Speaker

Ms Jihad Hajjouji
Program Lead
African Leadership Academy

Theme 4E (RT)

Biography

Jihad Hajjouji leads a network of education entrepreneurs building high impact institutions across Africa through the Anzisha Education Accelerator (by African Leadership Academy). Drawing expertise from her earlier career as a Consultant with Dalberg Global Development Advisors, and learnings from Stanford University where she earned an MBA and Master’s Degree in Education, Jihad seeks to transform the education landscape in Africa by empowering the next generation of education leaders. Jihad has always seen herself as an enabler and she intends to continue playing a key role in the education sector, supporting leadership development, tackling youth unemployment, and enabling the growth of others.

Dr Ján Michalko
Senior Project Lead
inHive

Social networks and their impact on successful transitions

Abstract Narrative

This roundtable brings together practitioners who work with young people in secondary schools and higher education from across the African continent to ask: How can social networks be intentionally created and used to positively impact the lives of young people and their communities?
While financial scholarships and high-quality education improve the life-chances of marginalized youth, research shows that additional resources are required for their successful transitions into further education, employment and civic life. Social networks offer such additional resource and capital and can be leveraged to enhance the social, human and financial capital that youth receive during their education experience.
The roundtable will consider the practical challenges and successes in intentionally building networks between current and former students or beneficiaries and the impact that accessing them have on individuals and the wider structures which shape their lives and communities. The experiences bear implications for social development policies and practice.
Speakers:
• Ms Charlie Bevan, Program Manager, Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at the University of Edinburgh
Building resilience and impact together
The Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at the University of Edinburgh provides full scholarships to students from Africa with great leadership potential but few educational opportunities. It also facilitates transformative leadership programming to support Scholars in making change in their communities and countries on their return home. This paper shares the program’s approach to building an engaged community through ownership, reflection, experiential learning, and context to not only support career prospects, but also resilience, mental health and well being.
• Dr Ján Michalko, Senior Project Lead at inHive
The ability to aspire: strengthening ambitions through alumni networks in Uganda and Rwanda
This paper presents the outcomes of two alumni network building projects for secondary schools in Uganda and Rwanda, implemented by inHive between 2018-2020. The projects show how alumni as relatable role models from the community contribute to students’ aspirations and understanding of the importance of education and various possibilities. Thus they substantiate the impact of alumni networks on youth transition into further education and employment.
• Ms Jihad Hajjouji: Program Lead at African Leadership Academy
Lifelong engagement: how investing in alumni support can enhance social impact
African Leadership Academy (ALA) seeks to develop 6,000 leaders that will work together to tackle Africa’s most intractable challenges. ALA’s model of identifying, developing, and connecting high-potential young talent has produced over 1,000 alumni to date who are currently leading change across different sectors and regions on the continent. This paper will share ALA’s model of building a pan-African network in service of impact and the mechanics of delivering on this model from an organizational point of view.
• Dr Gillian Attwood Southern Africa Manager at Canon Collins Trust
Building alumni networks to enhance social impact – lessons learned along the way
Canon Collins Trust seeks to build a community of change agents across southern Africa who create and use research for social impact. Independently, and through a network of partnerships, the Trust invests in postgraduate ‘scholar-activists’ with a commitment to social justice. The Trust’s Scholar and Alumni Network is cultivated as a forum for connection, exchange and engagement. This paper shares the successes and challenges of building and sustaining this network to promote personal and professional advancement, as well as civic engagement and social change.

Charlie Bevan
Program Manager, Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program
The University Of Edinburgh

Theme 4E (RT): Social networks and their impact on successful transitions

Biography

Program Manager of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at the University of Edinburgh

Ms Ritah Namwiza
Independent Consultant

Social networks and their impact on successful transitions

Biography

Ritah Namwiza is an international development professional that is passionate about harnessing the potential of youth to create a sustainable world. She is the founder of Collage a social enterprise that promotes and nurtures Uganda’s young makers by linking them to the resources, the skills and the platforms they need to innovate, compete and thrive in an increasingly globalized marketplace. She has worked with initiatives that have empowered youth to meaningfully contribute to development processes, including the Restless Development- BIG IDEA, the UNAIDS Special Youth Programme, and the ILO’s Global Campaign to End Child Labour. In development programming, across several thematic areas, Ritah has supported organizations to develop strategies for organizational learning, communication, programme implementation and capacity building.

Ritah holds an MSc in Africa and International Development from the University of Edinburgh and a Bachelors’ Degree in Community Psychology from Makerere University.

Dr Gillian Attwood
Manager
Canon Collins Trust

Social networks and their impact on successful transitions

Biography

I am passionate about facilitating social change through education. I currently work for Canon Collins Educational and Legal Assistance Trust (CCELAT), an organisation committed to building a community of change agents across southern Africa who create and use research for social impact.