"The youth of today are the leaders of today..."
Hope everyone had a great weekend. This week’s email comes from Annabelle Hardy, our Director of Academics:
In 1990, Nelson Mandela made a speech to a local high school in Boston and stated, “The youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow.” Looking now at Zambia in 2021, and thinking about the leadership of youth throughout the country and the role of younger voters in the recent election, I might amend this quote to read “The youth of today are the leaders of today.”
In 2020, the World Bank listed Zambia as one of the 10 youngest countries in the world and in the recent national election in August, more than half of registered voters were under the age of 35. Just a few weeks ago in the nearby city of Chipata, George Mwanza was sworn in as major at the age of 27. The “Young Mayor”, as he is known, is one of many bellwethers that young Zambian’s are not likely to wait until their older years to take up leadership roles either professionally or politically.
You don’t have to look any further than the Impact Network staff to know that this is true. Seventy percent of our staff are under the age of 30. Further, when you look at our management staff – those who are training and supervising others, developing projects, making policies, and helping to set the course of our work – you find that 80% of these staff are 30 years or younger.
In the U.S., the median age is 38.1. When I joined Impact Network, I wasn’t too much older than that median age, but I quickly found myself in Zambia where the median age is 17.6. I had been fairly accustomed to being a similar age to most of my coworkers – not so young anymore, though not so old yet either. Flash forward to my first days at Impact Network and I was astounded at the ambition and raw talent of my new (very young!) co-workers.
Impact Network’s young leadership staff is not unique. As I meet more Zambian leaders, NGO founders, and community influencers, I am struck by the depth of talent in the young people of this country. It is this talent and this yearning for a better future that permeates life in Zambia right now and it is fueled by the vision of the youth.
Every pupil who comes to an Impact Network school is a future leader – not a future leader in 30 or 40 years, but in 10 years. Many of our current grade 7 pupils will be the same age as the “young major” of Chipata just 10 years from now. If that’s not a good enough reason for each of us to get up each day and do whatever we can to support these learners, then I don’t know what is!
The youth of today are the leaders of today.
I could not agree more – thank you, Annabelle!