CDC invests in future leaders for Africa

The CDC interns attended their first contact session with TMALI at Unisa in August 2015. The institution offers various courses, but the modules selected for the CDC interns are: Thought Leadership for Africa's Renewal, Africa & International Trade - Building an African Developmental State and Good Governance in Africa.

The ultimate goal of the CDC internship programme is to improve the employability of young aspiring professionals, increase the rate of absorption of South African graduates by the labour market, and develop professionals with critical and scarce skills.

"The CDC is focused on socio-economic development, we believe in the importance of investing in young aspiring African leaders, which is the principal purpose of TMALI. The institute trains Africans to lead the agenda of renewing the African continent politically, economically, socially and culturally," said Ntombozuko Mbuzwana, CDC Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Officer.

The selected CDC interns were required to write an essay on pre-selected topics titled: Good governance in Africa, African Political Economy and Thought Leadership for Africa's Renewal and Africa and International Trade. From the submissions received, 10 interns (five women and five men) were selected by a panel of judges from CDC management.

"Being a TMALI scholar has been exciting and an eye opening experience that is challenging my thinking. The course aims to equip leaders to find solutions to Africa's unique challenges. Similarly, the importance of being critical thinkers and being effective implementing agents relevant for the African discourse is continually emphasized," said Yanga Manyonta CDC Geographic Information Systems (GIS) intern.

The six-month long TMALI programme was established in 2012 with the aim of developing leaders who will become implementing agents in the areas of politics, commerce, trade, culture, investment and others.

Among the personal growth and development opportunities offered by the CDC to both staff and interns are University of Cape Town's part-time Business Analysis and Systems Analysis (BASA) diploma, and Prince 2 Project Management training. Training is also offered in communication, and more than 30 interns were trained in business etiquette in the past financial year.

"Through the TMALI programme and the CDC internship programme, we hope to produce high calibre African leaders who have a deep understanding of what is unique to Africa. We hope they will use the knowledge gained to transform the socio-economic landscape of Africa," said Dr Ayanda Vilakazi, CDC Head of Marketing and Communications.