The delegation was led by the co-founder of TFAA,
Chude Jideonwo and visitedChibok, Mubi and Yola. The tour, led by project
managers Bukonla Adebakin and Seun Oluyemi had previously visited Enugu,
Banjul, Badagry, Ibadan, Akure, Port Harcourt and Kano.
The tour has a three-pronged focus: a) re-focus
attention on the issues young people are facing across the continent, b) the
case studies of how TFAA’s global brain trust has solved these issues and then
c) set up hubs in each city - made up of past winners, nominees, partners and
volunteers at community-levels – to solve these problems.
“The stories and the people we have met on this trip
have confirmed some of our worst fears, but more importantly also fired up our
resolve,” said Jideonwo after the tour. “There is so much work we have to do,
and we are building a network of problem solvers across the continent to
engage, solve and sustain the solutions to these problems.
“We are celebrating 10 years of TFAA, but more
importantly, we are fired up to begin 10 more years of building entrepreneurs,
supporting change makers and transforming societies.”
The one-year tour, which kicked off in October 2015,
has now visited Kano, Banjul, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Enugu, Abuja, Lagos, Yola,
Mubi and Chibok.
“The challenges we saw on this tour are enough to make
you worry,” said Mohamed Diaby, a member of the Central Working Committee, from
Abidjan. “From young people feeling their own communities and countries to
communicable diseases from recused individuals coming back into town,
rebuilding of clinic/hospital, school, bridge and markets, education,
employment, drug use, to cities that urgently demand government reconstruction,
there is so much work left to be done. We are determined to lead an army of
young people, through our hubs, to do this urgent work, to solve these
problems.”
Hubs have now been set up in Mubi with the Initiative
for Human Rights, Yola with Centre for Caring, Empowerment and Peace Initiative
(CCEPI) and Chibok with the Red Cross. These hubs will work together with the
Global TFAA Secretariat to pull resources and media attention to solve the
identified problems in each community.
The next stop for the tour is Johannesburg, South
Africa, after which phase one of the tour will conclude.
The Future Awards Africa 2015 is powered by RED and
held in partnership with the Ford Foundation, Microsoft, the US Consulate, the
Canadian High Commission Nigeria and The Tony Elumelu Foundation. The event
will be hosted in Lagos on Sunday, 6
December, 2015.
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