BRAINCHILD OF NEPAD BUSINESS FOUNDATION

Training the next generation of African leaders is a bold and exciting initiative Places for 48 students at the 2008 course in South Africa The NEPAD Business Foundation African Leadership Programme (ALP), the brainchild of a partnership between the NEPAD Business Foundation (NBF) and Wits Business School, is a bold and exciting initiative.

The course focuses on developing a new generation of African leaders who are authentically African, and enables them to face challenges that call for specific leadership characteristics which cannot be taught outside of Africa.

The programme is uniquely designed to bring together aspirant leaders from both the private and public sector, and allows them to work together not only to gain an understanding of their inter-dependence, but also to learn and share experiences from one another.

Outside of academia, interfacing with global multilateral institutions that have an effect on African development is a crucial element that forms part of the programme.

That is why the programme culminates in an international study tour which sees the students travelling to Tunis, Paris, New York and Washington where they will interact with a number of high profile organisations and corporations such as the World Bank, United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the African Development Bank.

"Wits Business School has a very special role to play in Africa" states Prof. Mthuli Ncube, director of the WBS. "The ALP is now the one programme we offer that embodies everything in our by-line ’Sculpting Global Leaders in Africa’. This innovative leadership development programme is helping us to create a catalyst for the African Renaissance".

The first intake of the ALP in 2007 consisted of a diverse and highly professional group from six African countries, who have emerged from the course with a clear vision of their roles as leaders in taking responsibility for the development of the African continent.

The NEPAD Business Foundation has partnered with the Wits Business School and the School of Public and Development Management to present this programme, whose unique features are :

Stringent selection process to ensure a diverse body of students from different countries, with a target of 50% female participants – the 2007 students came from Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroon, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa ;

Content specifically tailored to the challenges facing Africa ;

A strong focus on self discovery, leadership development and coaching ;

A rigorous academic component covering major managerial disciplines, in particular ethics and corporate governance ;

An international study tour to provide delegates with valuable insights into global institutions such as the United Nations, African Development Bank and leading commercial organisations ;

To promote networking, both locally and internationally ;

Written assessments for all the academic modules.

The 2008 ALP programme will be run at the Wits Business School in Johannesburg on a block release basis over a period of approximately seven months, as follows :

 Blocks 1 and 2 : 2 – 14 March ;
 Block 3 : 21 – 25 April ;
 Block 4 : 9 – 13 June ;
 Block 5 and 6 : 25 August – 11 September (including international study tour)

The programme fee is R120,000.00 and this includes all teaching and course materials as well as the overseas travel for the international study tour.

Delegates residing outside of South Africa are expected to cover their accommodation and flights to and from South Africa.

The course will consist of 48 delegates per intake to ensure a dynamic and interactive learning group. Source : NEPAD, february 8, 2007

NEPAD-Spanish Fund for the Empowerment of Women

The NEPAD Secretariat would like to remind readers of a Call for Proposals that was placed on the NEPAD website as well as in the NEPAD Dialogue e-newsletter, issue 207 of 7 December 2007.

The NEPAD Secretariat would like to inform all parties who submitted proposals that these are receiving the required attention. Formal communication will soon be made to all parties.

Due to changes in the management of the NEPAD-Spanish Fund, there has been some communication gaps between applicants and the NEPAD Secretariat.

The NEPAD Secretariat sincerely apologises for these communication gaps and would like to reassure all applicants that communication will soon be re-established.

The NEPAD Secretariat also takes this opportunity to announce that Litha Musyimi Ogana has joined the African Union Gender Directorate and is no longer employed by the NEPAD Secretariat. The NEPAD-Spanish Fund will be managed by Thaninga Shope-Linney, General Manager for Communications and Outreach at the NEPAD Secretariat, until a suitable replacement has been found.

All correspondence to the NEPAD Secretariat on the NEPAD-Spanish Fund should be directed to the Office of the General Manager Communications and Outreach at : Thaninga Shope-Linney - Fax : (+2711) 313 3778. Source : NEPAD, february 8, 2007