“If you were a leader, what would you do to ensure that peace and security is achieved and sustained in Africa?”

African citizens between the age of 18-25 are invited to submit an essay for this year’s Leadership Essay Contest organised by the Institute of African Leadership for Sustainable Development (UONGOZI Institute).

Application Deadline

14^th July, 2017 (5pm GMT).

Eligible Countries

African countries

To be taken at (country)

South Africa

About the Award

The essay contest aims to provide a space for the youth of Africa and the next generation of leaders in the region to contribute to important discussions on leadership.

Eligibility

The contest is open to all African citizens between the age of 18 – 25 years old, to write about their perspective on leadership as it relates to peace and security in Africa. The essays should respond to the following question:

“If you were a leader, what would you do to ensure that peace and security is achieved and sustained in Africa?”

The essays should be no more than 2 A4 pages long. The format shall be of single spaced, Arial font size 11, and sent as a Microsoft Word document.
Applicants must be African citizens between the age of 18-25 currently residing in Africa.
The selected winners will be required to travel to Johannesburg on 23 August, 2017, therefore valid identification and travel documents will be required for this purpose.

Selection Criteria

Essays will be judged on the basis of originality, creativity, use of language and appropriateness to the contest theme.

All essays must be written in English.

Number of Awards: 5

Value of Program: A grand prize of USD $2,000 will be awarded to the overall winner of the essay contest. A total of five winners will be selected. Cash prizes will also be awarded to the second to fifth place winners.

 The top 5 winners will travel to Johannesburg, South Africa, to receive their awards at a prize giving ceremony to be held during the Africa Leadership Forum Dinner Gala on 24 August, 2017, which will be attended by senior leaders from the public, private and civil society sectors. The overall winner will be asked to read the winning essay at the event.across Africa in

How to Apply: Essays should be submitted by email to submissions@uongozi.or.tz.

Applicants must also submit a written statement of originality and ownership of intellectual property rights.

The final deadline for submission will be Friday, 14^th July, 2017 (5pm GMT). The top five finalists will be notified via email by the first week of August. Feedback will not be provided on individual essays.

Template for Statement of Originality:

I, (Enter full name), hereby confirm that the content of the essay I have submitted is my own work and it has not been submitted elsewhere for any other purpose.

I certify that the intellectual property rights for this essay are owned by me and that any information that was sourced elsewhere has been appropriately acknowledged.

(Enter Signature and date)

Visit Program Webpage for more details

Award Provider: UONGOZI Institute

About the Author

Aptly described by the Independent newspaper as “a man of many parts”, Prof. Mahfouz A. Adedimeji is a Fulbright scholar, interdisciplinary researcher, university don, public affairs analyst, communication consultant, peace advocate, interfaith worker and public intellectual. He obtained his academic degrees from the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, where he was a Professor of English (Pragmatics and Applied Linguistics) before his appointment as Vice Chancellor as the pioneer Vice Chancellor of Ahman Patigi, Nigeria, in February 2021. He started his academic career in 2000 at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, shortly after which he joined the services of his alma mater, the University of Ilorin. A man of eclectic academic background, Prof. Adedimeji was educated in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Markaz Shabaabil Islam, Iwo, Osun State and Markaz Ta’aleemil Araby, Agege, Lagos. He obtained advanced training in Education, Political Science, Communication and Media, Research and Peace Studies at the National Universities Commission’s (NUC) Virtual Institute for Higher Education Pedagogy (VIHEP); the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) Virtual Institute for Higher Education in Africa (VIHEAF); Governors State University, University Park, Illinois, USA; University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana; and Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana, USA. Apart from serving as a cultural ambassador to the US under the auspices of the Institute of International Education (IIE), New York, Prof. Adedimeji had won or co-won the research and conference awards/grants of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) of the National Research Council, Nigeria, the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) and the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU). He has written extensively for a wide range of newspapers and periodicals including “Unilorin Bulletin”, “Unilorin Watch”, “DeLight”, “National Pilot”, “Daily Independent”, “Daily Newswatch”, “New York Parrot” and “New Telegraph”, among others. A versatile academic and award-winning scholar, Prof. Adedimeji has attended academic conferences and undertaken research in several universities across Nigeria as well as in Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, Malaysia, Sierra Leone, Australia, France and United States of America, among others. His hundreds of academic, Islamic and general/opinion articles have been published across outlets in Nigeria and beyond. He has also facilitated and participated in seminars and workshops both nationally and internationally. A former Head of the Directorate of Corporate Affairs of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Adedimeji was the Director of the Centre for Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ilorin, between 2013 and 2017. Apart from serving as Rapporteur-General to the Presidential Committee that organised the 2017 Federal Executive Council’s Retreat on Education in Nigeria, he has consulted for the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Nigeria Inter-religious Council (NIREC), the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence and Corps (NSCDC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). For years, he was a Coordinator and Facilitator of the Executive Management Course of the Nigerian Army Education Corps (NAEC) and Editor-in-Chief of the “Journal of Peace, Security and Development”, University of Ilorin. He has also served as a resource person to agencies like the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), National Orientation Agency (NOA), National Institute for Security Studies as well as a number of Civil Society Organisations. He is a recipient of several awards and honours including those of the International Chartered World Learned Society, American Biographical Institute, National Congress of Nigerian Students (NACONS), Union of Campus Journalists, University of Ilorin, the Nigerian Army Education Corps, Postgraduate Students Association, UNILORIN, Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN), UNILORIN, Students’ Union, UNILORIN, and National Association of Osun State Students (NAOSS), just to mention a few. A Fellow of bodies like the International Association of Research Scholars and Administrators (FIARSA), Institute of Corporate Administration, Nigeria, (FICAN), Society for Peace Studies and Practice (fspsp) and World Institute for Peace (FWIP) , Prof. Adedimeji is a former Member of the Governing Council of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) and until recently a Member of the Executive Council of the English Scholars’ Association of Nigeria (ESAN). He is a member of the Editorial Boards of Research in Pragmatics, journal of the Pragmatics Association of Nigeria (PrAN) and ANUJAT, an international multidisciplinary journal of the All Nations University, Koforidua, Ghana. He has about 15 books to his credit as author, co-author, editor and co-editor.