Making room for young people, promoting a dialogue between generations, building bridges between North and South through more balanced conversations… These are the cornerstones of the mission of the Moroccan think tank Policy Center for the New South, ( PCNS) and its flagship program for young professionals, the Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders (ADEL).
It is in this sense that the PCNS has published “Impactful Emerging Leaders of the wider Atlantic”, a book retracing the paths, ambitions and testimonies of 30 former participants of the LEDAs, young people from all over the Atlantic-Africa area, Caribbean, Latin America, North America and Europe.
Who are Emerging Leaders?
For many, they are entrepreneurs motivated by a result in their respective fields, very varied: from agriculture to tech, through coaching or fashion. There are also engineers, architects, researchers, journalists, senior civil servants and members of civil society.
All were selected, on file, to participate in the tailor-made leadership program before the international conference Atlantic Dialogues, organized each year in December in Marrakech by the PCNS.
Each year, three days before the conference, a cohort of 30 to 50 young people come together to discuss topics relating to development and cooperation in the Atlantic area, and take part in workshops led by high-level experts before full participation in the Atlantic Dialogues.
This community, now with 350 members from 67 countries, represents a network of international excellence attached to Morocco. It is diverse, inclusive and interconnected, with its members often rooted in two or three continents, and ready to forge strong ties. These links continue after the conference, both spontaneously and at the instigation of the Policy Center, which invites the LEDAs to express themselves during its conferences and to contribute to its analytical production.
Idia Irele, for example, of American and Nigerian nationality, trains young leaders in Latin America from Medellin, Colombia. Bushra Ebadi, raised in Mississauga (Canada) by Afghan refugee parents, fights for a change in approach to the plight of the marginalized and migrants, while Clarissa Rios Rojas (Peru), studies the existential risks for humanity in Cambridge. They belong to a pragmatic generation, focused on the need for change, with “more actions than words” as Richard Seshie points out in Abidjan.
A strong commitment to Africa
This succession is driven by their interest, declared loud and clear, for the African continent, where many return after their studies to build, such as Hamza Rkha (Sow It) and Hanae Bezad (Douar Tech) in Morocco, or in s to activate for a positive impact in Africa even when they are rooted elsewhere.
Some have made the ADEL program a real springboard in their career. Colombian journalist Edna Valencia Murillo has notably built a powerful network, while Argentinian Julian Colombo has made friends and “role models” of his peers.
Finally, all have strong values ​​and passions, which are also those of the PCNS: the improvement of public policies, gender parity, dear to the hearts of Joana Osei-Tutu (Ghana) and Chidiogo Akunyili (Nigeria), the young people and meritocracy with Youssef Kobo, Belgian-Moroccan boss based in Belgium of the association A Seat at the Table, without forgetting the quest for transparency in the management of public affairs and the constant search for new solutions, such as does the British subject Blair Glencorse from Washington.
Last but not least, all of these “Alumni” are adept at critical thinking and “out of the box” accomplishment. In short, they are an inspiration for the North and the South and contribute to the mission of the Policy Center: to promote dialogue and partnerships, to build bridges aimed at mutual understanding, to change the narratives as well as the mental maps around the Atlantic Basin, towards a more equitable and inclusive common future.
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