Crafting capable citizens

Ester Kamati



The African Pathfinder Leaders Initiative (APLI) Namibia is a youth development organisation that provides training opportunities to local youth, equipping them with key skills, resources and networks, so they can actively contribute to socio-economic development in their communities.

Established by Sem Mandela Uutoni, the project has three main programmes. Currently in operation is the APLI fellowship programme. This is a leadership development and idea incubation programme, which runs for one year, and is strengthened by three focus areas - leadership development, community development and entrepreneurship.

“Through this programme we target young people who are solving problems in their communities and we empower them with the tools to scale up their impact,” said Uutoni.

This year, 20 young fellows are part of the initiative, which aids in solving various challenges in their communities.

Amongst others, their projects include providing information and communication technology (ICT) and public speaking training in rural areas, the provision, collection and redistribution of clothing items to vulnerable communities and providing tutoring services to school learners.

Uutoni explained the inspiration behind the establishment of the initiative by saying: “We are of the opinion that youth are often precluded and overlooked, due to a lack of professional skills and know-how, to form networks and access the necessary resources to fully realise their goals, thus APLI partially addresses that (sic).”

According to Uutoni, despite the call for entrepreneurship and civil society initiatives, many youth lack access to resources and the practical knowledge to run feasible, sustainable and credible businesses or projects.

“Many young entrepreneurs today cannot tell you what their value proposition is to the customer or what the key resources are that are required to run their business efficiently and effectively,” Uutoni added.

APLI creates a platform to equip more Namibians with training, mentorship and information pertinent to socio-economic emancipation. Through the fellowship programme, youth are trained in pitching, designing, thinking, community organising, public speaking, grant writing, digital marketing and personal financial literacy. Additionally, they have sessions in which they discuss the processes of simulating job interviews and personal branding, amongst other elements.



Requirements

One of the criteria for the fellowship programme is that a fellow should be starting or scaling up an existing idea, business or community project. Fellows also have to demonstrate a conscious commitment to community development and a willingness to learn. With the addition of their own projects and initiatives, these skills ideally make APLI fellows more competitive in the job market, but also ensure they are better equipped to contribute to socio-economic advancement.

“All this is based on the understanding that a conscious citizen is a better citizen,” said Uutoni.

The director of talent and development at APLI, Gerrit Keyter, said APLI fellows are encouraged to be vocal about the projects and initiatives they are involved with.

In so doing, the fellows show commitment towards the projects, as well as community leadership in a public domain. “This allows them to be seen as leaders and changemakers amongst their peers, and hopefully also get them to be involved with their initiatives and projects,” Keyter said.

According to him, APLI fellows acquire soft and hard skills through the training and mentorship sessions with the executive team and their mentors. These are focused efforts in ensuring that these newly-acquired skills translate into successful ventures in their respective communities. APLI fellows also have the luxury of tapping into a wide network of very inspirational Namibian mentees and stakeholders in diverse fields and sectors of Namibian society.

Keyter said successfully hosting the first APLI residential programme in January was one of the project's greatest accomplishments, in addition to the wide network of very inspiring Namibian stakeholders which the fellows can tap into.



From the horse's mouth

One of the fellows for this year's programme is Andreas Elifas, who recently launched a project called Simple Search, which is targeted at digitising Namibian content. He explained that Namibian content is not well-digitised on the internet, which is vastly populated.

APLI plans to maintain a lifelong network with fellows that have graduated from the programme, and does this through continuously attending and supporting each other's events.

Maria Erika, who is part of this year's fellowship programme, said she has undergone a lot of personal development and has gained better knowledge of financial planning and attaining sponsorship for projects.

In addition, APLI has guided their initiatives, forming a firm foundation for these projects.

“We sometimes focus so much on our weaknesses that we end up ignoring our strengths,” Erika said, while explaining why the strength-finder test was one of her favourite exercises. Her projects include providing life skills training to youth who are not in school, as well as empowering them with knowledge about the Sustainable Development Goals. She carries out some of these projects through an initiative called the Namibian Youth Coalition on Climate Change.