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President Obama announced the Scholars Program early in 2018, and invited applications from young people across the world.
President Barack Obama Foundation 'The Obama Foundation' on Monday 27 August 2018 announced ACFE Group’s Chief Executive Stanley Ndambakuwa as one of the young global leaders selected among 25 inaugural Obama Foundation Scholars in Chicago. Ndambakuwa was selected as the only Zimbabwean, and one of the two Scholars from Southern Africa to join the University of Chicago cohort of 25 young leaders from 25 countries.
Talking to the media in Chicago on Monday morning, Ndambakuwa expressed his deepest excitement, and said this opportunity is historic, and will help take his organization's work to the next level.
Ndambakuwa founded the African Community Fund for Education Group in 2013 with a vision to empower the African community through education and leadership development, established presence in South Africa and Zimbabwe, and founded the African Community Fund for Education Canada in 2017. He led a global fundraising campaign, ‘Dollar Campaign for Education’ in 2014 in the United States, and launching an international campaign, the ‘Educate the Girl Child Campaign’ in 2015 in Zimbabwe which aims to create awareness about the inclusive and sustainable education of girls. Ndambakuwa was aided by his first religious leader and Author of ‘The African Dream’, Prophet Andrew Wutawunashe to reach for a dream that initially seemed impossible to many.
A young man who became influential among Government, Civil Society and Business Leaders, and young leaders across the globe, Ndambakuwa is assisted in his development work by an American Strategist, Global Advocate and Politico, Carla Walker who has supported the organization as Ndambakuwa’s first Strategic Advisor for the past two years, and an American Businessman, Christopher Che who was a Member of President Obama’s 2011 Council for Jobs and Competitiveness. Che is Ndambakuwa’s mentor who engages the organization’s progress occasionally.
Ndambakuwa is the Author of an upcoming book ‘One Extra Mile’ which talks about the action, service, humility, and vulnerability that one goes through when they decide to take an extra mile. He sits as an Advisor in an extraordinary Advisory Board of the University of South Africa and Open University’s IDEAS Project funded by the Newton Fund, UK ESRC, and SA’s National Research Foundation to the value of R12 million.
The Obama Foundation Scholars Program seeks to support dynamic, collaborative, rising leaders from around the world in an innovative one-year academic experience.
The Obama Foundation Scholars Program will give rising young leaders around the world who are already making a difference in their communities the opportunity to take their work to the next level through a newly designed curriculum that brings together academic, skills-based, and hands-on learning. The Scholars Program empowers individuals with a proven commitment to service with the tools they need to make their efforts more effective, to identify innovative solutions to complex global problems, and promote change through values-based leadership.
The program will build lasting relationships among emerging leaders who are committed to working together to solve the most pressing challenges of our time, creating a global network that reaches across issues and borders. After completing the program, Obama Foundation Scholars will return to their communities and continue the important work they started in the program by implementing their own personalized action plan. They will also have an opportunity to play a role in the Obama Foundation’s efforts to inspire, train, and connect rising leaders from around the globe.
Obama Foundation Scholars at the University of Chicago will earn a Master of Arts degree focused on International Development and Policy at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. In addition to classroom studies, the Obama Foundation will offer a robust program of leadership development and service activities throughout the academic year to help Scholars gain the real-world skills, tools, and experiences to expand the impact of their work when they return home. These may include leadership development convenings; program experiences in New York and Washington, DC; speaker series with innovators across a variety of sectors; individual and group service projects; mentorship through the Obama Foundation network; potential internship placements; and action plan development for post-program activities. Some of these Foundation activities will include experiences throughout Chicago and the South Side. By engaging with the local community, students will have the opportunity to complement what they learn in the classroom and also, to bring their unique perspectives to Chicago.
“I’m looking forward to welcoming an outstanding class of young people to Chicago’s South Side—the future home of the Obama Presidential Center. And we hope that each class of Obama Foundation Scholars begins a journey in which they inspire more young people to build the world as it should be.”
—PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
Want to learn more about the Obama Foundation Scholars Program:
Visit our website at: https://www.obama.org/scholars/
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