A Ugandan lawyer Ms. Lydia Winyi Kembabazi, who is also an Advocacy Officer at the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA), has been named among the 22 young and promising leaders from the rest of Africa who have emerged winners following a rigorous vetting exercise that left out over 300 nominees for this year’s prestigious Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Programme cohort.
“The African Leadership Institute is pleased to announce the Associates who have been selected for the 2022 Class of the Tutu Fellowship programme. As has been the case with previous cohorts, the people selected are exceptional emerging African leaders,” announced Dr. Jackie Chimhanzi, the AFLI Executive Director.
She revealed that AFLI received more than 330 nominations of outstanding quality from across Africa, from which the cohort was selected. They are from the following countries: Cameroon, Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
“A few candidates are included this year who were selected in 2020 but who could not attend that cohort due to COVID restrictions. The selected candidates demonstrate the incredible wealth and breadth of leadership talent that exists in Africa’s young people, which bodes well for Africa’s future,” she added.
The announcement comes barely a year after the death of the archbishop who was the programme’s patron.
“As you know, on 26 December 2021, we lost our founding patron, Archbishop Desmond Tutu. We remember a life of service well-lived and the values and ideals he espoused and bequeathed to us — Ubuntu, servant leadership, integrity, humility, compassion, and moral courage,” Dr Chmhanzi wrote on the institute’s website.
The African Leadership Institute and its flagship programme, the Archbishop Tutu Leadership Programme, granted legacy status by the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation remains resolute in its mission to nurture a new generation of African leaders who will uphold the legacy and values of Archbishop Tutu, as they lead in their various spheres. In some way, we have always been prepared for his passing because it was our very raison d’etre from inception—to shine a light on his example to always inspire the kind of leadership that is sorely lacking but much needed in Africa specifically, but the world, more broadly.
“With his passing, our work has a newfound importance and significance. We are grateful to the Skoll Foundation – a funder of our work – for their support and also for giving us the platform for Fellows to articulate what the Arch meant to them,” Dr. Chimuhanzi added.
Who is Lydia Winyi Kembabazi?
Ms Kembabazi is an Advocacy Officer at the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA). At IHRDA, she leads legal reform advocacy projects across Africa. Lydia engages government law reform commissions and think-tanks to leverage expertise to do legal audits of laws and compile research on discriminatory laws.
With the data and research she can then identify litigation opportunities to remedy abuses and effect systemic change. The African Protection Mechanisms in the African Charter provide grounds for these actions, but even with that in place, she organises information campaigns on why landmark cases must not slip through the cracks.
She joins a few other Ugandan Tutu Fellows who have made it to the institute before. They are: Rt Hon Dan Kidega, Andrew Mwenda, Vincent Bagiire, Arinaitwe Rugyendo, Carol Kembabazi, Nathan Nasolo, Victor Ochen and Alice Namuli Blazevic.
