture based format. Next year, a film show, quiz and debate will be organised
• More effort should be made to expose mentees to different extra-curricular activities to encourage reading and to deepen their life experience in general. For example, a book club could be tied in to the YLMP or a YLMP Sports Day could be organised
• Appraisal forms will be discussed during the mentor training session and mentors will have a chance to start going through the forms with their mentees during the Leadership Conference
• It was agreed that the mentors meeting should happen more than once a year. A mid-year meeting will be implemented from the 2011/2012 session

If you’d like to stay on for the 2011/2012 please let Nicholas know. You can send him an email at ylmp@databankgroup.com (please copy infoYLMP@gmail.com as our Databank email doesn’t always receive external mails).

LEADERSHIP, ENTREPRENEURSHIP & VALUES- A must read book!!!

This book was written:

-To awaken/herald a new dispensation of unparalleled Pan-African Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Values.

-To inspire a new generation of African Businesses and Political Leadership across the continent and in the Diaspora, beginning with Ghana, with a higher sense of nationalism and patriotism, in the hope of galvanizing a quickening of the continent’s Economic Growth and Stability in order to enable it lay claim over its rightful position on the Global Marketplace.

-To contribute meaningfully towards the sustenance and advancement of Sound Moral and Spiritual Values across African communities, beginning with Ghana.

Mentors meeting postponed

It’s come to my attention that we will need to reschedule our end of programme mentors meeting as Wednesday the 31st is a holiday. It will therefore now be held on Thursday the 1st of September. The time and will remain the same (3pm at Databank).

Hope you can all make it.

We've been reading...

13 year old makes solar power breakthrough
Inhabitat -- While most 13-year-olds spend their free time playing video games or cruising Facebook, one 7th grader was trekking through the woods uncovering a mystery of science. After studying how trees branch in a very specific way, Aidan Dwyer created a solar cell tree that produces 20-50% more power than a uniform array of photovoltaic panels. His impressive results show that using a specific formula for distributing solar cells can drastically improve energy generation. The study earned Aidan a provisional U.S patent - it's a rare find in the field of technology and a fantastic example of how biomimicry can drastically improve design...

Students volunteer to improve primary education in Ghana
Ashesi -- The African Renaissance Movement, an Ashesi student organization, has organized a program to improve the academic performance of students at two public primary schools in Labone, near the Ashesi campus. Groups of Ashesi students volunteer to help in school courses on a weekly basis, participating in one of three program areas: ICT education, personal financial management or academic mentorship. The information communication technology (ICT) program provides interested pupils between class six and Junior High School basic computer programming lessons. Pupils learn to use computers, become familiar with standard productivity software and even gain some basic programming skills...

Ban Ki-moon calls for UN, EU, and AU to Plan for Post-Qaddafi Libya
Bloomberg -- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he will convene an “urgent” meeting on Libya’s future with the heads of the African Union, the Arab League, the European Union and a coalition of Islamic nations. “This is a hopeful moment,” Ban said today of the takeover of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, by the anti-government forces. “It is testimony to the courage and determination of the Libyan people to seek a free and democratic future.” Ban, speaking to reporters in New York, said that the meeting likely would be held Aug. 25 or 26 and that he is also calling for a meeting of the Security Council to give the UN a mandate to assist Libya’s transition to a new government...

End of programme mentor's meeting

All too soon, the 2010/2011 Young Leaders Mentorship Programme is drawing to a close. It's been a good year. We learnt a lot from our mentors last year and were glad for their input in shaping the programme over the past year.

That said, I'd like to announce that we'll be having an end of programme meeting for mentors. We'd like you to share your experiences with us - the good and the bad - and let us know what you think we can do to change the Programme in order to make it even better for the next set of mentors.

The meeting will take place exactly two weeks from now, on Wednesday the 31st of August. It'll be held at Databank at 3pm and shouldn't last more than an hour and a half. So come along, we'd love to hear from you!

Also in the news, our YLMP Awards Day has been scheduled for the 23rd of September. Again it will be held at Databank but will start at 2.40pm. It's a time for us to say thank you for all your hard work. We'll be giving out certificates to all who took part and prizes to our best mentors and winners of the Mentees' Choice Awards. Mark it in your diary!

An African Example of What it takes to be a Good Leader.

This is an interesting post by Omobola Borisade of African Leadership Review. Omobola is a Public Administrator & Consultant from Ibadan, Nigeria.

Since the 1960s, when most African countries attained independence, the story has always been the same. A lying, crafty politician first appearing as a nationalist, then push through some populist programmes and then unveil what he really is – a real buffoon masquerading as a reformer, an intellectual terrorist in the mould of a Messiah. All but few African political leaders had turned out to be political misfits whose preoccupation is primitive accumulation. Most had bled their countries to almost breaking points. Africa is one continent where some of the leaders are richer than the countries they govern. It is a continent of sit-tight rulers. Muammar Ghadaffi has been in power for 42 years, Cote d'voir's Felix Houphouet – Boigny and Togo's Gnassingbe Eyaedema ruled for over three decades each. Here rulers generally refuse to leave when they no longer make sense. They constitute unnecessary burden to their states, yet they hold on to power. But in this general gloomy sea of despair was one leader who chose to be different. That leader was Joaquim Chissano, President of the Republic of Mozambique, November 4, 1986 to February 2, 2005. An articulate and brilliant leader piloted Mozambique through the transition from a communist to a capitalist ideology, won his country's first and second multiparty elections and made history by deciding not to run for his final term in office. “Let another leader continue from here, I have had enough.”

African Servant Leadership awarded to Vice President.

Ghana News Agency reports:

The Graduate School of Governance and Leadership in Accra on Tuesday 9th August, 2011 conferred on Vice President John Dramani Mahama "The African Servant Leadership" award for his social and political contribution to governance in Ghana.

The award formed part of the School's honorary programme conferred on people for their contribution to nation-building.

Rev. Gideon Titi-Ofei, Governor General of the School, led a delegation from the School to present the award to the Vice President at the Castle, Osu.

He said the Vice President Mahama showed social and political leadership when he worked with Plan Ghana, an International Non-Governmental organization, Japan International Cooperation Agency and as a Member of Parliament for Bole-Bamboi from 1996 to 2008. Rev. Titi-Ofei described Vice President Mahama as a beacon of hope and unity for the African continent" and appealed to other Africans entrusted with leadership positions to exhibit high levels of discretion and performance to enhance democracy.

The Vice President received the “African Servant Leadership” award because of his exemplary leadership role he displayed, dating back from his days as a social worker, a Member of Parliament and today, the second gentleman of the land.

He pledged the School's desire to team up with African leaders to promote quality leadership and responsibility in the coming years. Vice President Mahama dedicated the award to President John Evans Mills, the people of Ghana and God for reposing confidence in him to serve the country and Africa in general.

He said the award was a challenge for him to work harder to achieve other goals that would subsequently benefit the entire country. "I am grateful for this award which I deem as an honour and will therefore work harder to achieve others that will be beneficial to the entire nation."

The School last month awarded institutions and individuals in the areas of Social Service, Entrepreneurial Development, Civil Society leadership, Medical Leadership, Security leadership, Women Empowerment and political leadership.

Famine in Somalia: The untold story

An interesting article written by Ransa Warah on Pambazuka News. The article continues after the jump -- it's well worth the read.

In the absence of a well-functioning central government, Somalia is in effect being ‘managed and controlled by aid agencies’, writes Rasna Warah. But it’s a story that is unlikely to be told by either the global news networks or the ‘aid workers whose livelihoods depend on donor money that will soon flow into Somalia via Kenya.’

I knew the real story about the famine in northern Kenya and Somalia would probably never be told when I watched a young foreign aid worker 'reporting' the famine for CNN in Dadaab camp.

The young white woman, clearly coached to use the opportunity of her CNN appearance to publicise her organisation, wore a T-shirt that had the word OXFAM emblazoned on it.

The look of self-righteous, politically-correct compassion was evident on her face as she talked of starving children and emaciated mothers walking for miles in search of food.

Predictably, CNN viewers saw images of skeletal children and exhausted women with shrivelled breasts, images that have launched a multi-million dollar fund-raising campaign by the UN and donor agencies.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has asked donors to raise $1.6 billion to assist Somalia alone.

Meanwhile, dozens of humanitarian agencies are clamouring to make an appearance in Dadaab in order to raise funds for their own organisations. Dutch journalist Linda Polman calls it “The Crisis Caravan”.

In her book by the same name, Polman says that an entire industry has grown around humanitarian aid, “with cavalcades of organisations following the flow of money and competing with each other in one humanitarian territory after another for the biggest achievable share of billions.”

According to Polman, disasters like the one in Somalia attract an average 1,000 national and international aid organisations. This doesn’t include “briefcase” charities that collect funds through churches, clubs and bake-sales.

Much of the money raised goes to administrative and logistical costs of aid agencies, including the salaries of bright-eyed aid workers, such as the one described above, who drive big cars and live in nice houses, but tell people back home they live in hardship areas where they help starving Africans.

Are people starving? Yes. Should they be helped? Of course. But how much of the food that is supposed to be distributed will most likely be stolen by militia or find its way to shops where it will be sold?

Also obscured in the media hype is the real cause of famine in places such as Somalia. In a recent article, Michel Chossudovsky, professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa and founder of the Centre for Research on Globalisation, argues that in the 1980s, agriculture in Somalia was severely affected by economic reforms imposed by the IMF and the World Bank. Somalia remained self-sufficient in food until the late 1970s despite recurrent droughts, he writes.

Quote for the day

Leadership is not magnetic personality, that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not "making friends and influencing people", that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person's vision to higher sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.

- Peter F. Drucker

CSR and its benefits to businesses

James Liddel of CIPE reports (originally posted as 'When doing good is good for business'):

When most people hear the term Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), they usually picture cheesy, Orwellian subway ads by oil companies or glossy brochures with pictures of African children and their new soccer balls. Corporate volunteerism is a recent trend that belies the image those ads present.

The perception that CSR is only for public relations has grown in part by the notion that social responsibility will always be a superficial, secondary concern so long as a firm’s bottom line trumps concerns of community engagement. In the last decade, as CSR has matured from strict philanthropy to more integrated and thoughtful approaches, companies’ concern for the social and physical environment in which they operate is no longer detached from profit margins.

Enter international corporate volunteerism, showcased last week at CDC Development Solutions’ International Corporate Volunteerism Workshop. There are many different models for corporations to follow, but most involve groups of 6-10 employees traveling together to a developing country to tackle a specific problem or project (infrastructure, IT, supply-chain, management, etc.) for a local nonprofit, business or association.

In these cases, employee skill-development is one of the central takeaways as crops of engineers or marketers who’ve likely never met but work on similar issues for the same company, come together as part of one team focused on the same goal. Multinationals with subsidiaries all over the world also benefit from knowledge exchange through corporate volunteering—not only from North to South but from South to South—as volunteer group members from local offices contribute to projects in their own countries.

YLMP Online

Over the past few weeks, we've been trying to think of ways to make the YLMP more interactive with our mentees, mentors and people who'd just like to stay updated with what's going on. With this in mind, I'd like to draw your attention to the places online you can get updates on the YLMP.

First of all of course is this blog. We post a few times a week not only about what our mentors and mentees are getting up to but also about various development issues and articles on leadership and mentorship.

You can subscribe to our blog posts via our RSS feed or choose to receive them direct to your inbox (see the subscribe via email widget on the right hand side -->).

Our Facebook page is packed full of little updates and has now become the place where you'll be able to find pictures of our events and activities. We used to post them right here on the blog but Facebook allows them to be accessed and viewed much more easily.

Finally we have a Twitter page. As with most Twitter pages, ours will give regular short pieces of information often linking you to a longer post either here or on our Facebook page.

We'll have a YouTube page up and running in the near future which will direct you to great videos on the web. We hope you utilise at least one or two of these mediums and we hope you find them useful!

Ghana named 4th best investment destination in Africa

Ekow Quandzie of Ghana Business News reports:

International investors have chosen Ghana as the fourth best country in Africa for investment, according to the Africa Business Panel survey 2011.

The survey, released in late June 2011, was conducted by the Africa Business Panel that sampled 800 business professionals in all the 53 economies in Africa .

The Africa Business Panel is made up of persons who work in the private sector for companies registered in and operating out of Africa. They are the senior managers, entrepreneurs or professionals that form the backbone of the business community throughout Africa.

According to the survey, international investors believe that Ghana’s economic and political climate persist to be stable citing Accra, the capital town, an attractive commercial centre to conduct business from with West Africa.

The country’s oil discovery was also said be a factor to investment attraction.

Ghana came behind South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya from first to third respectively, the survey indicated.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Mr George Aboagye confirms the country’s ranking.

YLMP Newsletter: 2nd Issue

Yes it's that time again folks, the second issue of the YLMP issue is just about ready to go to the printers. Just like we did the last time around, I'd like to give you a sneak peak of the cover to whet your appetites and get you as excited as we are about it.



Click the image for a better view! This issue is much more mentee focused than our last one with mentees contributing more than 90% of the content. It's great to be able to give them a voice and a platform to express themselves creatively.

The Newsletter will be available at the YLMP Awards Day.

Mentorship

Image: robertsaric.com

The origin of the word 'mentor' can be traced back to the Greek mythodology. Mentor was the son of Alcimus or Anchialus. The adoption and usage of the personal name 'Mentor' in English as a term meaning someone who imparts wisdom to and shares knowledge with a less experienced person or a colleague. This was as a result of Mentor's relationship with Telemachus (son of Odysseus) who later became Mentor's foster-child.

Mentoring is the process of giving advice to a person or challenging a person to do his/her best on both a personal and professional level. As a child, parents and other close family relations fill this role. In a typical African community, this role is played by almost all elderly people.

In mentoring, the mentor has to have a sense of selflessness knowing that the highest compliment that can ever be paid to you as a mentor will never occur in your presence. Mentoring is also not a club or a special group that is reserved for special people. Anyone at all can be a mentor and it is advisable for every individual to have a mentor; be a mentee and also be a mentor at one point in life.

A mentee is the protégé or the student of the mentor or the one being mentored. In the Greek mythodology, Telemachus would be seen as the perfect description of a mentee. A mentee should be humble and ever ready to learn new things.

Today, mentors provide expertise to less experienced individuals to help them advance in their careers, enhance their education and build their networks. In many different arenas, people have benefited from being part of a mentoring relationship or a mentoring programme. (eg. YLMP)

Finally, being able to rely on individuals who will share their experiences with you is invaluable for you to establish a great future.

We've been reading...

A Stock Exchange for Social Businesses and Ventures
Africa Good News -- Social investing, or socially responsible investing, means different things to different people and can be hard to define. Tamzin Ractliffe, the Chief Executive Officer for NeXii, describes it as, “strategies that aim to have a responsible mitigation impact on any negative consequences. It’s wanting to do no harm, making sure that you invest in a company that has good and responsible practices in regards to employees, the environment, and so on. In South Africa, social investing is essentially philanthropy.” According to Ractliffe, “impact investing is different from socially responsible investing in that is highly intentional in delivery of a social or environmental benefit.” Companies are set up to specifically address and find solutions to problems like poverty, climate change, and food security on a large scale...

Horn of Africa: What is Africa doing?
RNW -- After the UN raised the alarm bells on the drought and famine in the Horn of Africa, it didn’t take long for aid organizations to rush to the affected regions. The press writes extensively about what these organizations do, but what is the role of Africa in this? Do neighbouring countries show solidarity? And what is the overarching role of the African Union in all this? AU: Limited resources. In a press release published two weeks ago, the African Union described being ‘deeply concerned by the drought situation in Somalia and the Horn of Africa aid its humanitarian consequences’. The AU said it would review the situation and identify additional steps. Thus far, the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has been providing medical assistance to those affected in Mogadishu....

Youth and employment in Africa

Worldwide, the youth are defined as people between the ages of 10 and 25 years (Population Reference Bureau). In Africa, 200 million people are in this age range. Worldwide and in Africa as well, the ratio of the youth-to-adult unemployment rate equals three (ILO 2006), which clearly points out the substantial difficulties of youth participation in the labour market. Yet the youth employment elasticity to GDP growth is low and only a fifth of that observed for all workers (Kapos 2005). As a consequence, youth made up 43.7% of the total employed people in the world despite accounting for only 25% of the working population. More than one third of the youth in the world is seeking but unable to find work, has given up on the job search entirely, or is working but still living below the $2 a day poverty line and Africans are no exception.

There are several reasons for this, including changes in societal goals and aspirations. Increased education is encouraged by changes in government policy, such as the introduction of such laudable programs as free, universal primary schooling, which results in an increase in secondary school enrolments. This in turn leads to a proliferation of universities. The aim is to accommodate as many qualified students as possible; but there is often inadequate planning for the future employment of graduates. In view of the modern market economy, there are many factors which contribute to unemployment and these include rapid changes in technology, recessions, inflation, disabilities, undulating business cycle, and several others.

The consequences of unemployment are not only felt by the individual but the community at large. Some of the consequences include suicide, homicide, alcoholism, child abuse, family breakdown, psychiatric hospitalization, migration, etc. The issue of unemployment is a big issue that every government today faces. In Ghana for instance, youth unemployment remains an important issue not only because of the need to empower the youth economically but also harnessing the human resource for national development. In recognition of the problem of youth unemployment, the Government of Ghana has introduced a number of measures to enhance employability of the youth.

Mandela International Day: the Spirit of Ubuntu

This is a post from the ONE Blog. I decided to post it due to the mention of Unbuntu, one of our core mentoring values. Enjoy!

In November 2009, the United Nations General Assembly declared July 18^th “Nelson Mandela International Day”, a day of activism. In response to being bestowed this honour, Mandela said:

“We are humbled by the decision of the United Nations to recognize 18 July as Nelson Mandela International Day. It is our wish that the day be used not to honour an individual, but rather to remember the millions who have contributed to the struggle for freedom throughout the world. The best way to commemorate these struggles is for people everywhere to work with and within communities to make this a better world.

Let us remember that freedom from poverty, hunger and disease, that access to quality education, are as much human rights challenges as political oppression. May Nelson Mandela International Day contribute to those challenges being met.” www.un.org/en/events/mandeladay/mandela_letter_2010.shtml

We at ONE continue to be inspired by the vision of Mr. Mandela and as the world celebrates his 93^rd birthday this week we are reminded to continue to extend ourselves in working towards his dream and vision for a better life for all. It begins with each one of us giving a little bit. While Mr Mandela devoted 67 years to social and political activism, he only asks for 67 minutes of our day to make a difference in someone else’s life, spreading ubuntu, selflessness and love. Ubuntu is an African philosophy centered on the oneness of humanity thus encouraging respect for diversity, promoting dignity, peace, good health and prosperity. It is therefore not limited to one day. Indeed, this year’s theme encourages us to, “Take Action, Inspire Change, Make Every Day a Mandela Day”.

Introducing our new intern!

It's my pleasure to introduce our new intern, Nicholas Osuteye. He's been a senior mentor since we started and is now completing a six week internship at Databank Foundation. Amongst other things, he's working with the Young Leaders Mentorship Programme and he'll be posting on the blog alongside me. His posts will be tagged with Nicholas at the end so you can always identify them.

Please join me in giving him a warm YLMP welcome!

Mentor with the YLMP!!!

Yes it's that time of the year again, we're accepting mentor applications for the 2011/2012 Young Leaders Mentorship Programme. We have a number of exciting things in store for you this year!

Firstly, the YLMP will be operating in two schools this year; both Kinbu Secondary Technical School and Accra High School. Secondly, for the first time we're looking at opening up our mentoring opportunities to university students outside Ghana!

We're really looking forward to seeing where this will take us. However, we'll only run the e-mentor scheme if we have enough potential e-mentors for every group to have at least one. That's where we're going to need your input. If you're interested leave a comment here, on our Facebook page or tweet us @infoYLMP with the hashtag #YLMPementor.

We're really excited about this project and would love to launch it this year along with our regular mentoring programme. We'd also love to hear any suggestions you might have.

For more information about our programme and what we do, have a look at our About Us page. You can also scoot around this blog for details of our past activities and events. You'll be able to find more titbits on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Mini Seminar: Career Development

Hi folks! Sorry this post has been rather a long time coming. On Friday the 15th of July, Felicia Ashley spoke to our mentees about Career Development. It being the last Mini Seminar of the term, we had some Form 1s join us in order for them to get a taste of what they'd be doing next year.

Felicia's objectives were to help mentees:

• Get thinking a lot more about what they want in life.
• Clarify your values as individuals
• Begin a process of self exploration
• Find the right resources that will assist in career development.

First of all, we discussed what career development is, and found that a career is not necessarily something that's constructed on a one-time basis, but through a series of decisions we make throughout our lives.

Felicia focused a lot on finding ways to answer the question "Who are you?". This is the starting point as a fulfilling career must be based and developed taking into account an individual's interests, likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses, values, abilities, etc. Knowing who you are and what you stand for might automatically lead you to certain career paths or away from others.

Most importantly, remember to seek out the purpose for which you were made. The One who created us knows us best, and it's important that we keep praying to be led in the right direction. God is the greatest counsellor. Speak to Him first.

Remember: the world is your oyster. Experience as much as you can now while you're young with (relatively) few responsibilities. Don't be picky - don't limit yourself to certain activities, try your hand at as much as you can. Sometimes, you won't know you enjoy something until you've tried. Keep your options open and have fun exploring them!

Check out pictures of this Mini Seminar on our Facebook page (and don't forget to like us if you haven't already)!

Visit our new fan page!

We've all experienced loosing track of time on the internet doing nothing in particular, especially on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter or YouTube. I'm glad to announce that now you can visit these sites (well... we're working on the YouTube channel) without the guilt trip - the YLMP now has a brand new fan page!

Many of you will know this already - especially if you've been looking at pictures of Mini Seminars etc . We find it's much more interactive than our group page; we can share so much more with you on there.

If you haven't already, you can check it out at www.facebook.com/infoYLMP (those who are familiar with our Twitter page will already know this username). It's got a mixture of old and new content we haven't released anywhere else yet so make sure you pass by!

We'd also love to hear your comments about the page; what you like and what you don't like etc... please drop us a comment on our wall or right here in the comments section.

Final Mini Seminar

Sadly, we're fast approaching the last Mini Seminar of the term! On the 15th of July, we're going to be having our Career Development Mini Seminar. We'll have Felicia Ashley, head of Human Capital at Databank run the seminar. We'll also have various people forming a 'panel' of sorts who will be on hand to answer any questions you might have. As this is the last Mini Seminar, we'd love to see as many of you present as possible.

The YLMP Awards day will follow in the coming weeks, an exact date will be communicated to you once it has been finalised. We'll be providing certificates to all active mentors and mentees and of course we'll be handing out our usual Best Mentor and Mentee's Choice Awards.

We will also be scheduling a meeting with all mentors to discuss your thoughts and experiences over this past year (or more if you've been involved in the programme longer). Your suggestions about how we can improve the Programme will be much appreciated, especially given that we're aiming to expand to some other schools next academic year.

I'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you so much for your involvement in the programme, we couldn't do anything without you! A thank you for the support to everyone who reads our blog too! Don't forget that even if you will not be involved with the programme after this year, you can still keep informed via our blog, Facebook and Twitter pages. Stay in touch!

Mini Seminar: Personal Finance

On Friday, Nana Gyesie gave a Mini Seminar on Personal Finance: A Student's Guide to Financial Independence.

He started off with a very brief introduction to Databank and our 'LEap HIgh' value system; Leadership, Excellence, Humility and Integrity, and what that means to individuals as part of the firm. He spoke about Databank's vision and how our resources can help build wealth, manage and track financial progress.

We then had a discussion about why it's important to invest and how it can be more beneficial to invest rather than save.

Most importantly, we talked about how it's possible for anyone, no matter how much money they have to begin with, to invest. Simple things like cutting down on things like soft drinks, mobile credit and leisure activities mean that we can all put aside a little money to invest.

As the saying goes, "look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves". The time is now!

Pictures of this Mini Seminar (and others) are up on our Facebook page... have a look at them here!

"Too Many Non-Africans Speaking for Africa"

Mark Dearn of Think Africa Press reports:

The Tony Elumelu Foundation was set up “to promote excellence in business leadership and entrepreneurship across Africa”. The Foundation wants African countries to be at the forefront of their own economic growth, a growth it wants to be driven by government and the private sector working together through a new generation of African-born and African-educated business leaders. Part of its philosophy involves promoting “impact investing” – investments that promote a social or environmental good alongside providing a financial return. Founder Tony Elumelu, from Nigeria, is one of the most recognisable faces in African business. He is a former chief executive of United Bank for Africa, chair of pan-African investment company Heirs Holdings Ltd and is on the board of Transcorp – the Transnational Corporation of Nigeria.

This month the Foundation consolidated its links with another new Africa-focused foundation led by another Tony: Tony Blair’s Africa Governance Initiative (AGI). The organisations will be joining their philosophies of boosting private sector investment to help the growth of African economies and enhancing governance. AGI currently focuses on Liberia, Sierra Leone and Rwanda, where both organisations will now work.

Tony Elumelu Foundation chief executive Wiebe Boer holds a PhD in African History from Yale University. He was born and raised in Jos, Nigeria, and has worked as a consultant with McKinsey & Company and an Associate Director at the Rockefeller Foundation. He told Think Africa Press about the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s vision for African growth and 21st century philanthropy.

What was the inspiration behind the Tony Elumelu Foundation?

After retiring from UBA Mr Elumelu wanted to give back something to the next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders in Africa. Tony’s story is the kind you don’t often hear. He was born and raised here in Nigeria, where he did all his education and has spent all his career, and he has still been able to be very successful and build a pan-African business that’s worth several billion. His vision is that if you can remove the obstacles that are preventing other African businesses from emerging, then a lot more companies like UBA can be built in Africa, become pan-African and help transform the continent.

Overcoming Negativity

Six tips on overcoming negativity by Dan Rockwell:

A negative person says, “Things are great. I’m just waiting for something bad to happen.” The positive side of negativity is you’ll eventually be right. Bad things happen. Problems arise. Crisis is inevitable. Being right, however, doesn’t create success.

Negativity blocks your future, limits your potential, and stymies your achievement. Negativity creates paralyzing dead end thinking.

Your greatness depends on your ability to deal with your negative thoughts. All great leaders believe they can make a positive difference.

Dealing with negativity:

#1. Own your negativity. You can’t fix what you don’t own.

#2. Own your negativity but don’t excuse it. Get over saying, “I’m not a pessimist, I’m just a realist.”

#3. Not all negativity is bad. Anticipating problems, resistance, choke points, and other difficulties helps leaders devise strategies and solutions. The down-side is imagined problems block forward progress.

South African scientists find green method to purify toxic water

The article below is written by Kirstin Palitza of IPS News. While the discovery is certainly exciting, I hope it does not cause industrial firms to become complacent on the amount of waste they produce.

South African scientists have developed an environmentally friendly method to clean highly toxic water and convert it into drinkable water. Once available commercially, the method could drastically reduce the negative impact industry has on water pollution worldwide.

Called eutectic freeze crystallisation, the technique freezes acidic water – or brine – to produce potable or drinking water as well as useful salts, such as sodium and calcium sulphate.

Alison Lewis, professor for chemical engineering at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, who has led the research since 2007, claims 99.9 percent of the polluted water can be reused after applying the new technique. Unlike other water cleaning methods, it practically doesn’t produce any toxic waste.

"It’s an environmentally friendly and cost-effective technology that can be used pretty much in all industrial sectors that pollute water and thus produce brine," explains Lewis. This includes sectors like mining, the oil and gas industry, chemical industry, paper processing or sewerage.

The simultaneous separation and purification method is based on bringing the contaminated water temperature down to reach its eutectic point – the lowest possible temperature of solidification. At this point, toxins crystallise to form salts and sink to the ground, while the clean water turns into ice, floating on the surface.

"By its nature, ice is the purest form of water because it repels any impurities. It’s actually very simple," explains Lewis. "The method is ecologically significant because it can turn toxic waste into a useful product."

Mini Seminar this Friday!

We have a Mini Seminar coming up this Friday! Nana Gyesie of Databank Retail Services will be speaking on Personal Finance. As usual, we'll be meeting in 3D at 3pm.

We'll be collecting the remaining articles, poems, stories, jokes and anything else you have for the Newsletter, so please remember to bring those along.

We'll also be handing back Appraisal Forms so you can work on the final section.

See you there!

Zuma says warrant against Gaddafi undermines the AU

An interesting article from the Guardian & Mail. It's interesting they mention the AU have been working to try to diffuse the situation in Libya... this fact seems to have gone relatively unreported. Whether this is because of a lack of progress or some other reason remains to be seen.

President Jacob Zuma is disappointed with the decision taken by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue a warrant of arrest for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Monday, South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) radio news reported.

"President Zuma is extremely disappointed and concerned by the issuing of warrant by the ICC against Colonel Gaddafi," presidential spokesperson Zizi Kodwa told the SABC.

"It's quite unfortunate that the ICC could take such a decision while the African Union (AU), through its ad hoc committee, has done so much and, I think, the progress so far signals that there's a commitment now from both the side of the Libyan authority led by Colonel Gaddafi and the TNC [transitional national council]."

He said the issuing of the warrant undermined the work done by the AU committee.

The ICC issued arrest warrants for Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and military intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi for crimes against humanity on Monday.

Zuma, who is on the committee, hosted the AU ad hoc high level committee on Libya in Pretoria on Sunday to discuss the implementation of the AU roadmap on Libya.

The African leaders said Gaddafi had agreed to stay out of negotiations on ending Libya's four-month political crisis.

The committee, which is chaired by the President of Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Abdel Azizhas, held interactions with the Libyan parties on three occasions, including with Gaddafi and the TNC leadership in Tripoli and Benghazi in April.

Other members are heads of state of the Republic of Congo, Mali, Uganda and South Africa, as well as the chairperson of the AU Commission.

We've been reading...

The future's bright, the future's ... Africa
Telegraph -- The CEO of Orange, Stéphane Richard is a man who speaks his mind and doesn’t mind how he speaks. As former French Minister for the Economy, Industry and Employment, recipient of the prestigious Legion of Honour and one-time adviser to a certain Dominique Strauss-Khan, the 49-year-old Richard knows how to get his audience’s attention. At a reporters’ lunch during the French Open tennis at Roland-Garros he described eventual winner Rafael Nadal as ‘vulgar’ and was equally forthright when describing recent meetings with Presidents Obama and Sarkozy. Lost in translation maybe, but while Richard made these remarks with a twinkle in his eye, his subsequent comment that he will visit every African country where Orange does business ‘within two years’ was delivered with more serious intent...

Britain: Give us back our money
Daily Nation -- Britain is demanding a refund of Sh7 billion aid to Kenya’s free education programme following revelations of massive corruption. “The UK Government will push the Government of Kenya hard for return of the UK’s share of lost funds,” the Department for International Development (DFID) said in a statement. During an interview in Nairobi, DFID deputy head Mike Harrison said the money once repaid will be ploughed back to fund education in Kenya but through non-State channels. “We are insisting that besides the government instituting radical reforms in the Ministry of Education, our proportion of the pool fund must be returned,” Mr Harrison said...

Senegal president in U-turn after protests
Guardian -- Senegal's president has agreed to cancel a proposed change to the constitution that would have paved the way for his son to take power, amid massive street protests that marked the biggest challenge to his 11-year rule and threatened to derail a country known as one of the most stable in the region. Anger boiled over Thursday as thousands of protesters attempted to rush the gates of parliament, where lawmakers were meeting to debate the law. Clouds of teargas enveloped the square, as police fought back the demonstrators with gas, rubber bullets and fire hoses. The demonstrations quickly spread from central Dakar to the suburbs and on to three major towns in the interior. There were also protests abroad in Paris and Montreal. The controversial amendment would have created the post of vice-president, a departure from Senegal's European-style government, which has a president and a prime minister...

What if everything were just a game?
BBC -- One more step, and a tiny creature will cross the bridge and get to safety. Just one more step - but letters do not match, the fragile structure blows up and the brown mole falls into a digital abyss. But as Juha Valtamo, a 21-year-old Finnish student, correctly types the next word that appears on the screen of his laptop, another mole happily reaches the destination. Digitalkoot may sound like a typical online game - but there is more to it than just building bridges and saving moles. Every time players complete a level, they help with a real-life task - digitising huge archives of Finland's National Library. Developed by Finnish start-up business Microtask, Digitalkoot - which means digital volunteers in Finnish - combines two very hot trends in today's business world: gamification and crowdsourcing. Words that players need to type come from millions of pages of newspapers, magazines and journals, digitised by optical character recognition...

Teen Perspective: Changing the world

Here's a post written by 13 year old Isabel Fox. It appeared as a guest post on her mother's blog. It's a great read affirming the fact that anyone - young or old - who aspires to make a difference in the world, can.

People are constantly saying, “I can’t change the world. I’m only one person.” Well for me there has always been more to that saying, “I can’t change the world. I am only one teenager; one kid.” For a period of time I honesty felt this way. I felt that there was no way I could ever change the world. Then I started a class at DREAMS Center for Arts Education; though I signed up for a theatre class little did I know that it would end up affecting my life in such a way. At the start of the class the instructor (Ron Dortch) asked each student what they wanted to be when they grew up. I stood up and told him, “I want to be an activist”. Instead of staring at me incredulously or laughing; he looked at me and told me, “Then you will be an activist.” Those words gave me the strength and encouragement I needed to know that can I be an activist; that I can be an activist now; I don’t have to wait until I am older.

At the same time my mom began working with ONE. This gave me numerous opportunities to use my voice. I can sign petitions, I can go to government meetings, and I can even write letters to my senators and representatives. I went with my Mom to work at ONE table’s and spread the word about ONE because it is truly making a difference.

Near the end of my time with Brother Ron he asked us to do a faith project. I wrote a monologue and to end this post I would like to insert a section of that monologue.

I believe in a lot of things. I believe that peace is more rewarding than war. I believe that love can conquer hate. I believe that we will one day be able to work together and end global poverty and the spread of AIDS. I believe that everyone has a voice that needs to be heard. I believe that education is the tool to the future. I believe that I CAN make a difference in the world.

My faith is simple, I want to live each and everyday to the fullest and not care what other people think. I want to make an impact on the world today. I want to prove that anyone anywhere in any day and age can do anything they put their mind to.

Activist Now,

Isabel Fox

Sustainable vs Effective Leadership

It's been a little while since I posted anything from the Lead Change Group blog on here, so I'm making up for that with this and the next post. They're both by Mike Henry, the founder of the Lead Change Group. This post is about Sustainable vs Effective Leadership; the previous was on Good vs Effective Leadership. I hope you find them useful!

A while back, I wrote a post titled Good Leadership vs. Effective Leadership about the difference between a good leader and an effective leader. The premise of that post was that an effective leader was one who got others to do what that leader wanted. A good leader was one who got others to achieve a positive goal. Good leadership goes beyond effective leadership by achieving a result where the benefit exceeds the cost.

In our modern culture, the Internet provides more options and more ability to influence. Therefore, it’s difficult to have a commonly shared definition of words like “good” and “positive.” Each person has always been free to define those words for themselves, but recently it seems opinions and definitions vary more and more. As someone who’s mission is to apply character-based leadership to make a positive difference, I often get asked to define “positive.”

Good vs Effective Leadership

It's been a little while since I posted anything from the Lead Change Group blog on here, so I'm going to make up for that by sharing two posts today. They're both by Mike Henry, the founder of the Lead Change Group. This post is about Good vs Effective Leadership; the next will be on Sustainable vs Effective Leadership. I hope you find them useful!

Let’s agree today that good leadership is not the same as effective leadership. Let’s agree that the word good is an evaluation of the end result rather than the leader’s actions. Did it achieve good purposes? Did it create value? (By value I mean benefit in excess of cost.) Did the benefit to all parties exceed the cost to all parties? Let’s agree that good leadership is that authority or influence that creates a good outcome. If the outcome is not generally good, it would be bad leadership. Using this model, “bad” becomes a big word. Any leadership that doesn’t create positive outcomes for the contributors and stakeholders can’t be good. As Jen stated in her comments, what Hitler did can’t be good. It can however be effective.

Effective Leadership
An Effective leader is someone who manages to get people to do what they want. It could be defined as one who exerts influence to get others to achieve the leader’s objectives regardless of the quality of the outcome. It will be effective if people allow themselves to be influenced. The outcomes can be good or bad.

Just Plain Ugly
In keeping with the movie, ineffective leadership is just plain Ugly. We won’t even try to clean it up. If you have to stoop to manipulating or threatening or bullying, that’s ugly leadership.

It seems from my connecting with people all over the world through Twitter and the Lead Change Group on LinkedIn, as well as the interest that has been shown in starting local leadership groups like Authentic Leadership Cincinnati or Lead Change Tulsa, that a growing number of people agree that our world needs an infusion of good leadership: effective leadership that brings about net-positive outcomes. The only way to do that is to contribute more than you consume. Let the revolution continue in your life and sphere of influence today!

SENet: Student Entrepreneurs Network

SENet (Student Entrepreneurs Network) exists to discover and develop young entrepreneurs from school and beyond. They aim to change students' mindset to become job creators consistently and effectively promoting entrepreneurship in all high schools, tertiary and professional institutions in Ghana and Africa as a whole. SENet is affiliated with The African Network Of Entrepreneurs (TANOE).

If you're a budding entrepreneur or simply have an interest and want to know what it's all about, I encourage you to check out their website for more information. Alternatively, you can see them in action during their Student's Summit of Entrepreneurial Ideas which takes place on Friday 12th August at Zenith College.

Michelle Obama's Southern Africa Trip to Focus on Youth Leadership

According to the White House, Michelle Obama will set off on a week long trip to South Africa and Botswana tomorrow. Amongst other things, she will be focusing on youth leadership. If you're on Twitter, I encourage you to use the hashtag #YoungAfrica to join the conversation, get the latest updates of her trip and more. You can also get more information via Facebook on the US Bureau of African Affairs page.

Here's what Michelle had to say about the trip:

You can read more from James Butty of Voice of America after the jump (click here to read original article).

Mini Seminar: Gender & Development

Feels like a very long time since we last had a Mini Seminar. On Friday (17th June) Professor Ampofo led our session on Gender & Development. As you can probably imagine, it was a highly interactive seminar with lots of debate.

We were accompanied by Ofowaah Boateng of Databank Reasearch and Michael Opare-Darkwah from Databank Legal and Compliance Office. They were on hand to offer support to Professor Ampofo and answer any questions.

We started off by stating exactly what is meant by gender and development, and why when it is mentioned, people often (incorrectly) think it concerns only women's issues.

We discussed factors that create gender inequality across a range of different situations; religious views, society's expectations, roles within the home, etc. It was interesting how the views from males often differed from females... Joseph in particular said a few things that turned out to be controversial!

All in all it was a highly informative session that was enjoyed immensely by all. We'd like to say a big thank you to Professor Ampofo, Ofowaah and Michael for taking time out to attend the session.

Pictures of the seminar are up on our Facebook page, click here to check them out.

Mini Seminar later today!

To quickly remind you, we’ll be having a Mini Seminar this Friday (17th June); Dr. Akosua Ampofo will be speaking on Gender & Development. Professor Ampofo is the Director of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana. The seminar will take place in our usual classroom (3D) but will start at 3.30pm instead of 3.

Another quick thing – I’ve recently created a YLMP fan page on Facebook and would like to close our group page. With a minimum of 25 likes (which we should be able to get easily), I will be able to secure the ‘facebook.com/ylmp’ URL (which would be fantastic!!) The transition has been pretty slow going so far though; I’d really appreciate it if you could help out by giving the page a like at www.facebook.com/pages/Databank-Foundation-Young-Leaders-Mentorship-Programme/217964914881526. Please encourage your mentees, friends, family and colleagues to do the same!

We've been reading...

**Click on titles to read the whole article

Use cellphones to share Africa resource wealth
Reuters -- Mobile phone banking should be used to direct some of Africa's oil and mineral wealth straight to the population, reducing the role of corrupt governments and tackling poverty, according to a senior World Bank official. The continent is riding a commodities boom driven by high minerals and oil prices and analysts expect the trend to continue. But graft and bad governance means revenues have been squandered and resource-rich countries have consistently failed to deliver basic services to their people. "Imagine your country finds a valuable commodity and before it goes into the national budget, and people fear it will be wasted, it could be sent directly to people," said Marcelo Giugale, the World Bank's head of Poverty Reduction and Economic Management in Africa...

Tapping the Wealth of African SMEs: Standard Bank’s Example
AfriBiz -- Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Africa have been largely neglected in the past. Most industry analysts and experts agree that there is strong evidence of funding targeted at large corporations, and the micro finance industry has grown rapidly in the past few years; however, financing to the SME sector shows a yawning gap. In the South African economy for example, an economy more structured and better regulated than most African economies, SMEs are said to contribute to 40% of GDP and 40% of employment opportunities – providing the greatest contribution among types of businesses. However, even with this impressive potential, funding to SMEs in South Africa, though well above the African average, is still well behind the trends in other economies of the world...

The Responsibility of Intellectuals
Noam Chomsky -- Twenty years ago, Dwight Macdonald published a series of articles in Politics on the responsibility of peoples and, specifically, the responsibility of intellectuals. I read them as an undergraduate, in the years just after the war, and had occasion to read them again a few months ago. They seem to me to have lost none of their power or persuasiveness. Macdonald is concerned with the question of war guilt. He asks the question: To what extent were the German or Japanese people responsible for the atrocities committed by their governments? And, quite properly, he turns the question back to us: To what extent are the British or American people responsible for the vicious terror bombings of civilians, perfected as a technique of warfare by the Western democracies and reaching their culmination in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, surely among the most unspeakable crimes in history...

The future of funding: Development aid as an investment
Huffington Post -- There is an intriguing dynamic developing in our nation's capital among the three major influences that could end up changing the future of American aid to developing countries. One is Congresswoman Kay Granger from Ft. Worth, TX. Another is Rajiv Shah, Administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). And then there is the Chicago Council on Global Affairs that has assumed the role of arbiter of the quality of the U.S. government's leadership in global agricultural development. Each of them has the power to exert enormous influence over the gristmill through which government funding is pulverized into short and long term support. Congresswoman Granger set the table recently at a luncheon when she praised Bill Gates and his foundation as a model for serving the world's poorest. "Foreign aid must be viewed as an investment, not an expense," she said. "Where money is wasted, it should be stopped. Where funding is ineffective, it should be redirected...