“Power is never given, it is taken,” says Caren Wakoli, founder and executive director of the Emerging Leaders Foundation, which supports young leaders in Africa in areas such as governance, civil society, and education.
Speaking at the Pro Lounge of Devex World, Wakoli lamented that increasingly, “the older generation is not passing on the baton to the younger generation. Many of them get to be like 80, 90 something, and they're still clinging on to power. Yet we have a younger generation of men and women that are talented, adaptive, tech-savvy, that you know can be more innovative and lead sustainable change in the communities, but they have no space to engage. They have no platforms where they make their voices heard.”
That’s what the Emerging Leaders Foundation aims to do — open doors, “create space, and take power.”
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Anna Gawel
Anna Gawel is the Managing Editor of Devex. She previously worked as the managing editor of The Washington Diplomat, the flagship publication of D.C.’s diplomatic community. She’s had hundreds of articles published on world affairs, U.S. foreign policy, politics, security, trade, travel and the arts on topics ranging from the impact of State Department budget cuts to Caribbean efforts to fight climate change. She was also a broadcast producer and digital editor at WTOP News and host of the Global 360 podcast. She holds a journalism degree from the University of Maryland in College Park.
