Kenya’s Valarie Neema Waswa was among the inaugural cohort of the Generation Connect Young Leadership Program (GCYLP) fellows who recently completed their development week in Switzerland. GCYLP is an initiative launched by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in partnership with Huawei, and supports 30 fellows each year for a period of three years.
Selected fellows are aged 18 to 28 years and each receive mentorship and financial support for their projects to use digital technology to drive community development through the course of one year. The week-long activities include leadership fireside chats, an inter-generational panel discussion, and visits to Geneva University, Palais de Nations, as well as Huawei Switzerland in Zurich.
In addition to the initial development week, the program also provides online mentoring sessions, virtual chats with industry experts, group projects with other participants, and other online programs.
Ms. Waswa was among thirty initial fellows who were selected by a global jury from a pool of 5,249 applicants from over 200 countries worldwide. She is a budding lawyer, passionate about women and youth inclusion in governance and decision making processes. She has worked with different organizations; from youth activist, to youth envoy and woke advocate, in causes that seek to promote peace and socio-economic development of women and youth.
Commenting on the program, Dr. Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau said, “Seizing opportunities and creating new ones, being collaborative and resilient, as well as adopting a multi-disciplinary approach for a multi-sectoral world in which we find ourselves, will go a long way in helping you succeed and in impact people’s lives around the world.”
On her part, Selina Wen, Chief Representative to the EU Institutions and Vice President of Public Affairs for Europe at Huawei said, “Young leaders have played and will continue to play an important role in the digital era, at a time when the enabling power of technology should be further harnessed to address the most pressing social challenges. The projects you have presented are exactly what the real world is calling for.”
The fellows’ project ideas cut across various fields from inclusive healthcare, innovative digital skills training to efficient energy storage and circular economy. The program was announced in November 2023 and applications for the inaugural cohort opened in February. Over the next two years, two more groups, nearly 100 young visionaries from around the world, will embark on a similar journey.