Mandela Washington Fellowship Orientation Week (PFO) Angola & Sao Tome and Principe

Our Africa Our Future

Hello world!

My name is Sofonie Dala, we're here for another Mandela Washington Fellowship Orientation Week (PFO) training day.

The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders is the flagship program of the U.S. Government’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). It will bring up to 700 young leaders to the United States in the summer of 2023 for a comprehensive executive-style program that is designed to build skills and empower Fellows to lead in their respective sectors and communities.

The program is going well, I am one of those selected for the year 2023, in total we are 14 Angolans and three young people from SaoTome And Principe. We are being guided by our coordinators and supervisors, employees of the U.S. Embassy in Angola.

We appeal to young people to apply for this leadership and development programme which is very good for our continent.

The event took place from the 10th to the 11th of May 2023 at the Hotel Presidente, city of Luanda, Angola.

Stay connected!

The Digital entrepreneur Sofonie Dala who has been applying unsuccessfully since 2016, has finally been given the golden opportunity to participate in the program and showcase her talents.

Today she has the privilege of being officially named the Mandela Washington Fellow 2023.

She has been studying hard, became one of the best students in the preparation phase, completed all courses and exams with excellence and promptness and even managed to earn some valuable certificates.

She is an example of a persistent person!

Nelson Mandela said, “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” Strong leaders are able to effectively handle challenges.

Ambassador Mushingi’s Remarks for the Mandela Washington Fellowship Pre-Fellowship Orientation

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and a warm welcome to Luanda!

I’m pleased to be here to celebrate the 2023 Cohort of the Mandela Washington Fellows. We’re glad to send off 17 talented young people. Please join me in a round of applause for the diversity of this group!

You are starting a journey that over 5,800 young African leaders have completed since 2014. Over the next six weeks, you will complete a rigorous training course at 28 universities in the United States. You will network with 700 young African leaders from 49 Sub-Saharan countries as well as your American hosts. And you will meet new friends, united with the common goal of improving lives and impacting communities.

U.S. government exchange programs are a key part of our diplomacy in action. Reenergized partnerships require people to people engagement and that is what exchange programs like the Mandela Washington Fellowship do: it moves people, to move ideas.