Building Resilient Leaders in a Pandemic

For years, Drexel University has welcomed recipients of the Mandela Washington Fellowship, the flagship program of the U.S. Department of State’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), to prepare young and engaged citizen leaders to take on the challenges of the 21st century. With the COVID-19 pandemic — arguably, one of the largest global challenges of this century starting last year and still ongoing — such leadership mentoring has become more important than ever.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of State had postponed the 2020 Fellowship until the summer of 2021, and when it resumed, it was in an all-virtual format. This summer, the 25 Fellows paired with Drexel remained in their home countries while participating in synchronous and asynchronous leadership and professional development training in civic engagement…

Learn more about the Leadership in Civic Engagement Institute hosted by Drexel University this summer in this article from DrexelNow.