YCI Launches 10-Year Programme To Prepare Young Women For Leadership By 2035

The Young Communicators Initiative (YCI) has unveiled a 10-year leadership development programme aimed at preparing young female students with leadership, communication and artificial intelligence skills to help bridge Nigeria’s gender gap in political leadership by 2035.

Founder and Executive Director of YCI, Chinenye Priscilla Anaemena, disclosed this on Thursday when she led her team on a courtesy visit to LEADERSHIP Newspapers in Abuja.

Anaemena said the initiative, tagged:“Vision 2035,” was designed to prepare young women to take advantage of opportunities in an increasingly digital economy while increasing their participation in leadership and governance.

She said the programme was informed by Nigeria’s poor ranking in women’s political representation, noting that the country ranked 143rd out of 145 countries in the World Economic Forum’s assessment of women’s political leadership.

“This is Vision 2035, and this is our programme. Vision 2035. One may wonder, what is it about? Why 2035? The world is evolving. It is becoming part of things already, the digital economy,” she said.

Anaemena said the declining number of women in the National Assembly further demonstrated the urgency of preparing a new generation of female leaders.

She noted that women occupied only 27 of the 469 seats in the 8th National Assembly before the figure declined to 17 in the 10th Assembly.

“And then moving down from 8th Assembly, which was in 2015, to 9th Assembly and now to 10th Assembly, we have just 17 women. That is alarming,” she said.

According to her, the challenge was not a shortage of competent women but inadequate preparation, confidence and understanding of the strategies required to succeed in leadership in the digital age.

“Why is it no? It is not because we have women who have the skills, who have the capability. And it is also yes because these women are scared to take this bold step. And when they do, they do not understand the technicalities and strategies to effective leadership in a digital age,” she said.

She said YCI was addressing the challenge by exposing young female students to practical leadership training, effective communication and artificial intelligence skills.

Anaemena said the initiative held the maiden edition of its Young Initiatives Conference last year, attracting more than 200 students from 21 schools.

She said participants were trained in practical AI skills, communication and leadership, while they were also encouraged to develop community-based projects to address problems within their schools and immediate environments.

One of the projects, she said, was the “Paints to Protect” initiative developed by students of Government Secondary School, Nyanya, to address road safety concerns around their school.

According to her, the students observed that roads and pedestrian areas around the school were poorly outlined, contributing to accidents, and subsequently developed a project in collaboration with road safety authorities.

Anaemena also highlighted the performance of students from public schools, noting that Government Secondary School, Nyanya, emerged first in the speech contest ahead of several private schools.

“We’re trying to let them know that having a parental advantage is just an advantage, but never a limitation. You, with hard work, dedication, and commitment, can as well soar and thrive as well as others with parental advantage,” she said.

She stressed that Vision 2035 was not designed as a one-off training programme, saying YCI would monitor and evaluate participants to measure its long-term impact.

Anaemena disclosed that the organisation was working with the FCT Secondary Education Board to monitor participating students and support their community development projects.

She cited the Government Secondary School, Apo, where students developed a project to provide dedicated waste bins for proper waste disposal.

She said YCI had also created a database of participating students and maintained contact with school principals to track the students’ progress as they advance through their education.

According to her, the organisation had written to state governments across the country and received responses from five states, with plans to expand the programme beyond the Federal Capital Territory from next year.

Anaemena also disclosed that YCI was jointly organising this year’s forum with the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), which she described as the training arm of legislators in the National Assembly.

Responding to the presentation, the Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP Newspapers, Azu Ishiekwene, commended the initiative and pledged the newspaper’s support.

Ishiekwene said YCI’s objectives aligned with LEADERSHIP’s values, particularly its efforts to inspire young people and build capacity in an increasingly digital world.

“I’m delighted that the work that you are doing among students, among educators, to build capacity is genuinely positive. It’s more than welcome, especially in a country that has about 65 per cent of its citizens young people,” he said.

He said LEADERSHIP Newspapers was itself undergoing a transition from print to digital, describing the shift as important because the digital space had become increasingly central to young people.

“Which is a very important journey to us because that’s where the world is going. That’s where the young people that you inspire and encourage, that’s their playground,” Ishiekwene said.

He assured Anaemena and her team of the newspaper’s support for the programme.

The Head of Story at LEADERSHIP Newspapers, Adebayo Amodu, sought clarification on how YCI planned to monitor participants throughout the 10-year programme.

Responding, Anaemena said the organisation had a structured monitoring and evaluation system through its partnership with the FCT Secondary Education Board and participating schools.

“Yes, please, absolutely. We’re working with FCT Secondary Education Board, which I would like to say is more of a B2B, that’s a business-to-business partnership. So we monitor the students as a matter of fact,” she said.

She added that YCI intended to follow participants through tertiary institutions and after graduation to assess the long-term impact of the programme.

The Managing Editor of LEADERSHIP Newspapers, Raliat Ahmed-Yusuf, also commended the initiative and asked how YCI funded its activities.

Anaemena explained that the organisation had relied largely on partnerships, self-funding and support from friends and family since its inception.

She said YCI had partnered with the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and other organisations to secure facilities and multimedia support for last year’s programme.

According to her, NILDS was supporting this year’s programme by providing its hall, while its Director-General had also pledged support for feeding.

Anaemena said the initiative’s vision had attracted institutional support because partners were able to see the value of preparing young women for leadership.

She said the ultimate goal was to ensure that Nigeria’s leadership gap was not merely discussed but measurably reduced by 2035 through continuous training, monitoring and evaluation of the young women participating in the programme.